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John the Baptist prepared the way

Luke 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius
Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and
his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis,
and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,

When a King arrives in court we find an announcer giving a shout so all can
be at attention. Bible says John the Baptist was Elijah who did not die but
came back with the purpose to announce / prepare the way for the arrival of
the King and Savior our Lord Jesus Christ.

Soon in a few days almost all Christians will be involved in an unchristian
activity of celebrating a pagan god’s feast as the birthday of Jesus
Christ. If you question them, they would say the date is not written so any
day can be celebrate in His remembrance. If you go by what they say you
will find their argument justified.

In most Islamic countries Christians use the term Allah for God since they
are told Allah means God. They do not know the word Allah means ‘the god’
and points to the chief deity among the 360 deities that existed in the
Kaaba during the time of Mohammad. Thus Allah is not God but a pagan god
chosen by Mohammad as the only god after he destroyed all the other 359
gods. It is the ignorance of the Christians that causes them to call the
Lord by the name of a pagan god. The same is the case with celebrating the
birthday of our Savior.

The Bible takes pain to give multiple historic references with regards to
John the Baptist’s birth and as stated here about his ministry. This
information is very important with regards to tracking the birthdate of
Jesus Christ since the difference between the two is six months. After the
Angel told Mary about she being six months pregnant, she went to meet her
cousin Elizabeth and Bible says the child in Elizabeth’s womb leapt with
joy. Mary then lived with her for 3 months and it is after this that
Elisabeth delivered.

If one studies the feasts as declared by the Lord in the OT, they are all
shadows of the events concerning the Lord Jesus Christ (and His Spirit /
the Holy Spirit). If one tracks the dates of the birth of Jesus Christ
through the dates of John the Baptist we find the birth of Jesus Christ
falls on the Feast of Tents / Feast of the Tabernacle / Feast of
Ingathering.

If one understands the Feast of Tents / Feast of the Tabernacle one will
understand the birth of Jesus Christ. It is called Feast of Tabernacle
because He is our Tabernacle and He came to make us part of the Tabernacle
so that day set the foundation of the eternal Tabernacle. It is also called
Feast of Tents because He was God who left His glorious abode, humbling
Himself He became man, thus by this God dwelt in a body of flesh as man by
becoming 100percent man (Bible states He became lower than the Angels). He
came to free us from the bondage of this flesh (carnal) so as to again
become the glorious being we were created as in the beginning.

You can gauge the foolishness of most Christians from the simple fact they
think Jesus was born in a stable surrounded by cows, sheep, goats and
donkeys. It shows how lies of Catholic traditions have blinded people’s
eyes that they read and they do not understand, they look and they do not
see, they hear and they do not realize.

Look at the scripture it says while they were waiting for a room in an inn
Mary gave birth to the child, warped the child in a swaddling cloth and
placed Him in a manger. People do not realize firstly it happened while
they were waiting for a room in the inn. Secondly after birth they put the
child into a manger which is a wooden box kept (outside the inn) so as to
feed the donkeys tied there. If we need to put the birth of Jesus in
today’s modern date His birth would be in a parking area of a hotel since
the donkeys were the mode of transport during that time like cars are of
today.

Let us not be blinded by the beliefs of the Catholic Church into
celebrating Christ Mass which was a high Mass celebrated to keep the pagan
Romans from celebrating the birth of their Sun god.

The birth of Jesus Christ (Feast of Tabernacle / Tents) is a very important
feast for us and is commanded by the Lord to be celebrated till the end of
time as a statute, same as with Resurrection Sunday (Passover) and with
Pentecost (Feast of the Harvest).

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we thank You for being a sacrifice for us and making is possible for
us to return back to You. We were doomed to death and You came to give us
eternal life. Lord we need to understand the importance of your birth. Lord
since most Christians celebrate a pagan feast they do not realize the
importance of your becoming man. We pray they start to celebrate the Feast
of Tents/Tabernacle/Ingathering and know why You commanded we spend time
together in fellowship as one family by leaving our houses...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Luke 1:36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son
in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

Luke 1:5-11

5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest
named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters
of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

7 And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both
were now well stricken in years.

8 And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before
God in the order of his course,

9 According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn
incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time
of incense.

11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right
side of the altar of incense.

Luke 2:4-11

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into
Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was
of the house and lineage of David:)

5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished
that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in
the inn.

Exodus 23:14-17

14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.

15 The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep: seven days thou shalt
eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed in the
month Abib (for in it thou camest out from Egypt); and none shall appear
before me empty:

16 and the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy labors, which thou
sowest in the field: and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year,
when thou gatherest in thy labors out of the field.

17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord
Jehovah.

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Who are the children of Satan?

John 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is
withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are
burned.

Religious Christians normally call those who do not know God as children of
Satan and those who know Him as children of God. You may be in for a
surprise.

Read as to whom did Jesus call as children of Satan? Was it the pagans or
was it the rebellious, religious Jews? People who knew God or the ones who
did not know God? People who do not know God or are not interested in Him
are not called children of Satan but are called children of vanity. Bible
puts them as grass which grows its life time and withers and later is put
in fire. The goodness of worldly man is like flowers of the grass which
last a season / period and perish. These people however good they may look
they do not have real spiritual fruits.

Now you may ask me bro then who are called 'children of Satan', the real
'haters of God'?

Satan in the OT is symbolized as a goat. We see devil worshippers since
ancient times make a man with a head of a goat. Does God hate goats or are
goats evil? No.

When we say flock it includes both sheep and goats. When Judgment Day comes
Jesus said He would separate the sheep from the goats. The sheep would be
on the right hand and the goats on the left. Those on the right would enter
the Kingdom of God and those on the left would be punished. They are not
punished for not doing social work. The Apostles themselves did not do
social work although they supported it. Understand the feeding, clothing,
sheltering and giving water to the thirsty is more spiritual than natural.
It is about feeding Living Bread (knowledge of the Word) to those who are
spiritually hungry, clothing in Righteousness those who are spiritually
naked, sheltering those who are spiritual orphan and giving Living Water
(right understanding of the Word) to those who thirst for life. In other
words those who do not do that or do things contrary to that may not stand
with the sheep and may find themselves as standing with the goats. So even
if you are a Preacher or Pastor and doing things contrary to the above then
beware you may be counted among the goats.

Satan is a Cherub, one who was close to God and knows God better than the
Angels but he refused to walk in the ways of the Lord and resisted the
light thus caused darkness. Satan is a deceiver and children of Satan are
those who are like Him deceiving. They are not people ignorant of God but
people who know God and yet do not follow Him thus misrepresent Him. They
are people who know the ways of the Lord and yet resist His ways. So where
would you find the children of Satan, out on the pubs or in illegal social
places? Maybe, but more of them will be in churches and at prayer meetings
rather than in those places.

The Lord said either you be warm or be cold but if you are lukewarm I will
spit you out of my mouth. God loves them who love His ways of righteousness
and truth. He has mercy on those who do not and history will confirm He
allows them to exist and perish but those who misrepresent Him, He is known
to show His anger on them.

If you call yourself a child of God, then you are expected to live your
life in His ways. One needs to BE A Christian and not just call oneself a
Christians or do rituals like going to Church, giving alms, praying etc.
these things do not make you a Christian.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, people think Satan who is evil would be ugly and thus they think his
child would be spiritually ugly. But they fail to realize Satan is a
deceiver thus his child would also be deceivers. They would misled people
in Your name and lead them to destruction. They are people who keep people
busy in fruitless things, people who resist Truth and do not allow the
Truth to be spoken. Lord give us discernment to discern you people from
those who are of Satan...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 8:42-47

42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I
proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will
do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of
his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

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

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

Matthew 25:31-46

Psalms 103:15-16

15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he
flourisheth.

16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof
shall know it no more.

Isaiah 40:6-8

6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass,
and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:

7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD
bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.

8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall
stand for ever.

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Can we venerate Mary?

Matthew 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in
heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

When one asks a Catholic 'why do they worship Mary', they would say 'we do
not worship Mary, we venerate her'. Now ask them what is the meaning of
venerate and then these people would show their confusion. They would say
'respect', does that mean they do not respect other men and women of God in
the Bible and why do they do not do to them what they do to her? They would
then say she is special for she is chosen. So it comes back to the question
what 'special veneration' are they doing to her?

To understand the term 'venerate' one needs to go to the Bible. The word
exists in the prayer 'Our Father' and is translated as 'Hallowed', it also
exist about 26 times in the New Testament and is translated as 'Sanctify'
or 'Be Holy'. If one reads the scriptures where this word is used one would
understand the underline un-holiness of the Catholic Church i.e.

Jesus says in John17:17 sanctify [venerate] them through the Truth; they
word is Truth'

Hebrew 13:12 the writer (Paul) says Jesus sanctifies [venerates] us by His
blood (sacrifice).

Now tell me what exactly are Catholics doing sanctifying or declaring Holy
or hallowing Mary or the name of the Mary and by what means or method? By
worshipping or serving her idols and images? The very things God forbid!

Catholics should realize when they are venerating Mary, they are not
actually venerating her but they are un-venerating themselves. They are
making themselves unholy by doing things contrary to the Word. It is
another thing that they do not realize the Mary they 'venerate' is not
actually the mother of Jesus but another spirit that comes in her name and
it was this very spirit which also caused the destruction of the Israelites
at the Hand of God. They should also realize it did not happen immediately,
even for them God waited for many years to change and then took them to
task.

They should stop trying to fool God or His people by using terms they do
not understand themselves. Are they replacing the Word of God with their
'Mary' or are they replacing the Savior with her? If you observe minutely
you will see they are actually doing that. To go to Jesus they say go
through Mary thus putting her above Jesus and making her their chief
Savior, whatever this spirit says they believe blindly and overrule the
Word of God which this spirit contradicts.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord Your Word say You are a Zealous God and You would not share your glory
with anyone else. Lord it is only your Word and your Sacrifice that
sanctifies us; it is the Truth that we receive by our faith in your
salvation which sets us free from sin. Lord we pray our brothers and sister
who are still in the Catholic Church may be set free from the deceit that
blinds them. We speak their eyes be opened. We speak light into their
darkness and we pray for abundant grace over their lives...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

John 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be
sanctified through the truth.

Hebrews 13:12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with
his own blood, suffered without the gate.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I
pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Revelation 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which
is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be
righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

Jeremiah 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire,
and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and
to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to
anger.

Jeremiah 44:17-23

17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own
mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink
offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and
our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for
then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.

18 But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to
pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been
consumed by the sword and by the famine.

19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink
offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out
drink offerings unto her, without our men?

20 Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women,
and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying,

21 The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets
of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the
people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into
his mind?

22 So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your
doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore
is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an
inhabitant, as at this day.

23 Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the
LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor
in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened
unto you, as at this day.

1 Kings 11:5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the
Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

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The Lord takes His revenge

Zephaniah 3: 5,6 The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do
iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth
not; but the unjust knoweth no shame. I have cut off the nations: their
towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by:
their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none
inhabitant.

We always highlight the nature of God being merciful but people do not
highlight the nature of God being slow to anger. Slow to anger does not
mean God does not respond at all. Our God is not dead or dumb or impotent
or forgetful. God is also not a man to blink so nothing is hidden from Him
even for a millisecond.

Slow to anger means God gives time to change and within that time if the
person does not change, then there will come a time that God will respond
hard.

Today’s message tells us, God allows a time for evil (night) but then God
sets a limit to this evil and then He takes the evil doers to task. Anger
is not evil and all Christians are called to hate evil, but we should know
the source of evil and deal with the source not with the victims of evil.
Sometime victims of evil become perpetrators of evil or vessels in hands of
evil doers and we should try to rescue them from the hold of evil on them.
We need to give time for change, but then we should not wait forever. Like
God awaits so also we too need to attend to that evil.

You may think is God man to not know that He waits?

Go knows the result but being righteous He does not give a chance to man to
point a finger to His Name / Character. Like He knows who will accept Him
and walk in His ways (those whose names are written in the Book of Life),
so also He know who will be part of the army of darkness / those who will
revolt against Light / Truth , but yet He lets them be born and do their
work. At the end God does have His way for the victory is already written
and victory is His.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we give glory unto You Lord and we thank You Lord for making us in
this time where we will see your glory grow. We thank You Lord for bring
down the strong holds of evil doers and bringing to void their plans and
making them an exhibit of foolishness and vanity...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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The mighty will cry bitterly

Zephaniah 1:14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth
greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty [strong] man
shall cry there bitterly.

I have mentioned this before, there are 2 days (not literal 24hour day but
a period of time) written as 'Day of the Lord'; one is 'Day of the Lord's
wrath' and the other 'Day of the Lord's Judgment'. Today's message speaks
about the Day of the Lord's wrath. One can read the Prophet Joel chapter 2
about the days just before the Judgment Day (when Christ comes again to
judge mankind). Between these two days are the glory days of the Church and
then a false peace, just before the false prophet and Satan being released.

If one studies the seven letters to the seven Churches (Rev 2 and 3) it
gives details of the seven stages of the Church (after death and
resurrection of Christ). The Day of Wrath is just before the 6th stage and
after the 5th stage. Apparently we currently are in the 5th stage going to
the 6th where the Church sees the unification of all Christian
denominations and the glory of God will be visible amongst His people. For
the change to come the Lord needs to revive the Church and its people. The
people who will see the wrath will be more the inside people than the
outside people.

One scripture says the Lord (His Angel) will go through His people (Temple)
starting from the inner court. Let us not think we can fool the Lord with
our external religious practices.

The people to see the max wrath are the leaders of the Church who are
misleading the people or putting them in bondages of 'Church authority'
which is manmade (rooted in Nicolaitan system which the Catholic Church
follows).

Let us revive ourselves before we come to a stage that God has to.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You Word has set the timeline of mankind and what You have spoken You
will bring to pass. You are patient and slow to anger but when the time
comes for fulfillment of your Word You actively pursue and shake people
from their core. Lord we pray your Church wakes up and understand we live
in a time of prophesies, a time of shaking...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Zephaniah 1:14-18

14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly,
even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there
bitterly.

15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of
wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds
and thick darkness,

16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against
the high towers.

17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind
men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be
poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.

18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in
the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the
fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them
that dwell in the land.

Joel 2:1-3

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

2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick
darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a
strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after
it, even to the years of many generations.

3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land
is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate
wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.


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God is again at work

Jeremiah 23:14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible
thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the
hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all
of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

Before coming to the message I like to attend to the two words Sodom and
Gomorrah. They were the two twin cities during the time of Abraham that
were destroyed by God.

There are very few places where God Himself intervened and took action and
He did for the benefit of His people. Sodom symbolizes lust (burning) and
Gomorrah means 'submerge' but comes from the root word 'merchandize'. If
you take a world view of countries of the lust industry they are in Europe,
if you look at countries which are making peak business in the name of
Christianity (merchandize which submerges the Truth), they too are in
Europe. So today's Sodom and Gomorrah both exist in Europe.

Let us take for instance another event where God took things in His hands -
the Tower of Babel. The tower was a temple which He destroyed since all the
people unified under one deity, a goddess (the chief deity of the tower was
a female goddess). They lifted this woman above God. God not only bought
the tower down but cause confusion / misunderstanding among the people of
the world which is prevailing even today.

If you look at religions of the world we find Europe leading in World
Religion where all religions are unified with one purpose to deny the
Truth. Since God and Truth cannot be separated thus denying Truth is as
good as denying God.

Long time back before Arab Spring took place we were getting messages about
it. Today if you look at our previous messages and today's messages we are
at another turn in world history which is about to unfold in Europe.

We always refer to Europe as Christian countries and I do not understand
why? Europe has more Catholics and they do not constitute as Christians.
More than Catholics we see Atheism taking hold of Europe and now Islam is
taking grip of the European nations. The woman deity that rules in name of
Christianity and promotes idolatry among Christians is also rooted in
Europe thus the Tower of Babel of today is in Europe since the disciple of
this goddess are promoting oneness again.

A few weeks back I was reading prophecies regarding Europe and am today
seeing them unfold. It is sad what has just happened in France at the hands
of ISIS. Now the European nations are coming together to fight ISIS. A
question I ask is 'Can they?'.

The largest part of the top position holders of ISIS come from Europe. They
are Europeans holding European passports. Almost fourty to fifty percent of
Muslims in European countries are active radical Muslims, unlike in India
where we are still under the ten to fifteen percent mark. Fighting ISIS is
like fighting Islam because the ideology of ISIS is Islamic. We do find
some Arab nations supporting the fight against ISIS but they are those who
hold Kingdoms and are doing only to protect their personal interest since
they know true Islam is communist in nature. It neither believes in
democracy nor monarchy.

Their prophet became famous in Medina when he bought equality among the
rich and poor, among strong and weak, among races and tribes. This is not
about human equality here, but deeper (note men still oppress women and
white skin is give upper hand over black, since black people are compared
to Satan so also are black dogs); see their dressing is like uniform, even
their other traditions and rituals, compare them with the communist
ideology like that prevailing in China. Communists have the Red Book and
Islam the Quran, the matter within is not understood well but yet the book
is more valuable than life itself. Questioning it is unthinkable and will
result in death punishment.

Fighting ISIS in Europe is like fighting with its own people and with the
invasion of refugees into Europe by the thousands they have let the enemy
into the fortress and strengthened them.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord You have set all things with regards to the salvation of your people
in your Word and what is written will come to pass. Lord we know we are at
the turn of history and we are shaken by what is happening. But we know
Lord You will protect them that trust in You and do all things for the
benefit of your people. We pray for your people in Europe and ask You to
strengthen them today and in the days to come...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Isaiah 21

1 The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass
through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.

2 A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth
treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media;
all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.

3 Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me,
as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of
it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.

4 My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure
hath he turned into fear unto me.

5 Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye
princes, and anoint the shield.

6 For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare
what he seeth.

7 And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and
a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed:

8 And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower
in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights:

9 And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen.
And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven
images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.

10 O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of
the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.

11 The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of
the night? Watchman, what of the night?

12 The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will
enquire, enquire ye: return, come.

13 The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye
travelling companies of Dedanim.

14 The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was
thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled.

15 For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent
bow, and from the grievousness of war.

16 For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the
years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:

17 And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the
children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath
spoken it

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Even death has no power over you

Luke 2:26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit, that he should
not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

Simeon is not introduced as a Prophet or an Apostle or one having any post
or Calling (like Anna is introduced as a Prophetess here). He is described
here simply as a man to whom the Holy Spirit spoke.

Simeon was a very elderly man who desired to see the promised Savior as
promised in the scriptures. So indirectly Bible states Simeon did meditate
on the Word of God so knew that the arrival of the Savior was at hand and
he believed God would fulfill his desire to see the Savior. When Simeon saw
and held the Savior he declared the favor of God on his life and also
prophesied like a Prophet (even greater than the Prophetess Anna) even
though the Bible did not introduce him as a Prophet.

Simeon spoke of how the Savior (Jesus) would be a Rock which will not allow
the Israelites to continue their way of life in the name of God as God's
people. The Savior Jesus Christ would cause them to either accept God or
reject God.

Simeon also told Mary what Mary would not imagine and something that would
happen after 500years. Simeon told her that after her death (soul) people
who claim to love her would hurt her most ('a sword shall pierce through
thy own soul also'). He said God would allow this so as to expose the hate
they have for Him ('that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed'). In
other words all those 'Christians' who claim to love Mary and worship her
are actually hurting her the most and more important is God is allowing
this to expose their false love for Him. Since they hate God that is why
they disobey Him and worship her (exactly what Israelites also did by
worshipping the Queen of Heaven). What these people have done in their hate
is replaced the importance of the Holy Spirit with her so as to shut the
Holy Spirit from taking to them.

One thing the Lord wants us to know today is if we are baptized in the Lord
and His Spirit then the promise of God in our lives has more power over us
than even death.

Everyone has to die a natural death but this natural death will not touch
us until what God has promised in our lives is fulfilled. Also the second
death which is death of the spirit is completely destroyed because the
promise of eternal life is in us.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord your promise is light and light is more powerful that darkness. Your
promise O Lord is more powerful that death. Lord we pray we mediate on your
promise and believe in it like Simeon did and we pray Lord we learn to hear
your Spirit like Simeon did. Let death not be a fear for us but just an
event in our lives which takes us from one stage to another after we
complete and receive that we have to in this stage...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Luke 2:25-38

25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and
this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel:
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

26 And it had been revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit, that he should
not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought
in the child Jesus, that they might do concerning him after the custom of
the law,

28 then he received him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

29 Now lettest thou thy servant depart, Lord, According to thy word, in
peace;

30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples;

32 A light for revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of thy people
Israel.

33 And his father and his mother were marvelling at the things which were
spoken concerning him;

34 and Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this
child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel; and for a
sign which is spoken against;

35 yea and a sword shall pierce through thine own soul; that thoughts out
of many hearts may be revealed.

36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the
tribe of Asher (she was of a great age, having lived with a husband seven
years from her virginity,

37 and she had been a widow even unto fourscore and four years), who
departed not from the temple, worshipping with fastings and supplications
night and day.

38 And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks unto God, and spake of
him to all them that were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

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Fear not I will make you fisher of men

Luke 5:10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were
partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth
thou shalt catch men.

We see Jesus tells Simon (whom He named Cephas - later translated to Peter,
this is after He named him) that He would make him a fisher of men. Before
I come to the main point let us also look at the same record of how Jesus
gets Simon to follow Him in the other Gospels.

We know Luke wrote the Gospel to bring in line the things which were
missing or matters that needed details (not correction but adding or
emphasizing the important points). Luke records Jesus's interaction with
Simon to get him to follow Him. If we ignore Luke's record we may think
this catching of fishes was the first interaction of Jesus with Simon. But
we see in chapter 4 after preaching at the synagogue and before the
incident of catching abundant fishes Jesus left for Simon's house and heals
his sick mother in law. It shows Jesus knew Simon from before and this is
again highlighted by Luke stating Simon was a business partner of John and
James Zebedee.

We know John and James were first cousins of Jesus for they were children
of Salome the sister of His mother (whom Jesus also called Mary for He gave
her the status of His mother like He also did to Mary the Magdalene).
Salome/ Mary was the wife of Cleophas who was nicknamed Zebedee (people
with common names were given nick names or called along with their father's
name). So we see Jesus was closer to John and James than He was to John the
Baptist who was the son of His mother's cousin. Since Jesus knew John and
James from before He also knew their partner Simon. It was only after
Jesus' commission of becoming Rabbi not just master but official teacher
which enabled Him to preach in Synagogues by His 40days fasting in the
wilderness according to that of Moses else He would have had to study under
another Rabbi like Saul/Paul was doing, that He got His 12 select disciples
in place. So Luke was clearing the matter by adding the missing details. On
the other hand we see the Gospel of John starts with the incident of Jesus
naming Simon as Cephas.

Why I wanted to clear this because Jesus used the words 'Fear not; from
henceforth thou shalt catch men (be fisher of men)'. Note Jesus highlights
2 things towards Simon 'fear' and relating 'souls to fishes'. Simon and his
group were astonished with the large catch of fishes so there was an
element of surprise not an element of fear but we see Jesus uses the word
fear. Also are souls of the Kingdom of God fishes? In what way can anyone
relate the two? One is catch to kill and consume which the other is not
caught but released from bondage of death and destruction and set free and
given eternal life.

Like in the case when Saul came to know the Lord, the Lord prophetically
spoke of the mission of Paul, here too when commissioning Simon we find
Jesus prophetically spoke the 2 weak areas of Simon which he would
overcome. We know from the later incidents of Simon how fear took hold of
him and he denied Jesus 3 times so fear was a factor of Simon. Secondly we
also see after the death of Jesus the first thing that Simon does on
turning back to his regular life is go for fishing which was his business.
We also see he was so engrossed in his business that Simon did not realize
that his clothes were fallen off and he was naked, but he continued
fishing. It was when he was told Jesus was there he puts his clothes on.

When Jesus told Simon 'I will make you a fisher of men', Jesus was not
relating the souls to fishes but was telling Simon that his focus will not
be business but the Kingdom of God.

Today the Lord is talking to all who have the spirit of Simon (alike to
Simon), all those who have fear in them and all those who give more
importance to their livelihood or business than to God's Kingdom.

Our Churches are filled with lots of these Simons. They love God but due to
fear do not boldly witness Him, they do not have time for God's work since
business is the first priority for them and when they get some free time
they will then think of doing God's work; but due to their zealous passion
for their work they rarely get this free time.

The Lord is telling them today 'fear not, I will make you a fisher of men'.
He will fill them with boldness and He will change the focus of their life
and the passion of their life.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we thank You today for speaking unto the Simons in our Church. We
thank You Lord for filling them with boldness and for redirecting their
focus and purpose of their lives. We need more and more laborers filled
with boldness and those who know the importance of saving souls...

We make this prayer in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Luke 1:1-4

1 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration
of those things which are most surely believed among us,

2 Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were
eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;

3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all
things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent
Theophilus,

4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast
been instructed.

Luke 4:38-39

38 And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon's house. And
Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him
for her.

39 And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and
immediately she arose and ministered unto them.

Mark 1:16-17

16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his
brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to
become fishers of men.

John 1:40-42

40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew,
Simon Peter's brother.

41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have
found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou
art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by
interpretation, A stone.

John 21:7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is
the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his
fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the
sea.

Acts 9:15 But 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:

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Across the brook of Kidron unto the Garden

John 18:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his
disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he
entered, and his disciples.

We read in today's message Jesus crossed the valley of Cedron / Kidron
(Hebrew) to enter the garden. The Lord wants us to mediate on this aspect
of crossing the valley of Kidron to enter the Garden for we too will have
to do so. The Lord is not talking of the valley which is in Jerusalem but
the valley that is in our life and in the life of every human. To
understand this we need to understand the brook.

The Hebrew word Kidron means darkness. Darkness by itself does not exist
for it needs to be created and one needs to proactively create darkness
like light is always at work (light are particles traveling in a
direction). We also say this because by default light exist and darkness
comes to existence when light is restricted. To keep darkness one needs to
always keep obstructing light similarly evil needs always keep breeding
evil to be evil, if evil just stops breeding evil light will overtake it
and remove darkness.

God is Light and He exists from the beginning or before the beginning. Why
I say before the beginning because the Bible starts from the time when
darkness was created by one third Angels rebelling against the plans of God
and God making man with the purpose to be the source of light. The Bible
ends with the darkness being removed by the light shining through man (who
is lower than the Angels and went through darkness himself for a period)
overcoming the fallen angels. So in short the whole Bible is about crossing
the valley of Kidron / darkness.

Let us study the history of the valley of Kidron in the Bible to understand
Kidron.

We read about David passing this valley with his close associates, when he
fled his own son Absalom. After the adultery affair of David with Bathsheba
his son Absalom won the hearts of the people and revolted against David. It
is written David was ashamed at he did and crossed this valley with weeping
when he fled his own son.

The valley also became famous for being a place where flit of the city and
specially the temple was discarded into this valley. It was like a city
sewer where unclean (spiritually unclean) things were discarded. We even
see the idols connected to the vain beliefs of man being discarded here.
Later we see even the 'unclean' people cast off from the city dwelt here.
It is this place which gave birth to concept of hades / hell being a place
of fire burning since there was perpetual burning of garbage here in this
valley.

Initially this valley was called a cemetery of the common men. The people
who were poor would usually bury their relatives here in this valley. Later
the Jews started considered this place as being the most sort after place
to bury their dead because of their misunderstanding of referring this
valley as the valley of Jehoshaphat. Since they lacked understanding they
thought this valley was a promise of God for their dead. Jesus said God is
the God of the living not of the dead so you will not find any special or
extra ordinary instructions towards dealing with dead bodies.

Over all we see the things associated with this valley of Kidron
symbolizing Hell are darkness, death, filth, vain traditions, backsliding,
spiritual uncleanliness and lack of understanding.

Jesus crossed the valley of Kidron and entered the Garden and His disciples
who followed Him also did. It symbolizes the Son of Man Jesus overcoming
Hell to ascend to Heaven and we who are His disciples will also overcome
the valley darkness and enter Heaven for He did.

The people who will be caught in Kidron are those who are spiritually
unclean (even though they know God for the filth of the Temple were
discarded here), people who have made man made traditions a religion and
humans or human made objects as gods, people who backslide even if they
were great Men of God, people who hate the plans of God and love darkness,
even those people who have the wrong understanding of the plans of God will
land up in this place.

The Lord is telling us even if we are not God haters but are believing
Christians yet we have the danger of landing in destruction. So let is make
our feeble feet strong, let us walk the path of holiness, let us be clear
of the plans of God so that we are not deceived to believing vain things.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray You help us strengthen our weak feet to be strengthen. We pray
for grace and courage so that we fall not and if we do we instantly get up
and are back on our feet. We pray for discernment that we know the things
holy from the things unholy and keep ourselves from the unholy things. We
also pray for clear direction of your plans so we do not waver in our path
to You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

2 Samuel 15:23 And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the
people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and
all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness.

2 Samuel 15:30 And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept
as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and all the
people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up,
weeping as they went up.

2 Chronicles 29:16 And the priests went into the inner part of the house
of the LORD, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they
found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD.
And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.

2 Chronicles 30:14 And they arose and took away the altars that were in
Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them
into the brook Kidron.

1 Kings 15:13 And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being
queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol,
and burnt it by the brook Kidron.

2 Kings 23:3-6

3 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to
walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and
his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words
of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood
to the covenant.

4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the
second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple
of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and
for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the
fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.

5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had
ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in
the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal,
to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of
heaven.

6 And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without
Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and
stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of
the children of the people.

Jeremiah 26:23 And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him
unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead
body into the graves of the common people.

Joel 3:2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the
valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for
my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted
my land.

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The simple minded fools

Romans 16:25 - Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my
gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of
the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made
manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the
commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the
obedience of faith:

Just 2 days back I was visiting a Believer church to meet an old friend
whom I met after many years. He had and has a great heart for God. I knew
him when I was in the Catholic Church and part of a ministry where we
together used to reach out to the lost. I was happy to see him join a
'Prophetic school' which has a 3 months long course on 'prophetic
evangelizing'.

My friend introduced me to another student who was a Pastor from south
India. When I was encouraging the Pastor about deeper study of the Word,
the Pastor surprisingly told me 'not to get too deep into all this, one
should be simple and concentrate on the Gospel'. 'The Gospel is very
important just stick to it'. He went on emphasizing and quoting verses from
the book of Romans.

Later I came to know I friend was still in the Catholic Church, yet he
called himself to be a 'Word rooted person'. When I asked him how could he
stand, sit or walk with the ungodly as Psalms 1 states, he was justified in
another way. He knew the traditions and the teachings of the Catholic
Church are contrary to the Word of God, He stated if he needed to save
those from this Church he needed to be in it. I did not understand his
terminology of saving and saving from what by keeping them in the wrong? He
too spoke to me quoting from Romans.

What really upset me was the Believer bro who was part of the Catholic
ministry we were in way back but came out along with me and was yet
justifying our friend. He was saying it is only the grace of God that saves
people and we should wait for the right time, for the right grace. He too
was quoting verses from the book of Romans.

The letter to the Romans was not the first letter of Paul yet leads all his
other letters since it is the signature letter of Paul. To know Paul and
his doctrine (understanding) one needs to learn this letter. Sadly it is
the most misunderstood and abused letter in the NT. Christians misquote
verses from it to justify their unchristian beliefs and deeds, or their
lethargic spiritual life. It is believed Paul wrote this letter in 55AD and
wrote it on his 3month trip to Corinth. This letter was written by Paul
giving great thought on the various topics. John Chrysostom the Arch bishop
of Constantinople 349 – 407 was so impacted with this letter that he had it
read to him twice every week.

For example let us take the topic grace in Romans.

We qualify for grace by our belief in the redemption that is in the Savior
(Lord Jesus Christ).

Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus:

Grace comes through faith. That means if I do not have faith in God then I
do not have the grace of God. It also means the amount of faith I have also
defines the amount of grace I can operate in. So I must increase faith so
that my grace increases.

Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we
stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the
end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of
the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the
father of us all,

Justification can be done by grace or by works. If I choose works to be
justified by God then I reject grace. Israel (people) did receive the grace
of God (Jeremiah 31:2) but when they chose to be justified by works (law)
then they lost the grace of God. So grace can be rejected or lost.

Romans 4:2-4

2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but
not before God.

3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted
unto him for righteousness. 4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not
reckoned of grace, but of debt.

Romans 11:5-7

5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to
the election of grace.

6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more
grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is
no more work.

7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the
election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

God increases grace on us when sin (temptation) around us increases, but
this grace does not give us a green card to sin. If I sin more because
grace is more, than I land rejecting grace and thus loose grace totally.

Romans 5:20-21

20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound:

21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:1,14,15

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law,
but under grace.

15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under
grace? God forbid.

Paul also states grace is not equal to all. Grace increases according to
faith, according to our situation (increase of sin) and also according to
our calling / mission. He also states grace is given in a specific area and
not general to cover all areas i.e. I may have lots of grace to overcome a
particular weakness very easily but in another weakness I may little grace
and may need to battle in that area. But God says even that little grace is
sufficient. It is here where it is written the strong take by force. So we
cannot say we will wait for the right time or wait till grace increases.
God says if we are under grace we have sufficient grace and we need to
overcome by force (spiritually) like increasing faith/believing and walking
in the promise.

Romans 12:3,6

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

6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us,
whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;

If we look at just one topic 'grace' in Romans we see it crushes many false
belief on grace that exists in many Christians (I do not want to list them
here).

In today's message we see Paul specifies Gospel, preaching / teaching of
Jesus Christ and the mysteries of the Kingdom of God as separate items.
Jesus did speak on mysteries of the Kingdom of God but He touched only the
basics and He said the Helper He sends will reveal more of His Kingdom (all
that He holds).

So let us understand the Gospel (the good news of hope of salvation in
Jesus Christ) is the basic step and it allows us to stand before the
Kingdom of God and knock on its door. It is by our baptism in Christ and
His Spirit that we walk in through the door and enter the Kingdom of God.
Thus let us not be simple minds and be victims of vanity think by standing
at the door we are in the Kingdom.

[Prayer starter]

Lord, people think the Bible is simple and thus Christianity is simple.
They do not realize even though You were full of wisdom and of Spirit as
man Jesus yet You studied the Word and grew through in understanding from a
small child to an adult. We on the other hand who are not perfect like You
have been spending years and yet know very little of your Word. Help us
understand our limitation and not be victims of simplicity and vanity...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Jeremiah 31:2 Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword
found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to
rest.

Psalms 1

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he
meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that
bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth
away.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in
the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the
ungodly shall perish.

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To have authority in Him

Mark 3:14,15 And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that
he might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses,
and to cast out devils:

We read Jesus ordained (which in other words means to bring forth) the
twelve for a purpose and in Gospel of Mark it is recorded to preach, heal
sicknesses and to cast out devils. If we read the same in Gospel Matthew
one more point is recorded and that is to heal weaknesses.

If we look at the sentence the 'and' is between preaching and the healings
and deliverances. If preaching was one of list then there should not have
been an 'and' there and should have been 'he might send them forth to
preach, to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils', but that
is not the case. If we look at the Greek word preach it means to publish.
Publish means to proclaim publicly and to do that we need boldness and
understanding.

If we expound the whole sentence it states:-

He selected the twelve to be with Him so that He could teach them and build
them to have the right understanding and enough boldness to publically
proclaim about the Kingdom of God and thus have power to heal sicknesses
and cast out demons.

If we work this same sentence in the reverse fashion, it will become:-

To have power to cast demons and to heal sicknesses we need to publically
proclaim about the Kingdom of God and for this we need courage and
understanding which we can get only by learning the Word of God (teachings
of Jesus), be taught by the Lord and have a relationship with Him (being
with the Lord Jesus Christ).

There is no shortcut here and any shortcut taken will give improper
results, so to have right results follow the process.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray we understand the importance of studying the Word, and
studying it not the worldly way but being taught by You. People teach us so
as to learn to be taught by You. We also pray we understand the importance
of having relationship with You. We pray we may do this so that we may have
boldness and right understanding to publically proclaim your salvation and
in this process we also have power to heal the sick and deliver those under
bondage of spirits...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

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 [weaknesses] and all manner of disease.

Matthew 7:29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the
scribes.

Mark 13:34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left
his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work,
and commanded the porter to watch.

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Overcoming temptation

Mark 14: 37,38 And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto
Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and
pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the
flesh is weak.

It is very interesting when a person understands the design and functional
working of a spiritual human with regards to spiritual matters. For today’s
message I could preach like all, talking of how important prayer is and how
it helps overcome temptation. But when we understand the design of man,
prayer is a logical step and thus without doubt a necessity, by this we not
only come to know its importance but also know what prayer is or how to
pray.

Without going through details and scriptural proofs on design of the inner
man, like our body is make of head, hands, legs, torso etc. our inner man
composes of 5 parts:-

Discernment

Throne

Mind

Nature

Conscience

Our physical body connects to our spirit man through our 5 senses that is
our sight, our hearing, our taste, our touch and our smell. The 5 senses
feed our inner man and causes our inner man to react i.e. words could cause
reaction of fear or courage. The 5 sense connect to the inner man through
discernment. I call this part a pump like our natural heart. Like our
natural heart cleans our blood (which is life) bringing in the bad blood
and sending out the rich purified blood (although it does not do the actual
cleaning, it is very important in the process). If our discernment is good,
even if we see, or touch, or taste, or hear, or smell things which way harm
us spiritually, but our spirit man will yet be strong. That is why what
goes in does not necessary defile us but what comes out shows how defiled
we are.

The throne is our will. Anyone or anything that is seated on the throne
rules our being. If Lord or His Kingdom is seated on our throne we dwell in
the Kingdom of the Lord, if the world is seated than we are in the world,
if evil is seated on this throne then we in the kingdom of Satan. Also we
need to note when the world is seated on our throne then Satan gets an
indirect control over us.

Mind is where all our knowledge, wisdom and understanding is, it is also
the table on which our inner man works.

Nature is our Character. Like the throne (will) has a say over our being so
also our nature has a very important say. Our nature is like the skeleton
and beauty of our spirit man. Unlike the shape of our physical skeleton is
fixed and only grows in size, our spiritual skeleton can change drastically
in shape and size. It is our nature that limits the growth our spirit man
like our natural legs limits the travelling of our physical body. When we
say ‘a person is on fire for God’ that means the nature of that person
seeks the Nature of God.

Our spirit man connects to our spirit through our conscience which we
usually call our sixth sense. It is through our conscience the spirit world
communicates to us or takes control of us. That means the Lord / Kingdom of
God communicates through our conscience, and so also evil spirits do the
same through this very part. If we have a strong (right) conscience and
always control our conscience well then we are called strong spiritually
and thus let our spirit has a greater say over us and we are led by the
spirit / Spirit. In short we receive eternal spiritual strength or are
weakened spiritually through our conscience.

Why I explained the inner man in today’s message so that you understand
prayer. Although we use our natural body and our senses to pray, our actual
communication happens through our conscience to the spirit world. If we are
not communicating through our conscience rightly during prayer then we
either become mechanical in our prayer or toys in the hands of evil spirits
(we though we pray). We can be in prayer even if we are not using our
physical body but only our inner man communicating to God through our
conscience. The more we use our conscience the more strong we become. It is
more important on how strong /sharp we use our conscience not how much time
we use it for. So a short period of strong praying is better than long
hours of weak praying. Like in a gym we need to tune our exercise
(frequency, speed and weight) as time progresses, according to the results
we aim for, so also our elements of prayer or way of praying should be
tuned.

The Greek word used for temptation also means testing; the intention
defines if it is temptation or testing. Temptation is wrong inputs or
infection getting into our inner man to cause corruption. Testing on the
other hand are inputs which shakes or test the parts of our inner man.
Testing that comes from God does not pass our sustaining limit. We should
realize the importance of prayer since praying strengthen us and helps us
overcome temptation / testing.

Today’s message we see Jesus says ‘watch and pray that lest ye enter into
temptation / testing, the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak’. He
is not talking of physical flesh as being weak but about our discernment
which connects and feds our inner man. He talks about temptation or testing
entering us not already entered us, so the gates (discernment and
conscience) need to be strong. To strengthen to our inner man through
discernment it is very hard and it also takes time, but to strengthen our
inner man through our conscience it is easier. So during temptation or
testing we should always fall unto communicating with God (payer) and
overcome temptation or testing.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray that we understand the power of prayer. We understand that the
spirit is real and the flesh temporary. We understand all things are first
existent in spirit and then manifested in the natural. We pray that we live
a prayerful life, not just praying more but praying more effective. Help us
live our lives in such a fashion that our prayer in more powerful to
overcome all temptation and testing...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

1 Corinthians 7:5-6

5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that
ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that
Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.

6 But I speak this by permission [experience], and not of commandment.

Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are
spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

1 Thessalonians 3:5 For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent
to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and
our labour be in vain.

James 1:13-14

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot
be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and
enticed.


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Enforcing His plans by force

Luke 1:63, 64 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His
name is John. And they marvelled all. And his mouth was opened immediately,
and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.

We always talk of the free will that God has given us. We as humans have a
choice to choose life or death. If we choose life by believing and
surrendering to the Giver of Life then all our wrong doings are forgiven
and we get to go to Heaven to live there eternally else after our natural
death we suffer in a prison our every wrong doing until our spiritual death
(which is in thousands of years but is not eternal). The punishment of
those who choose death may sound terrible but even more terrible is the
suffering of those who believe in the Giver of Life but do not accept His
life giving Word. The punishment of those who believe in Him yet reject His
Word is beyond imagination and Bible says it was intended not for man but
for the fallen angels.

In today's message we see another aspect of God which may question free
will. Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth had a special role to play in the
coming of our Savior. They were to be vessels for the messenger who makes
way for the coming of the Savior. This was prophesied by the Lord and had
to be fulfilled at that time itself. Understand the time for the coming was
precise for many reasons and could not be delayed or advanced by even a
day. We see Zacharias was a godly man who had great love for God and did
his best to walk in righteousness (His ways), but his faith was not very
strong and God knew his weakness. God knew Zacharias had the ability to
speak loose words of disbelief and thus hamper the coming of the one who
makes way for the coming of the Savior, so God shuts the mouth of Zacharias
(ability to speak) and when the prophesy was fulfilled God opened His
mouth. So we see even though we have choice at times God uses force.

Did God take away the free will of Zacharias by shutting him for nine
months of his wife Elizabeth conceiving till until she gave birth? Actually
NO.

God knew Zacharias would have been the happiest person to be the vessel in
the great plan of God for the salvation of mankind. But due to his lack of
knowledge and a shaky inner man he would have delayed the plan of God.

For Abram to be known as Abraham God gave him many years, but for Jacob to
be known as Israel God had to take things by force, thus wrestled him as a
man.

Understand when it comes to personal choice or personal salvation God has
lots of patience, so gives us ample time. But if our decision can affect
the life of others especially mankind in whole then God does not allow
delay. We see here in the birth of John the Baptist God took things by
force, God knew the willingness of Zacharias but the margin of delay due to
the unsteady faith of Zacharias was a factor God could not afford so God
took it by force.

Today God is talking to all those who feel their life has been drastic of
stirred violently, if you feel that way then you could be an important
person in the plan of God for the salvation of others or mankind in whole.
You may not know it today but when the story gets over you will see the
great Hand of God in your life.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord You dwell beyond time and time is not a factor for You. You Lord can
see all things across time and thus You know all. You know our hearts Lord
what it is now and what it will become thus You call us by our name for You
alone know our names. Lord we pray we understand your ways and overcome our
weakness so as to not come to a stage that You need to take things by force
in our lives for what You declared in your Word You will surely bring to
past...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


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Setting free on the seventh year

Jeremiah 34:14 At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother
an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six
years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not
unto me, neither inclined their ear.

There are many who argue on the Sabbath day, the seventh day (Saturday) of
the week as the day of rest. People love to quote scriptures pro or against
it. One should also look at other factors like which seventh day from when,
if they truly consider the seventh day as Sabbath. Are people aware that
many times in history days have been added or removed from the calendar/s?
They say seventh day of the week as the Sabbath, but if I reset the week
suddenly will they ok with the seventh day from the time of resetting of
the week or seventh day from the previous seventh day? If it is 7 days from
the previous Sabbath then would they be ok with another day of the week
being a Sabbath. If they stick to the week’s seventh day as being the
Sabbath then are they keeping the instructions of 6 days rest and seventh
day as rest?

Are people aware the naming of the weeks are according to heavenly
(astronomical) bodies Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn.
And more amazing is the fact this naming system roots in Babylonian
astrology (around 500BC done according to pagan gods) which was innovated
by the Romans according to Hellenistic astrology in 1 AD and made popular
worldwide in 4 AD. In between 4AD and now, certain Christians used to call
Sunday as Day of the Lord and Saturday as Sabbath. It was the Catholic
Church which had a big hand in making the Babylonian / Roman pagan gods
based week naming system a world standard.

I have never seen people debate on the Sabbath year, or Jubilee year (which
came after 7 Sabbath years). Were they not instructed from the Lord?

In the New Testament we see 55 times the word ‘Sabbath’ occurs and 45 times
in just the Gospels. In the Gospels they are mostly used as reference to
the time of day or in arguments which Jesus had with the Jews. Of the
remaining 10 times 9 times it occurs in the book of Acts alone and only
once does Paul or other disciples refer to the Sabbath and that too it is
referred to along with New Moon day and pagan holidays.

Neither Jesus nor Paul denied the Sabbath, or said we should not keep the
Sabbath but they had a good understanding of it. For them it was not a
tradition or ritual. When Jesus said Son of Man was the lord of the Sabbath
most think He was referring to Himself as the ‘Son of Man’ as the lord here.

Today’s message shows God was serious even of the Sabbath year not just the
Sabbath day. Our God is not into traditions and time of the day or week or
year is not a factor for Him or for His people who are led by His Spirit.
It is by the understanding of the Sabbath year that Paul could state he was
a slave bought for a price by the Lord and was free, yet now he considered
himself as a voluntary bond slave having rights to inheritance as a son
does.

I was just watching today a video on Youtube about what Israelis thought
about Jesus. What you see in the video is that all Jews disown Jesus as
Messiah. Many stated to a extend He left Judaism to start another religion.
But one thing all Jews were proud of was Moses, the Torah and the
traditions of the Jews. Their traditions are more important than the
purpose of their traditions.

Let us who are baptized in the Holy Spirit not be bonded in rituals and
worship God in the flesh, nor let us burden others who are baptized in the
Holy Spirit into traditions. Let us not come to a state that the Lord asks
us the same question which He did to the Israelites in today’s message ‘why
did you not let your brethren free on the Sabbath year?’.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord your Word says there will come a time when your people worship You in
Spirit and Truth. We pray that your people know You are not into rituals
and everything You stated or recorded in your Word has purpose and
understanding and that purpose and understanding is more important than the
letter...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Matthew 12:1-5

1 At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his
disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.

2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples
do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.

3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an
hungred, and they that were with him;

4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which
was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but
only for the priests?

5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests
in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?

Matthew 12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

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

Acts 15:28-29

28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no
greater burden than these necessary things;

29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from
things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves,
ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

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From sin to religion

Jeremiah 34:15, 16 And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight,
in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a
covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: But ye turned
and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his
handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and
brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.

Today again the Lord wants to discuss on bondage and liberty, continuing
the topic we received yesterday.

Before we are baptized in the Lord we were salves to sin and death but
after our repentance and belief in the salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ
we are free from the hold of sin on us. It does not mean we are free from
sin, it just means we do not continue to live a life of sin. It means we
battle sin and try to overcome sin by building faith and increasing the
grace of God in our lives.

Since Christ paid a price for our freedom from Hell by His victory over
Hell, we become slaves / servants unto Him. But the day we are baptized in
His Spirit we are considered free for we have received His Spirit who
enables us to become Sons of God; for scriptures says those who are led by
Spirit are Sons of God. Since baptism is not a ritual but a long process so
also our becoming Sons of God is a long process and continues through
generations until the Truth is complete in us and we overcome like Jesus
and become like Him.

The Lord has been giving us this message yesterday and today because we in
Church are freeing people from the bondage of sin and putting them in
another bondage; a bondage more worse than sin.

If one learns the Hebrew words ‘evil’ it symbolically means depriving or
holding back the prosperity (spiritual) which exist in the Kingdom of God,
‘sin’ on the other hand means missing life that is eternal in Him. So
anything that we do which holds us back from growing in the Lord is evil
and anything we do which deprives us from eternal life in Him is sin.

When we take people who are forgiven due to their faith in the Lord and
deprive them from growing in the Lord by putting them in bondages of
religion or religious practices then we are counted in the category of evil
doers or promoters of evil.

Many Pastors feel it more important to keep believers in Church than to
empower them and send them out to build Churches in whole.

As Christians our battle is inside and our mission is outside. It is the
outside mission that helps us fight the inside battle better. We should
make sure all members of the Church are involved in some or other activity
of evangelizing or service. We need to teach them like Jesus taught His
twelve; we need to put them through mission like Jesus send the seventy in
pairs.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray the Church leaders concentrate more on sending people out of
Churches than bringing them in Churches. We pray they realize unless
Christians do not go out unbelievers will not come in. We pray Lord they
understand the importance of building disciples for You and not disciples
for themselves. We pray your people be led by your Spirit and not be led by
the rules and guild lines of some ministry...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death
by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Luke 10:1-21

1 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them
two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself
would come.

2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the
labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would
send forth labourers into his harvest.

3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

4 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.

5 And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house.

6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not,
it shall turn to you again.

7 And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they
give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.

8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things
as are set before you:

9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of
God is come nigh unto you.

10 But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your
ways out into the streets of the same, and say,

11 Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off
against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is
come nigh unto you.

12 But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for
Sodom, than for that city.

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

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

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

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

17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils
are subject unto us through thy name.

18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and
over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto
you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the
wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for
so it seemed good in thy sight.


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Throne to all generations

Psalms 89:3,4 I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto
David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy
throne to all generations. Selah.

In the whole Bible the word 'Selah' occurs 71 times in the book of Psalms
and 3 times in the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk means strong embrace and he
was a man who embraced the wisdom of God very strongly. He was one among
three Prophets (Haggai and Zechariah) to use the tile 'The Prophet' to his
name. Some believe like a prophet he did not say 'thus says the Lord' but
may have said it in psalms (poems or songs) since 'Selah' was a musical
note something like a long pause. It was a sign to notify the high
importance of the sentence. In English text it would equate to underlining
of the sentence.

If one speaks to the learned Jews (most Jews like Muslims memorize the text
but do not pursue deeper understanding of the text) about today's message
they would say this was one of the two most important promises of God which
they await. Many Jews would say they await a Messiah but only the learned
ones would say they await two Messiahs according to the two promises, one a
Prophet greater than Moses and second a King as promised in today's message
(the Sadducees did not value the books of the Prophets so ignored this
promise).

If you ask a Christian what today's scripture means and they would say
Jesus will come to establish His Throne forever.

Religion is mental programing and is like blindfolds to wisdom or spiritual
eyes of a person. Today's scripture is proof of our last message. People go
not by what they read or what the text says but go by what they have been
told or programed. Typical case of misunderstood people teaching others,
that is why in scriptures always we see God blamed the fathers of the Jews
for their misunderstanding, but blamed the hearts of the Jews for their
character.

The scripture does not talk of Lord establishing His Throne but
establishing the throne of man, 'thy throne' here making David as a
representative of mankind.

Understand Jesus / God did not humble Himself and become man to establish
His Throne. His Kingdom was, is and will be forever, and no being can and
will threaten His Kingdom for He is indeed God. God came as man to save His
creation and reestablish the kingdom of mankind.

When God created man God had given dominion to man over this creation (this
dimension of God's Kingdom). Man due to sin had lost his rule over this
creation and caused creation to become his enemy (revolt against him).
Jesus by restoring the image of God in us helps us restore our rue over
this creation and thus the throne (rule) of mankind is restored. Jesus as
man is called Prince of Peace (not King of Peace) and is also called Chief
Prince (head of all Princes of God / Israel).

Let us understand the battle is ours and Jesus through His Spirit is
leading us in our battle. We are fighting for what we lost and the battle
is inwards not outwards. Satan did not rob us but caused us to lose. He
attacked our image and thus caused us to lose our kingship. The stronger we
are inside the greater hold we will have on the outside. So let us not be
distracted with what is happening outside, instead let us focus on the
inside and bring back the image of God in us (become Sons of God), and we
will see every being in this creation will bend its knee to the Lord.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord You created us to rule and due to sin we became slaves. Lord we pray
by being slaves not to sin but to your plans we work to gain our kingship
again. Lord let all your people understand when they work for your Kingdom
they realize they are working for their kingship and their kingship is part
of your Kingdom and that You are helping them to regain their Kingship...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Habakkuk 3:3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran.
Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.

Habakkuk 3:9 Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the
tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.

Habakkuk 3:13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for
salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of
the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Matthew 2:6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least
among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that
shall rule my people Israel.

1 Peter 2:6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay
in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded.

1 Peter 5:4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a
crown of glory that fadeth not away.

Acts 5:31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a
Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

Acts 3:15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the
dead; whereof we are witnesses.

Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the
first begotten of the dead, and the prince [chief] of the kings of the
earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Romans 8:18-23

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God.

20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by
reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now.

23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of
the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.


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Christian Apostates

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

In Islam the most hated by Allah are the Muslim apostates. In Islamic
countries anyone found becoming an apostate not only that person is killed
(beheaded or stoned to death) but all the close ones in the family are also
punished. This measure of judgment according to them is justified since
according to Islam if anyone converts or kills an infidel (non-Muslim)
then not only that person gets to go to paradise (ironically this is the
only confirmed way and easiest way in the Quran to go to paradise) but also
the person's family gets to go to paradise (a family ticket!).

Christianity on the other hand is not a religion like no person becomes a
Christian by conversion of religion or change of name or traditions or
culture, in the same a person does not need to change religion to become an
apostate.

Ask anyone what Christianity is and they will tell you Christianity is
relationship with God, but it does not end there. Christianity starts will
one knowing God and having a relationship with Him but it goes on with that
person taking the journey to Fruits of Truth, Righteousness and Holiness,
on the way the person grows the other (9) Fruits of the Holy Spirit. When
we die we have not achieved the goal but by our being on the journey
qualify us to enter Heaven.

In today's message the Lord tells us of 2 conditions that makes a Christian
apostate, one is when the person abandons the Christ journey. This does not
require the person to deny God, even if the person chooses to live his or
her live the worldly way the person is considered Christian apostate.

The other condition which would surprise many is even if the person
believes and remains a good person but yet does not seek God that person is
considered a Christian apostate.

A Christian is a person who seeks God, seeks His knowledge and
understanding of His Word and also seeks more and more of His Spirit, for
He knows it is only by His Word and His Spirit one can reach Him. So let us
not think we are Christians when we stop trying to know Him more and more
and do not seek Him more and more in our lives. Not just in knowledge and
understanding but also in the way we live our lives.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord Jesus You said You are the only Way to the Father. Lord we pray your
people are not deceived into think they are still Christians when they turn
back from your Way or stop moving on the Way. It is like the Israelites
turning back to Egypt or stopping their journey in the wilderness, how
would they have been called your people had they done that? Lord we pray
every Christian be a persevering Christian, persevering Christ in their
lives...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 14:6-7

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me.

7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from
henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

John 16:7-15

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

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

9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;

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

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

12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

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

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

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

Matthew 7:22-24

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in
thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many
wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye
that work iniquity.

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I
will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

Ephesians 5:8-13

8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk
as children of light:

9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness [holiness] and
righteousness and truth;)

10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but
rather reprove them.

12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them
in secret.

13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for
whatsoever doth make manifest is light.


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Have boldness to speak His Word

Acts 4:29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy
servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

In Acts 4:27 we read the term ‘holy child Jesus’. It is this words which
caused Catholics to start dedication to ‘infant Jesus’. Today you find many
Catholics having pilgrimages and novenas dedicated infant Jesus where very
large crowd rattle out scripted prayers, burn candles, offer flowers, offer
various types of offerings (objects) to these statues of a child with a
ring on its head (ring on the head symbolizing holiness).

If a Catholic comes to know the word used in the scriptures as ‘child’
actually means ‘male servant’, would they stop their infant Jesus
pilgrimages? No. The reason is too much money and tradition is at stake,
and the later part is the most hard to give up it crushes their belief all
together.

The word used in today’s message as ‘servant’ actually means bond servant,
a servant bought for a price or out of debt. Unlike the word used in verse
27 where the word is voluntary this servant is out of compulsion.

We Christians are bought for a price which we can never give and thus we
have no option but to work for the Lord’s Kingdom. But we see God does not
demand such a requirement for us even though He has all the right to do
that. He on the other hand gives us the free will to serve Him or not to
serve Him.

We all know in business or even personal lives every financial year we need
to submit our accounts. Our debit and credits are tallied and at the end
the result is checked. People with simple minds think everything will be
summarized and then the total will be made.

Islam has some very funny system according to a Hadith Allah balances all
good deeds and bad deeds himself. Anyone who has intended a good deed and
has done it gets a full 10 to 700 good deeds recorded (score). If he had
intended to do a bad deed and does not do it then he gets 1 good deed
recorded, but if he intents a bad deed and does it then he gets a 1 bad
deed recorded. So we see according to Islam Allah allows to write of 10 to
700 bad deeds by doing 1 good deed done with intention (irrelevant of how
big or small this deed is). Can this be a righteous judgment?

Even in worldly accounting system we have different account heads and we
cannot move the debit or credit from one account head to another account
head. It looks like man’s accounting system more righteous than Allah’s
accounting system. I cannot write off my lust sins by donation or helping
the poor, nor a murder by paying blood money.

If we as Christians would have had to be stuck to God’s accounting system
none of us would go pass Him. So how much ever more good we do or less bad
we do it is not going to justify our entry to Heaven. Our entry is always
going to be a paid fair by the Lord and if the Lord is paying for our entry
to Heaven aren’t we obliged to be doing His work or executing His plans
here on earth? Even if the Lord does not demand of us yet we are obliged to
Him.

Let us have boldness in doing what we have to do irrespective of how people
respond to us. If they go against us yet we are not called to draw back in
our shells. Even to the last breathe of our lives we are obligated to Him
for what He has done for us, so let us ask the Lord like the Apostles did
for boldness to speak His Truth.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray your people may understand the price You paid for their
salvation and freedom from death and suffering. Today they may not realize
but one day they will know by faith in You, You have set them free for the
debt which was impossible for them to pay and from a suffering which they
cannot imagine. Lord we pray who are called by your Name may know their
responsibility and do they work and give your Truth with boldness...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 4:27-28

27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of
Israel, were gathered together,

28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be
done.

Roman 6:19-22

19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh:
for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity
unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness
unto holiness.

20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for
the end of those things is death.

22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have
your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.



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Kings and Rulers

Acts 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

This Monday I was preaching at one of my house churches and the topic was
on Kings and Rulers. When the Lord gave me the topic I wondered what I
would teach that too I had just 1-2 hours to prepare, that too between my
office work. But then as I started some new things started coming up and I
started getting excited but as I was sharing the Word what I landed
learning surprised me and took hours (even after the preaching) for me to
digest. I will not be able to share it in this restricted message, so will
share some part of it.

We normally think king and ruler is almost the same profile, one being a
monarchy and the other an administrative person having legal rights, but
Biblically they do not carry that meaning.

The Greek word for 'king' comes from the word 'foot' symbolizing
foundation. A king is supposed to be the foundation law giver, governor,
caretaker, provider etc. If the king is strong the kingdom stands and if
the king is weak the kingdom falls. So this single individual becomes very
important for the whole kingdom.

The Greek word for 'ruler' comes from the word 'to lead' symbolizing a
leader. So when the Bible uses the word ruler it means a person who leads
by example or makes people to follow the thinking or beliefs or lifestyle
of that person.

Paul uses the words throne, dominion and power (various foundations) as
substitution for the word king and he uses the word principality for ruler.
There are kings and rulers of this world (carnal world) so also there are
kings and rulers in the spiritual world. In today's message we see the
kings and rulers of the carnal world go against the Lord and His Christ. We
may see it as no surprise but if we examine the words 'Lord and His Christ'
is used.

When we use the term 'Christ' it refers to the man who God (part of God)
humbled and became and the Spirit of God on Him. We need to understand when
God created us we were given dominion over this world. In other words we
were made kings (princes) of this world but due to sin our sight
/understanding corrupted and we lost the knowledge of our authority. Jesus
showed Himself to be a man of authority and thus showed us what we are.
Being renewed does not mean a new being as in substituting the one inside,
it means the corruption (sin) on the outside being removed and the perfect
person (whom God created) inside being revealed.

Jesus Christ as man is referred as the Chief of kings (princes) on the
world which means He is our Head. But when we use the word 'Lord' or put
the term before His name as in 'Lord Jesus Christ' we refer to His divine
status as God. Thus we see in today's message these carnal powers are not
only standing or going against the rule of God on earth but also in the
Heavens. It is not that they are challenging God. Even the Devil knows who
God is and trembles, what he challenges is God's rule, God's plans. We see
in the next scripture King Herod tried to kill the infant Jesus. He was not
just trying to destroy the life of a human (Anointed Son of Man) but was
trying to destroy our lives for Herod was part the carnal kings and rulers
and did not want the plans of God to save the lives of His people. Herod
knew if he killed the Savior before He did His work, Herod would have
destroyed not only us but also the rebuilding of the Heavenly Jerusalem -
the Heavenly Temple.

Let us not take the things of the world likely, let us understand their
intentions and let us know our authority over them since God has given us
that authority.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray we understand the things of the carnal world and the things of
the spirit world. Help us Lord to discern their intentions and help us to
know our authority over them. Help us to overcome them and destroy their
intentions by our obedience in You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Colossians 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him,
and for him:

Colossians 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a
shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Titus 3:1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to
obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,

Acts 4:25-28

25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen
rage, and the people imagine vain things?

26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord, and against his Christ.

27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of
Israel, were gathered together,

28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be
done.

Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the
first begotten of the dead, and the prince [Chief] of the kings of the
earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

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Custom made for the mission

Romans 2:27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil
the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the
law?

Sometimes we wonder why we were born in certain society or religion and not
born in a Believer family and why the Lord took time to open our eyes to
the Truth, to bring us to know Him?

When I was a Catholic I thought everything about my spiritual life was ok
since my eyes were focused to the people and to myself since looking at
other people I was ok. But when I eyes started focusing upwards, towards
God things started changing, questions started being raised in my mind 'is
there one God or do all gods of the various religions existing together?',
'Is it that we all are somewhat right and are calling the same being via
different names?'. Then came the tougher questions 'how could one god speak
differently to different people?' (Sounds more like Satan) and then came
the other extreme thoughts 'may be God does not exist at all and we are
just playing 'god, god' like child play with toys imitating roles'.

Catholicism did not allow me to question beyond a certain limit; beyond
that I was told to trust the priest or 'church authority'. It was only when
God started responding and showing He truly existed that my eyes opened and
I came to know Him. I was very happy that all my previous questions were
answered. But then the main question was why did God take so much time to
respond, had He responded earlier things would have been different?

It was only later I realized my journey in life was like the journey of
David as a shepherd, had David not gone through those lonely and difficult
moments he would have not been the king, the psalmist and the Man of God
who had a great heart for the Lord. Now that I am aware of the mission that
God has set ahead for me, and when I look back and see I see there was no
better route God would have taken me know the me I was to make the me what
I am today. There are lots of things I may have missed but what I have
today is more precious to me than those I may have missed.

Why am I talking of all this in today's message of circumcision and law?

If we read the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, it is basically addressed to
the Jewish raising mostly Jewish topics but yet addressed to the Romans!

Paul was both Jew and Roman; there was no one more custom made to do the
task he was set for. His letter to the Romans was not his first letter yet
it is not coincidentally that it is put first for it projects the real
Paul. Paul in his letter to the Jews in Rome takes on the topic of what a
Jew is. Even after 2000 years we still see people running after the words
'Israel' and 'Jew' without understand what a Biblical Jew is and what a
Biblical Israelite is. They pick bits and pieces from the later and do not
consider the letter in totality. They do not understand why the Israelites
were stopped being referred as 'Israel' and were called 'Jews'. People are
deceived to run after the wrong people just because the carry the name tag
'Israel' or 'Jew' and not knowing who God referred to as His people.

I do not blame the people for this confusion because the blame falls on the
Pastors and Church leaders. When Jesus advised His disciple on the process
of making a Christian, He told them to give the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, get them baptized in Him and then in the Holy Spirit and after that
teach them the Word. What we see people are given the Gospel and without
proper baptism they are taught the Word. Now can any person without baptism
of the Holy Spirit be able to understand the Word of God? The result is it
becomes knowledge for them like it was for the Jews. And like the Jews
these Christians are also far from God and worship Baal (a God they do not
know) therefore when problems come their faith is shaken.

In science when a scientist makes something they use the term invented or
created but when they find something that existed but was not known they
too use the word discovered and not invented or made or created. Religions
of the world can be studied and reasoned for they are made but Christianity
is not a religion that can be reasoned. Christianity is something that
needs to be discovered since it is a relationship with God and existed from
the foundation of creation. Unless God reveals we will never know or
understand God, His Christ, His Spirit or the Kingdom of God.

A true Christian can never take credit to know of the understanding of the
Kingdom of God for had he or she tried and tried, he or she would have
never understood, they would have been like others in this world; worldly
people are not dumb, they are intellectual but blind. It is the favor of
God and His purpose that He reveals things which are hidden from others and
brings to our understanding what the wise of this world do not understand.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray your people know that their life is a testimony in You and
that without that testimony they would not be the messenger for your
Kingdom that could do the mission set for them. Lord we pray we remember in
all things You do good for us. We also remember we are unique and the
mission set for us is unique and that there is no one else who can do what
is set for us...

We make this prayer in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 21:39 But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in
Cilicia [Rome], a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me
to speak unto the people.

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew [ones
who believe in signs and wonders] first, and also [even] to the Greek [ who
seek knowledge and understanding].

Romans 2:8-9

8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey
unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the
Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

Romans 2:16-24

16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ
according to my gospel.

17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy
boast of God,

18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent,
being instructed out of the law;

19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light
of them which are in darkness,

20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form
of knowledge and of the truth in the law.

21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou
that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?

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

23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law
dishonourest thou God?

24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it
is written.

Romans 2:28-29

28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that
circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men,
but of God.

Romans 3:1-3

1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of
circumcision?

2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the
oracles of God.

3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of
God without effect?

Romans 10:12-13

12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same
Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

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

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Worshiping the Image of the Beast

Revelation 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast,
that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as
would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

Those who have seen TV soaps the stories may look shocking, with all kind
of twists and dramatic exposures, but these stand no place compared to the
great soap running in this world run by Satan.

Firstly when people read the word Satan they think of an individual and are
unaware this word is plural and not singular. Throughout the Bible from
Moses to Genesis, the Lord has been talking of the evil army of fallen
Angels led by 2 characters and yet the world is deceived or blinded to not
see two but see only one. Because of this they are unable to place Lucifer
being put in the pit for thousand years (it is not written as one but many
- plural) and being released at the end.

If we see Moses talks of the serpent (adder) and the young lion (as a lion)
[Psalms 91], Revelation talks of the dragon [devil/serpent] and the beast,
Ezekiel speaks of the king of Tyrus and the prince of Tyrus. Revelation
also in 2 verses writes of the character 'who was, is not and shall ascend
out of the bottomless pit'. Ezekiel 28 has a great detail of the 2
characters with a brief of them.

Jesus never gave much importance to fighting Satan but concentrated on
fighting his works in us. Jesus knew when and how the battle will be and
how the Devil and his army will be overcome (even Devil and his army know
their end).

Today's message talks of the image of the beast which is brought to life.
This image is not something which shows up at the end, in fact from the
start this image has been there and has been changing identity and names.
This image was the deity in the tower of Babel which unified all people of
the world at that time and was the reason God bought the tower down and
caused confusion between all the people by the way of languages. In the end
also it will be this same image but with a Christian identity which will
again cause the world to be untied for it will manifest itself to be alive
and anyone who does not worship it will be put to death.

If one looks at all non-atheist religions one would see this image or
character lurking in the shadows. In one religion this character is very
prominent and takes the front seat. In Revelation 17 we see this religion's
fall is spoken of. The image coming to life happens a long period later to
the fall of this religion when the false prophet revives it. This religion
is equated to Babylon because there are a lot of common things between that
kingdom and this religion, one can study through the book of Daniel.

Today people are worried about radical Islam and other radical religions
for they go by sight but if one goes by Word one would know the religion
which today looks very peaceful and silent will someday be worse than any
radical religion existent now. We have seen a preview of the true face of
this religion between 300AD and 1500AD but that was just a preview.
Christianity has not suffered much by any other religion including Islam
more than by this religion.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray the eyes of the people be open to the great deceit. You have
warned us time and again that the deceiver will come as an angel of light.
Lord people today worship this image of the beast thinking that this image
leads them to You but they are ignorant to the fact this image is the works
of the beast and its master the dragon who has no other aim but to destroy
them. We pray their eyes open and they be saved...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Revelation 20:2-3,7

2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and
Satan, and bound him thousand years [thousands is plural],

3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal
upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand
years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of
his prison,

Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be
priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him [the - BGT] thousand
years.

Revelation 17:8-9

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

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

Revelation 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the
eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

Psalms 91:13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and
the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Ezekiel 28:2,12

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

12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto
him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and
perfect in beauty.


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Why Jesus wept?

John 11:35 Jesus wept.

This verse is the shortest verse in the Bible yet it is very misunderstood.
Bible may be simple textually, yet it requires a person to really
investigate with the help of the Spirit of God to understand it.

People think Jesus wept because Lazarus had died and Jesus felt his loss.

If one analyzes the scripture from John 11:1-46 and John 12:9-13, 17-23 and
note down the important points then they would know why Jesus wept. I am
doing the same below.

1. Jesus came to know about Lazarus being sick long before yet Jesus did
not leave immediately to meet him. Jesus stayed back for 2 days in the same
place even knowing it was a terminal sickness.

2. Jesus was aware Lazarus would die and in fact had died soon afterwards
yet He continued to stay back and did not morn in any way even after
knowing that Lazarus had died.

3. Jesus assured His disciples that this incident was for the glory of God.

4. Jesus confirms to His disciples that Lazarus was already died.

5. Jesus knew this incident was going to change their belief for He knew He
was going to bring Lazarus back to life.

6. On knowing Lazarus' death Thomas His disciple makes a nasty comment 'Let
us also go, that we may die with him' since they were aware Jesus and His
disciples were not in good books with the Jews and they had infuriated them
some time back. They were also aware Bartimaeus which means son of
Timaeus(who was a Roman senior army officer) was not blind by birth but was
made blinded by the Romans as punishment for rebelling and by Jesus healing
him some time back, Jesus had initiated a rebel against the Roman Empire.
So now not only the Jews but even the Romans were against them.

7. Jesus still holds His cool and is confident to bring back Lazarus to
life even at this point.

8. Martha and Mary had great faith in Jesus and believed Jesus could have
bought Lazarus back to life, since Jesus had bought many to life, but only
if Jesus had reached in time.

9. When Jesus had reached the place it was four days pass Lazarus' death.

10. When Martha meets Jesus before He reaches the grave Jesus assures
Martha her brother will come to life but then Martha does not believe for
there was something she knew that had made the bringing back to life of
Lazarus impossible.

11. Later Mary meets Jesus and with her were the Jewish mourners, when
Jesus saw the morners He gets disturbed in spirit.

11. The mourners at this funeral were not relatives but hired mourners
bought according to tradition followed by certain sects of Jews to which
Martha and her family belonged.

12. Jesus immediately asked them where they laid Lazarus.

13. It was only when Jesus lands at the place and sees where they laid him
did Jesus cry.

Jesus did not cry because Lazarus had died but was first disturbed in
spirit seeing His disciples had professional mourners at the funeral (they
may have come by themselves yet Martha and Mary had not discouraged them or
told them to leave). Jesus only cried when He saw what they had done to
Lazarus.

If you understand the history of the Israelites one would understand this.
Israel was split into 2 parts the southern part was called Judea and had
Jerusalem as its capital; it was the people of Judea who were called Jews.
They were Israelites who continued purely in the traditions of Moses, thus
were considered righteous people. The northern part was called Israel,
which had Samaria as its capital so the people there were later called
Samarians. They were hated by the Jews since they had infiltrated the
Jewish traditions with Babylonian and Egyptian traditions which they had
picked up during their exiles. Galilee was part of northern Israel and a
hub for this cosmopolitan life therefore it was stated no Prophet would
come from this town.

During the time of Jesus the divide was nonexistent physically and whole
place was called Judea but there were people of the north who followed the
purer Judaism and people in the south who followed the mixed version (note
they also accused Jesus of being a Samaritan since He officially came from
the northern part - Galilee).

We see they had wrapped Lazarus in funeral bandages which were not Jewish
tradition but according to Egyptian traditions. We all know what the
Egyptians did to their dead - they embalmed them and this process required
cutting the body open and filling it with a mixture of spices after the
blood drained out or absent, thus was done on the third day of the person's
death. How much of the Egyptian tradition was performed on Lazarus is not
written but they did it, is known by the fact that the body was bandaged
and this bringing back to life of Lazarus had caused a great shaking among
all the people so much so that the Jews when they came to know came with
palm branches to welcome Jesus to Jerusalem and mainly to see Lazarus. It
caused the religious leaders to not only seek the death of Jesus but also
to put Lazarus again to death.

By bring back Lazarus back to life Jesus had not just bought a dead man to
life but had also regenerated some of his internal organs and this was the
last miracle Jesus did as man.

We see Jesus did not weep because of Lazarus' death but wept because He saw
the faithlessness of His disciples. Jesus knew death is not the end but a
stage of sleep. When Jesus was bruised and given gruesome lashes He did not
weep but wept when disappointed by His own, it showed what hurts Him more.

Today Lord is telling us when we show lack of faith in Him and do things
contrary His Word then we cause Him to cry. So let us think do we want the
Lord to weep and if not, then let us hold strong our faith.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray we understand faith. It is faith that identifies us as your
children and it is faith that matures us in You and molds us from children
into Sons. Faithless and sin are things that separate us from You and we
know Lord more than us, You love us more and it hurts You more when we are
far from You. Lord we pray we hold unto our faith and do not distant
ourselves from You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 11:1-46

John 7:52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee?
Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.

John 8:48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that
thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

John 12:9-13, 17-23

9 Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came
not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had
raised from the dead.

10 But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to
death;

11 Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed
on Jesus.

12 On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they
heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried,
Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

17 The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of
his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record.

18 For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had
done this miracle.

19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye
prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.

20 And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the
feast:

21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee,
and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell
Jesus.

23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man
should be glorified.


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Same Baptism, same food and same Rock

1 Corinthians 10: 2-4 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in
the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the
same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed
them: and that Rock was Christ.

Jesus spoke of 2 baptisms which are essential that is of water and spirit.
We see here Paul speaks about the Israelites who also had 2 baptisms that
are of Sea and Cloud and Paul compares their baptism to our baptism. What
is interesting is Paul says they ate the same spiritual meat and drank the
same spiritual milk and the Rock that followed them was Christ.

In simple words Paul is equating the following

The Israelites crossing of the Red Sea, to our baptism in Jesus Christ
(water).

The Israelites being led by the Pillar of Cloud / Fire, to our baptism in
the Holy Spirit.

The food (teachings) received from Moses, to the teaching we received from
Jesus Christ (spiritual meat and spiritual drink).

The Rock that followed them (there were 2 mentioned) to Jesus and the Holy
Spirit (the word Christ means the One with the Spirit of God).

By this equation Paul makes things easy for us to understand.

When we understand the situation of the Israelites near the Red Sea we will
understand water baptism.

When we understand the leading of the Israelites through the desert by the
Pillar of Cloud in the day and Pillar of Fire at night, we will understand
what it means being led by the Holy Spirit.

The Gospel of Matthew, Mark and Luke are pure teachings of Jesus Christ and
there is no prophetic Word (concerning Salvation of Mankind) in any of them
leaving for the Gospel of John. Both Jesus (in these 3 Gospels) and Paul
preached from the Old Testament yet we find what both preached may sound
complete different yet was the same. The Jews never understood what the
Lord had spoken through Moses it was only through the Spirit of Truth (whom
we received through Jesus Christ) did the right understanding of scriptures
started being revealed.

Moses was allowed to strike the first Rock which symbolized Jesus (the Son)
but was not allowed to strike the second Rock (the Holy Spirit) that is why
when he struck the second Rock he was punished and not allowed to enter the
Promised Land symbolizing to us those who grieve the Holy Spirit will not
enter Heaven.

When we compare the beliefs of the Jews and the Christians there is a great
difference between them and us, like between the sky and land. The Jews had
everything which we have yet they were far from God and His Kingdom. They
were so far that they did not recognize God the Son; they hated Him and
thus killed Him.

You may say God may have been unjust with them for not revealing to them
His Son, since scriptures say unless the Father brings them to the Son no
one can come to know the Son and the Son being the only way to the Father
thus no one can go to the Father without the Son. So why did God reject
them?

If you read the next set of scriptures (verses 5-12) we see God was not
pleased with the Israelites for the evil in them therefore they perished in
the wilderness.

We need to understand by we becoming Christians God does not assure us a
green ticket to Heaven. Being baptized in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit
does not mean a onetime event but means a continual process. By grace we
come to Christ but grace alone does not take us to Heaven. God did not say
'by My grace' but said 'by My Spirit'.

Being born again or being renewed does not means putting something new, it
means removing the old and bringing back that being within which God
created before sin corrupted it. It is about cleansing and shedding off the
wrong that covers us.

We see many Christians do what most people do to their walls, if they find
the wall dirty they put a new paint over it and thus make the wall looks
new externally, God is not into this. In the Kingdom of God we need to
scrub that dirt away by the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit and become
a wall on which even if dirt is thrown, dirt will not stick.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord may your people understand what it means to be born again. May they
not be stiff-necked like the Jews and thus perish in the hardness of their
hearts. Lord help us work from the inside with the help that come from
above...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw
him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Matthew 11:27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man
knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save
the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him

1 Corinthians 10:5-12

5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown
in the wilderness.

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

7 Neither 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.

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

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

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

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

12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

John 3:3-8

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again [from above], he cannot see the kingdom of God.

4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

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

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit.

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again [from above].

8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one
that is born of the Spirit.

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the
sons of God, 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.


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Plundering the strong man's house

Mark 4:27 No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods,
except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.

Just before today's scripture Jesus was talking of the unity in the house
of Satan. Jesus was not praising Satan but was showing us our weakness.
There are times we need also look at the strong points of our enemy and the
weak points in our own house.

Did you ever see demons having a joint meeting time again and again or even
once? Do they ever meet to discuss how they are going to overtake a person
or destroy a Church (congregation)? Do demons leave a possessed person for
a short time to go for a demon meeting?

Demons or fallen angels do not need to meet and discuss for they know their
intention and purpose. They are united in their intention and in their
purpose. Since they are united in the purpose they do not step over each
other's foot or come against each other.

But see us meeting after meetings, discussions and discussions yet we are
so divided. Look at Christianity we are so divided that to study our
division would require a book many times bigger than the book that guides
us to God. It is not that there is a problem with the Word of God or the
ability required to understand the Word, but the problem is our flesh, our
carnal nature, a part of us that loves corruption. Our flesh is like shades
that we wear that covers or distorts the Word and prevents us from
understanding it.

We read time and again the Lord / the Spirit of the Lord opens their eyes
and they understand, we also read places where the Lord 'revealed' the
understanding. The Word was there from the beginning so also was the
understanding, nothing new was made, only God worked on the spiritual sight
and allowed the person to see that which was not visible to due to the
spiritual shades the person wore.

Saul became Paul and this transformation required an operation of his
sight, of his spiritual sight. Saul was very educated and knew all things
but never understood them that's why an operation of his sight was needed;
this the Lord showed us by the symbolic cataract operation He performed on
Saul to make him Paul. We read after Saul had his first encounter with the
Lord he was blinded and later when he was prayed over, scales fell off his
eyes and he could not only see but he was transformed from inside, in his
understanding.

If we want to be united we need to remove the scales of our eyes, we need
an operation of our spiritual sight. It is only when we have a clear
understanding of the Word, will we be united.

People talk of love, they talk of brotherhood and many things; if they do
not understand the basics of the Bible how will they understand love or
brotherhood? If one goes by our unity we as Christians are a doomed lot,
but then there is hope for us. In today's message Jesus says no one can
plunder a house until the strong man of the house is overcome. We
Christians have hope because we have Christ as the strongman of our house
and we know Christ told us not to fear for He has overcome. If He has
overcome then the result of the battle is already written it is only a
matter of bring the result to completion.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we ask You to perform an operation of our sight like You did on Saul
and made him Paul. We pray an internal transformation so that we become one
in our understanding. We pray Lord we overcome quickly like You overcame
and thus bring your Kingdom's reign over all things...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Mark 4:26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot
stand, but hath an end.

Acts 9:1-18

1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the
disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he
found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them
bound unto Jerusalem.

3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined
round about him a light from heaven:

8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no
man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

9 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.

17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his
hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto
thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive
thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he
received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

John 17:11 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 those whom
thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they
may be one, even as we are one:

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have
peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have
overcome the world.

1 John 2:13-14

13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the
beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked
one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is
from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are
strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked
one.

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Our earthly bodies and our heavenly bodies

1 Corinthians 15:40 There are also celestial [heavenly] bodies, and bodies
terrestrial [earthly]: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory
of the terrestrial is another.

Some time back I went to a funeral (funerals are the best place to hear and
see all the wrong things being done) and at the funeral a very senior
pastor was preaching. He shared a story of a boy who nearly died and went
to heaven and then returned back and then his family asked him if he could
recognize some of their ancestors / relatives in Heaven so they showed him
pictures of their relatives especially one of their uncles. They showed him
a picture of his uncle at the time of death (old with beard and glasses)
and then he denied seeing such a person there. Later when he saw a picture
of his uncle in his thirties he immediately said he saw such a person
there. Imagine men being in their twenties / thirties and women, I think
they would opt for the teens in Heaven!

I have heard many such stories (testimonies) and if one has to believe them
then one needs to throw the Bible away. Not only among Christians, even
unbelievers have stories of 'out of life' experiences so do we believe them
too? Like Hindus going to swarg /narg (heaven / hell) and meeting their
gods.

If I go into details of how these so called out of life experiences are
contrary to the real Kingdom of God one would be amazed, I will just stick
to the bodies, our earthly and heavenly bodies.

The Greek word used for heavenly is 'epouranios' and is a compound word
meaning 'upon heaven'. The Greek word for heaven is 'ouranos' which means
'on height' coming from the word mountain and has the root meaning 'all
visible'.

Heaven is not a physical place but a spiritual place that is much higher
than the dimension we live in. It is more real than this universe in which
we live. Our universe can be compared to thick smoke which is very visible
for a period but over time disintegrates into the air.

There was a German restaurant which played a hoax on people by claiming to
be willing to sell gourmet made of human flesh. Later it was known they
were advertising their tender beef and they did this since human flesh
tastes like beef. If one analyses animal flesh and human flesh it is not
very easy to differentiate them physically unless one has prior knowledge
of texture and composition.

In the verse before we see Paul talks of flesh of man being different than
flesh of animal and flesh of birds or fishes. Paul was not talking of
natural flesh, but when one renders this word in Hebrew than one would know
this word comes from the root word meaning 'message'. When Jesus said
unless we eat His 'flesh' we will not have anything to do with Him, He was
not talking of natural / earthly flesh but His message. And we know all
those so called miracles of the Catholic Church of communion becoming human
flesh, if they are not demonic then what are they?

In Heaven we will not be people in bodies of flesh but spiritual being and
Jesus describes us to Angels. If one have ever encountered an Angel they
are like Paul saw visible as being made of light. They may seem to have an
almost human kind outline figure but then one cannot outline the exterior
borders of their being. That is why sometimes they appeared at human sizes
and at times gigantic.

Angels do not have gender like we have of the flesh so there are no men, no
women in Heaven all are referred to as Sons or male because they have the
image of the Father. So when we go to Heaven we will be neither earthly
male nor female but all will be spiritual males (Sons and that includes
Mary the mother of Jesus). Like our earthly body has a form so also our
heavenly body has a form and this is projected in our earthly body and Paul
equates their compassion to the Sun and to the moon. We know what is the
size of the Sun to the Earth then imagine the Sun to the Moon. From Earth
both may look of the same size but one is 400 times further than the other.
Also Moon is just a dead rock / a satellite while the Sun is a star, alive
and active.

God took lots of pain to show us what we will be after we leave this
earthly body but you will not find this in a scripture or verse but when
one goes deeper and sees the patterns of things in scriptures, you will. So
this is not for those of simple minds but only for those who truly thirst
the hidden things of the Kingdom of God.

Let our lack of knowledge of the Kingdom of God not mislead us to believe
vain things. Let us see all things through the Word of God and not just one
scripture or two but put all scriptures together, not ignoring even one.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord You are not man but Spirit and You are not only Omnipotent but also
Omnipresent. Heavens is your dwelling place and when we are reconciled to
You we too will dwell in Heaven and You will be with us and we in You. Lord
we pray more and more may be able to see the things You have set for us in
Heaven which no eyes have seen or minds have visualized...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

1 Corinthians 15:39-41

39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men,
another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.

40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory
of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and
another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in
glory.

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

Revelation 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him [Angel]. And he
said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy
brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.


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Christian - What is your intent?

Philippians 2:2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded [himself], having
the same love, being of one accord, of one mind [thought / intent].

We see Paul in today's message is saying to have joy like he had we need 4
things.

1) Be ourselves - that means we need to know we are unique and God has set
us for a unique mission to reach a harvest which no one else can reach. He
set us through a journey of life and knowledge so as to build us that we
can understand and be in a position to save those whom He has set us for.
Paul was told about his harvest (children of Israel, kings / rulers and
gentiles) if we do not know our harvest we may take time to know.

2) Have the same love - the word love is least understood. People normally
associate emotion, concern, affection to this word. The closest English
word for the Greek word 'agape' is charity. Love requires 2 way
communication but charity can be a one way communication. When we did not
love God or even know Him yet He loved us. Thus to really understand love
is very difficult and a lengthy process.

3) Be of one mind - Christians can be of one mind only when they have the
right understanding of the Bible. Since 300AD worldly corruption has been
systematically induced into the minds of Christians so much so Christianity
hardly existed between 300AD to 1500AD. For 1260years Christianity was
almost in exile. It is only after Reformation movement that Christianity
started coming back. Now imagine the task at hand, dealing not only of
finding the Truth but also discerning all the falsehood that has infected
the minds and beliefs of Christians since 1260years. So this too is a
lengthy process.

4) Be of one intent - every Christian is a person on mission. If a
Christian is not a missionary then he or she is hardly a Christian. It is
not required of him or her to travel across the world to minister or bring
souls to Christ, he or she can do to those around him or her. We as
Christians are called to carry the voice (which means His Gospel) of the
Master to His lost sheep. It is not necessary all whom we preach will
accept Him but those who are His sheep will surely hear His voice and
respond.

Now if we look at the four points the first, second and third points are
not something which we can solve in a day or short period but the fourth
point is something which we can immediately start on.

Is it difficult for us who know Christ to speak about Him unto others? If
we who have experienced the love, joy and glory of the Lord, is it
difficult to share them with those who are ignorant of Him? We who are in
the light can't we reach out to those still in darkness?

If God had only one purpose of saving you then the day you came to know Him
and were baptized in Him, would have been your last day on earth. If He has
kept you alive then He is doing so with a reason so that you may reach out
to others like He sent someone to reach out to you.

Now think every day you get up and thank God for the day and do not put
that day for His purpose then can He say 'son/daughter thank you for using
my gift of this day fruitfully'?

Every day is a gift of God so let us put this gift of God to good use, let
not a day go by without reaching out to someone so in the night when we go
off to sleep the Lord should say 'this is my son/daughter in whom I am well
pleased' like He said to Jesus.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You alone are God and there is nothing that is not possible for You
yet You did not try to manifest your glory to man and show man who You so
as to bring people to You. You only desire people of faith, who will
believe your Word and come to You, not those who come by manifestation of
sign and wonders but by faith. Lord we pray like You sent someone to reach
out to us with your Word, we too may reach out to others who are far from
You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Matthew 28-19-20

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

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

Mark 16:15-18

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

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

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they
cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it
shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall
recover.

Revelation 12:5-6

5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a
rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared
of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and
threescore days.

Hebrews 12:1-2

1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Matthew 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased.



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Being in the presence of God

Acts 22:11 And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led
by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.

In today's scripture Saul/Paul narrates the series of events that changed
his life. The Lord appeared to Saul not as a human but as a light form like
an Angel and we see later also Paul has another experience of the presence
of the Lord as an Angel in Acts 27:23.

If we look at the Old Testament people feared the Lord and thought if they
came before the Lord they would die and they were not wrong in their belief
for they knew the Lord was Holy and they were unholy. We see even those
things which were symbolic and considered holy and if they did not keep the
sanctity of the things God warned with death, God had given them these
statutes so they understand Him and understand Holiness.

Moses actually did not see the Lord even though the Lord spoke to him like
a man spoke to another man, face to face; the Lord always appeared unto him
in a thick cloud, the Lord did this so that Moses would not get consumed
and die in His presence.

When Adam and Eve sinned they realized their nakedness thus covered their
nakedness and hid themselves. It is written they hid themselves not because
they were ashamed of their nakedness but because they were afraid. A person
does not be afraid when naked but is ashamed to show their nakedness, but
we see here it is written they were afraid and not ashamed, for they knew
the Lord and knew what holiness is.

The Son and Spirit of God are preparing us to come before the Father and it
is only through the Son we can receive the Spirit and it is only through
the working of the Spirit can we come before the Father.

We see the Son humbled Himself and became man and thus we could be in His
presence since He humbled Himself, even with the Spirit we see the Spirit
of God who is one is yet symbolized by candlestick with seven candles /
Seven Spirits. We see light refracts into basic 7 colors (rainbow) when it
enters another medium like water. God made a Covenant of the Rainbow with
Noah (and his generation) promising He would not consume mankind till the
Rainbow was in the sky / His Spirit was with (working with) man.

Standing before a Heavenly being even an Angel can be too heavy for us and
in such situations like light exposes all unclean things so also the
presence of a Heavenly being exposes our unclean selves to us. Imagine what
will happen to us when we come before the Father who is truly Holy, would
we unclean beings be able to stand before Him? It is only via the Son and
Spirit that we are able to be in a position to come before Him and dwell
with Him.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord it is only because You humbled yourself and can unto man that we have
a hope to be restored back unto You. Lord we pray we know what holiness
means and we always remember that You are Holy and we who are your children
are called to be holy. Lord You are everywhere, we pray we always
experience your presence and may your presence work in us and help us
cleanse ourselves of our infirmities...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 27:23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am,
and whom I serve,

Revelation 22:8-13

8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and
seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me
these things.

9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant,
and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of
this book: worship God.

10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this
book: for the time is at hand.

11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let
him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still:
and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every
man according as his work shall be.

13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

Exodus 30:20 When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they
shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the
altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the LORD:

Leviticus 16:13 And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the
LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon
the testimony, that he die not:

Numbers 17:12-13

12 And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we
perish, we all perish.

13 Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall
die: shall we be consumed with dying?

Leviticus 16:2 And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother,
that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before
the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear
in the cloud upon the mercy seat.

Genesis 3:6-11

6 And 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.

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

8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the
cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of
the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because
I was naked; and I hid myself.

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the
tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

Genesis 9:13-15

13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant
between me and the earth.

14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that
the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every
living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood
to destroy all flesh.

Revelation 21:17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and
four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.

Revelation 21:1-4

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

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

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

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

5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And
he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and
the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water
of life freely.


http://www.SavedByFaith.info
http://www.ToMountZion.com

Acts of God in the OT and NT

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

We see in the Old Testament there were so many incidents where people did
mistakes and God took immediate action on them. But in the New Testament we
see very few incidents of such kind happening. When you ask Christians why?
They would say the word GRACE.

Christians believe they live in the time of grace while the people of the
Old Testament did not, this is a misunderstanding. Like the Old Testament
even the New Testament records incidents where God has immediately punished
or responded in harsh manner, today's message talks of one of those
situations, and there are other such situations recorded in the Bible where
God directly or indirectly shows to have taken off His kid gloves.

Our God is an eternal God, He was, He is and He will be. What He was, He is
and what He is He will be and like His Word He too does not change. His
grace was there from the beginning and that is why He prepared a sacrifice
even before He created mankind.

Grace is received by faith, when we have faith we have grace i.e. we were
set for destruction due to sin but when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
as our Savior we receive the grace to be saved from eternal death.
Similarly as we believe the Word of God in any area of our lives we receive
the grace to overcome in that area. Grace is not a blanket cover over every
area or every purpose of our life, grace is given for a specific purpose or
area as per our faith.

If grace existed from before then why do we see mostly in the Old Testament
and rarely the New Testament the judgment of God being quick or harsh?

We need to understand when the glory of God increases His judgment also
quickens. When we were ignorant God was patient but as we experience His
glory (in that area) His expectations also with us increases. Therefore
what we could do before when we were ignorant we cannot expect to continue
to do the same and expect God to be silent as before.

When the Lord came as man Jesus He manifested the Truth thus faith
(believing in the Truth) increased in leaps and bounds that is why grace
also increased in leaps and bounds. New Testament scriptures do talk of
abundant grace in Jesus Christ but this grace is still only by faith. Can
we expect to have the grace of being saved if we stop believing in the Lord
Jesus Christ as our savior?

[Prayer Starter]

Lord You have always been a merciful God and a loving Father always ready
to forgive and bless. Lord in the OT people saw your abundant glory yet
they failed to believe and walk your way for their hearts were hard. Lord
we thank You for making us in this times of the manifestation of the Truth
in your Son our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord You know our hearts and we thank
You that You have not hardened further our hearts and helped us believe and
receive your grace.

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ.

1 Timothy 1:14 And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith
and love which is in Christ Jesus.

Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Genesis 19:18-19

18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:

19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast
magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and
I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:

Exodus 33:12-13

12 And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this
people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou
hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.

13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me
now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and
consider that this nation is thy people.

John 13:27-29

27 And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him,
That thou doest, do quickly.

28 Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him.

29 For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had
said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or,
that he should give something to the poor.

Acts 19:13-20

1 Corinthians 5:1-5

1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such
fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should
have his father's wife.

2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath
done this deed might be taken away from among you.

3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged
already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this
deed,

4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and
my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that
the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

2 Corinthians 12:6-9

6 For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will
say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above
that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.

7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the
revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is
made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Zechariah 12: 9-14

Psalms 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace
and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.


http://www.SavedByFaith.info
http://www.ToMountZion.com

The act of Giving unto the House of the Lord

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

The sadist thing I heard in Church was a Pastor explaining the importance
of tithing and he spoke of 2 important reasons.

Frist reason he gave was when we give unto the Lord we receive a hundred
fold. We receive pressed down, overflowing.

Second reason when you give to the Church the church takes care of you.
When you have problems you can always call on the Pastor or leaders and
they will come to your help.

I thought to myself what kind of God do we serve or Body of Christ are we
part of?

Is God a human to have a carnal nature of receiving before giving? Is the
Church become an organized gang that takes protection money?

Tithing is one topic which can cause you to be a friend or an enemy of
Pastors. You encourage people to give and they are very happy but if you
speak even a word against it and you will become their most hated person.

Christians do not know why they tithe and that is why the Church suffers
and the Body of Christ has not been growing since ages. If one reads
Malachi 3:10 it clearly says 'Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be meat in mine house'. It does not say 'your house' but
says 'my house' and also says for what reason 'that there may be meat'
which means solid food. The scripture of pressed down overflowing is about
forgiveness, and secondly overflow does not mean increase in capacity to
hold but means increase in giving.

People need to understand why they need to tithe. Tithe is to be used for
build the Church it is not for the Pastor to keep all as his salary or as
consultancy charges. He is indeed entitled to take a part for his
sustenance but that is an option, that too only when he does not have the
grace to meet his needs and the needs of his family. Even full time
ministers or Pastors are encouraged to do business or work for their needs
like Paul did by making tents. Also note in the books of Moses the tithe
was for the treasury of the Lord's House and it was the food tithe with was
shared with the Levites and that too written with measures like fistful
(symbolizing as that which is necessary).

We see Pastors and Ministry leaders are paying themselves well for the work
they are doing in the Lord's Kingdom, they do not realize there will be
nothing in Heaven which they are going to receive for they have already got
paid here with what they wanted.

It is because people do not tithe they are not growing, and because the
tithe is misused that the Church has not grown and is in this state since
all these years. Tithe (ten percent) is actually basic or starting stage of
Giving and is for those who are spiritual children (noted as children of
Israel). We do not see much mention of Tithing in the New Testament but
more in the Old Testament. In the New Testament like in this incident where
the Church was experiencing the glory of God and the Spirit of the Lord was
speaking to the people, they were not Tithing but Giving unto the House of
the Lord.

We read in today's message God does not need us to Give or Tithe He is the
one who gives us and Tithing or Giving is a test for us to overcome our
greed since it was greed that triggered the fall of the anointed Cherub
whom we call today Satan.

Let us understand the reason we Tithe or Give unto the House of the Lord.
Let us know it is for our sake we Tithe or Give. Unless we do not overcome
we are in the danger of falling. We should also understand when we give to
the House of the Lord we are giving unto people who have the blessing of
Abraham on them, and that is why we receive as we give.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You gave us the statute of Tithing and Giving so that we overcome the
evil of greed. You also want us to be blessed by blessing your people. Lord
You desire the people grow and thus what we give gets used for building
your people. We pray your people understand the purpose of Tithing and
Giving...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may
be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts,
if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing,
that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Nehemiah 10:37-38

37 And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our
offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto
the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our
ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all
the cities of our tillage.

38 And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the
Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes
unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house.

Numbers 18:26 Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take
of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for
your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the
LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe.

2 Chronicles 31:5-6

5 And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel
brought in abundance the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and
of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they
in abundantly.

6 And concerning the children of Israel and Judah, that dwelt in the
cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the
tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the LORD their God, and
laid them by heaps.

Hebrew 7:5-12

5 And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of
the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according
to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins
of Abraham:

6 But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of
Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.

7 And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.

8 And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of
whom it is witnessed that he liveth.

9 And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in
Abraham.

10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.

11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it
the people received the law,) what further need was there that another
priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after
the order of Aaron?

12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change
also of the law.

2 Corinthians 11:8-11

8 I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.

9 And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man:
for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia
supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto
you, and so will I keep myself.

10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting
in the regions of Achaia.

11 Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.

2 Corinthians 9:6-14

6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and
he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not
grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always
having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

9 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor:
his righteousness remaineth for ever.

10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your
food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your
righteousness;)

11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth
through us thanksgiving to God.

12 For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of
the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;

13 Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your
professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal
distribution unto them, and unto all men;

14 And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding
grace of God in you.

Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that
curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.


http://www.SavedByFaith.info
http://www.ToMountZion.com

The act of Giving unto the House of the Lord

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

The sadist thing I heard in Church was a Pastor explaining the importance
of tithing and he spoke of 2 important reasons.

Frist reason he gave was when we give unto the Lord we receive a hundred
fold. We receive pressed down, overflowing.

Second reason when you give to the Church the church takes care of you.
When you have problems you can always call on the Pastor or leaders and
they will come to your help.

I thought to myself what kind of God do we serve or Body of Christ are we
part of?

Is God a human to have a carnal nature of receiving before giving? Is the
Church become an organized gang that takes protection money?

Tithing is one topic which can cause you to be a friend or an enemy of
Pastors. You encourage people to give and they are very happy but if you
speak even a word against it and you will become their most hated person.

Christians do not know why they tithe and that is why the Church suffers
and the Body of Christ has not been growing since ages. If one reads
Malachi 3:10 it clearly says 'Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be meat in mine house'. It does not say 'your house' but
says 'my house' and also says for what reason 'that there may be meat'
which means solid food. The scripture of pressed down overflowing is about
forgiveness, and secondly overflow does not mean increase in capacity to
hold but means increase in giving.

People need to understand why they need to tithe. Tithe is to be used for
build the Church it is not for the Pastor to keep all as his salary or as
consultancy charges. He is indeed entitled to take a part for his
sustenance but that is an option, that too only when he does not have the
grace to meet his needs and the needs of his family. Even full time
ministers or Pastors are encouraged to do business or work for their needs
like Paul did by making tents. Also note in the books of Moses the tithe
was for the treasury of the Lord's House and it was the food tithe with was
shared with the Levites and that too written with measures like fistful
(symbolizing as that which is necessary).

We see Pastors and Ministry leaders are paying themselves well for the work
they are doing in the Lord's Kingdom, they do not realize there will be
nothing in Heaven which they are going to receive for they have already got
paid here with what they wanted.

It is because people do not tithe they are not growing, and because the
tithe is misused that the Church has not grown and is in this state since
all these years. Tithe (ten percent) is actually basic or starting stage of
Giving and is for those who are spiritual children (noted as children of
Israel). We do not see much mention of Tithing in the New Testament but
more in the Old Testament. In the New Testament like in this incident where
the Church was experiencing the glory of God and the Spirit of the Lord was
speaking to the people, they were not Tithing but Giving unto the House of
the Lord.

We read in today's message God does not need us to Give or Tithe He is the
one who gives us and Tithing or Giving is a test for us to overcome our
greed since it was greed that triggered the fall of the anointed Cherub
whom we call today Satan.

Let us understand the reason we Tithe or Give unto the House of the Lord.
Let us know it is for our sake we Tithe or Give. Unless we do not overcome
we are in the danger of falling. We should also understand when we give to
the House of the Lord we are giving unto people who have the blessing of
Abraham on them, and that is why we receive as we give.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You gave us the statute of Tithing and Giving so that we overcome the
evil of greed. You also want us to be blessed by blessing your people. Lord
You desire the people grow and thus what we give gets used for building
your people. We pray your people understand the purpose of Tithing and
Giving...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may
be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts,
if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing,
that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Nehemiah 10:37-38

37 And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our
offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto
the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our
ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all
the cities of our tillage.

38 And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the
Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes
unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house.

Numbers 18:26 Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take
of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for
your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the
LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe.

2 Chronicles 31:5-6

5 And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel
brought in abundance the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and
of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they
in abundantly.

6 And concerning the children of Israel and Judah, that dwelt in the
cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the
tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the LORD their God, and
laid them by heaps.

Hebrew 7:5-12

5 And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of
the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according
to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins
of Abraham:

6 But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of
Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.

7 And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.

8 And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of
whom it is witnessed that he liveth.

9 And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in
Abraham.

10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.

11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it
the people received the law,) what further need was there that another
priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after
the order of Aaron?

12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change
also of the law.

2 Corinthians 11:8-11

8 I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.

9 And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man:
for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia
supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto
you, and so will I keep myself.

10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting
in the regions of Achaia.

11 Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.

2 Corinthians 9:6-14

6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and
he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not
grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always
having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

9 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor:
his righteousness remaineth for ever.

10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your
food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your
righteousness;)

11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth
through us thanksgiving to God.

12 For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of
the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;

13 Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your
professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal
distribution unto them, and unto all men;

14 And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding
grace of God in you.

Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that
curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

http://www.SavedByFaith.info
http://www.ToMountZion.com

Do not take the love or grace of God for granted

Luke 20:13 Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send
my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.

We find many 'grace preachers' today and Christian TV channels are full of
them. Yes it is true only by God's grace that we are saved, it is only by
God's grace that we who hated Him once and made Him an enemy, yet He
reached out to us to make us His Sons. But then since this grace is
misunderstood it is abused, in today's message we see the Lord telling us
about this.

In Greek the word translated as grace is 'charis' which comes from the word
'to be glad' or 'to rejoice'. But when you read this word in Hebrew we find
the word grace is 'chen' and comes from the word 'chanan' which means
'mercy'.

Jesus rarely spoke to His people in Greek. He spoke mostly in Aramaic and
Hebrew. We also see He used mostly Hebrew terminology when He tried to
explain the meaning of anything. Like 'eat my flesh' in Hebrew the word
flesh comes from the root word 'message'. So grace is related to mercy and
is short a collective noun / term. It speaks of the mercy required to get
the job done, so when we receive mercy, it does not mean all that we
require will be met, but when we receive grace it assures us of the need
being met.

In today's message in the parable we see Jesus refers to Himself as the son
of the vineyard owner who was sent and whom the former worker killed. Then
the scripture says later the vineyard owner takes account of them who
killed his son and thus gives the vineyard to others.

The people initially referred to laborers of the vineyard are the Jews and
the people referred to as others are the gentiles. The promised was first
to the Jews but when they rejected Him the promise went to the gentiles.
The people of Israel had received the grace of God and thus God tolerated
them time and again but when they rejected His Son they lost the promise
and the promise went unto those who believe for grace is received by faith.

Today everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ or has faith (means
believing in the Truth which is God and His Word) receives grace. Since
this grace came through faith it is therefore connected to faith. That
means if faith exist grace exist and if faith is lost then grace is lost.
We read John 3:16 and 17 but do not read John 3:18 or 36.

No one must think 'I once believe in the Lord Jesus Christ then all will be
well forever since I am under grace'. Grace is not a free ticket since it
is connected to faith, that person must keep the faith to be always under
grace. One cannot just say verbally 'I believe' and receive grace. To
receive grace one indeed needs to believe and this has to be more than
words. Unless we do not put our faith in action it is not considered faith.
We may fail time and again like Abraham took 25years to believe God for a
son but then he did succeed and perfect his faith.

Let us not take grace for granted, if we want to be under grace let us work
on our faith.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we thank You that we who were not recipients of the promise have now
receive the promise by grace through faith. Lord we pray that the Jews who
were holders of the promise may accept You and by faith receive the promise
again. We pray we keep our faith and always remain under grace...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Luke 20:9-16

9 Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted
a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for
a long time.

10 And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should
give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and
sent him away empty.

11 And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and
entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.

12 And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out.

13 Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my
beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.

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

15 So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore
shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them?

16 He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard
to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.

John 3:16-18,36

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that
the world through him might be saved.

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God.

36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on
him.

Jeremiah 31:2 Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword
found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to
rest.

Romans 3:29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the
Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:

Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the
end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of
the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the
father of us all,

Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we
stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God:

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Who seeks glory, who judges?

John 8:50 And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and
judgeth.

In the Gospels we see Jesus never did anything to glorify Himself. As man
He knew it was not right for Him to seek glory. He always glorified the
Father and never Himself. He knew He will be glorified in the Father.

There is only one incident where Jesus did something and people glorified
Him and that was at the wedding at Canna. At this wedding He was obliged or
more of forced by His mother to do the miracle of turning water to wine. He
Himself would not have done the miracle but understood the desperation of
His mother therefore obliged her, that to with a reproof so that it gets
noted.

People think it was faith of Mary but if one understands whose wedding it
was then they would know it was not faith but desperation of Mary that
forced Jesus to turn the water to wine.

Understand the following situation

1) Mary was already at the marriage 3 days before Jesus and His disciples
arrived at the wedding. If she was guest what was she doing 3 days before?

2) Knowing the timid nature of Mary she would not have the person to order
people around at someone else’s marriage and also why would the laborers
listen to a guest.

3) How come Mary knew the viability of the huge jars which were necessary
for washing of the guest’s hands and feet as they enter the wedding, unless
she knew all who had to come had arrived.

4) The Bridegroom was not present at the table but was called for by the
governor of the feast.

5) Though many translations state both Jesus and His disciples were invited
to the wedding, but when we see the verb translated as ‘invited’ is
actually ‘called’ and is written in the 3rd person singular.

If one does an interlinear translation of each word then we see the
following

John 2:2 called but also the Jesus and the disciples himself into the
wedding.

So the literate meaning would mean Jesus was called to the wedding and He
took His disciples along which an invited guest does not do.

If ones studies Jewish culture with regards to wedding then one would know
it is the bride’s family which goes to the groom’s house and helps in
organizing the wedding banquet. In other words this was a marriage of one
of Mary’s daughters (she had more than one).

In today’s message we see Lord does not seek glory for Jesus says He does
not seek glory and He does what He sees His Father do.

Glory belongs to the Father and no one else. It is only those who are in
the Father will be glorified. The one who seeks glory is the one who is not
in the Father and it is that one who seeks division of the Kingdom of God
(judges).

Let us not be the ones who seek glory for ourselves, if we do then we are
not in the Father but in the one who is against the Kingdom of God. We
should always remember we will indeed be glorified but not on this earth
but in a much higher place that is in Heaven when we are in the Father by
our marriage in the Son.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You alone are worthy of glory and all glory belongs to You. We pray
we do not seek worldly glory but remember when we return to You we will
indeed be glorified in You and that glory is way beyond the glory on this
world. We pray Lord we always work to give all glory unto You...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

[KJV] John 2:1-11

1 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the
mother of Jesus was there:

2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.

3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have
no wine.

4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is
not yet come.

5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

6 And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the
purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.

7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled
them up to the brim.

8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the
feast. And they bare it.

9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and
knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the
governor of the feast called the bridegroom,

10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good
wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast
kept the good wine until now.

11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested
forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

*[NAB] John 2:2* Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.

John 8:49-51

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

50 And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.

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

John 17:4-5

4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou
gavest me to do.

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


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Worship not the Sun and Moon but understand them

Habakkuk 3:11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the
light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.

We see in the Old Testament the moon was given great importance for
instance the calendar was moon based - like month and year (12 months) was
calculated on basis of the moon cycles. No doubt the day was based on the
Sun but further than the day they had to depend on the moon since they
could see further than that.

When we go into secular history and biblical history we see long before
even the year was Sun based that is why we have the 360 degrees, the
problem came after the Noah flood when the great earthquake caused the axis
of the earth to tilt by 5 degrees. After the tilt complications came and we
started having 365.25 days in a year. Today we do not follow the Moon for
our calendar we follow the Sun completely but we still have months of
approximately 30 days, which reflect the lunar cycle ( 29.5days).

Biblical symbolism is a very important part of Bible study and they give
great insight into understanding the Kingdom of God. One has to have his or
her foundation strong since these symbols cannot be taken literately for
they at time have multiple representations. Let us take the Sun for example
in today's scripture the Sun represents Christ [Lord] and the Moon
represents the Men of God. We also see the Sun at times have other
symbolism like in Ephesians 4:26 it represents grace. The scripture tries
to tell us it is only by the grace of God we can forgive so till we have
the grace of God on us we can forgive, the moment we reject the grace our
hearts will harden and we will not be able to forgive and we will be in
greater problem than the person who hurt us or has sinned against us.

Let me take today's scripture and expound on it before getting to today's
message.

Habakkuk 3:11 [removing the italics] The sun, moon stood still in their
habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, at the shining of thy
glittering spear.

Habakkuk 3:11 [expounded] The Sun, Moon set in their dwelling: at the light
of their division they went, at the brightness of thy lighting authority
and mercy

[The word arrows comes from the root word division]

[A spear has 2 parts the staff which symbolizes authority and the spear
head 'chaniyth' which comes from the word 'chanan' meaning mercy or favor].

In today's message the Lord is telling us as Men of God we should know
where we stand and where Christ stands. When we dwell in our place we will
do well and the Body of Christ (Church) will shine and will grow for His
mercy / grace will increase.

We see when the opposite happens like written in Ecclesiastes 5:13-15. Men
of God who do not dwelling place and gather riches for the efforts they do,
then not only these riches do not stay in their hands or the hands of the
children but these riches cause diseases unto them.

Let us remember the Moon has no light of its own for it is like a dead
rock; but when it stands in the right place it comes alive with the light
of the Sun.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we were dead in sin and set for destruction, it is only by your grace
we are dead to sin and alive in You. Lord we pray we always remember we are
nothing without You and it is only by grace and your plans in our lives we
live and bloom. We thank You Lord for your mercies and for finding us
worthy for the great riches of Heaven...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Psalms 72:17 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued
as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call
him blessed.

Psalms 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give
grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk
uprightly.

Ecclesiastes 5:13-15

13 There is a sore evil [which] I have seen under the sun, [namely],
riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

14 But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and
[there is] nothing in his hand.

15 As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as
he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in
his hand.

Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your
wrath:

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God manifests the heart

Mark 14: 48 - 50 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Are ye come out, as
against a thief, with swords and with staves to take me? I was daily with
you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not: but the scriptures must be
fulfilled. And they all forsook him, and fled.

The Bible is the Will of God. Every prophecy will come to pass for God has
set it and what He has set He will come to pass for He is Jehovah (means
'One who brings to past').

In today's message we see the Jewish leaders hated Jesus for He made their
religious life uncomfortable but yet because the favor of the Father was on
Him they did not touch Him when He preached in their synagogues. We see
when the time came their hearts hardened and they arrested Jesus as they
arrest a criminal and they fulfilled scriptures.

We also see not only the Jewish religious leaders but even the disciples of
Jesus fulfilled scriptures. Fear came upon them when Jesus was arrested and
all of them fled. Even though they spoke great words of courage when the
moment came they fled in fear.

If we use reasoning here, then one may think if God has written then God
may be causing them to happen so can we blame the people who did it? We
have one of the heretic gospels composed around 300-400AD called the Gospel
of Judas which uses this kind of reasoning and thus says Judas was innocent
and Jesus caused him to do what he did so that Jesus be glorified.

We need to understand when it is written God hardened the heart of a person
to do anything it does mean God caused that person to do it, but it means
the person's heart was hard in the beginning and God hardened it further
and what was in the heart God bought it to manifestation.

The Jews hated Jesus from beginning but at the right moment God manifested
this hatred outwards. The disciple of Jesus had fear inside and that's why
Jesus kept telling them time and again 'do not fear' but when time came
this fear was manifested outwards and they fled.

Let us ask ourselves 'What do we have within us?'. If we have faith when
the time comes God will manifest this faith. If we have fear when the time
comes God will manifest this fear. If we have love when the time comes God
will manifest this love. God knows what we have and He will fulfill His
plan with us being the heroes or the villains. He does not cause a hero to
be a villain or a villain to be a hero, what we are inside He knows at the
moment of time He brings it out.

So let us guard our hearts and fill it with good things of the Kingdom of
God and be ready for the moment when God will manifest the good things of
our heart and cause us to be blessed greatly in His Kingdom. Let us not
keep any malice, lust, fear, doubt, deceit etc. in our heart but clean our
hearts of all such as this for our moment of manifestation may come any
time.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You know everything that is hidden in the hearts of man and at the
right time You Lord bring these hidden things to light. Lord we pray that
we clean our hearts of evil things and fill our hearts of good things so
that at the time of fulfillment these good things get manifested...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Exodus 4:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into
Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put
in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the
people go.

Exodus 7:3 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my
wonders in the land of Egypt.

Joshua 11:20 For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they
should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly,
and that they might have no favour, but that he might destroy them, as the
LORD commanded Moses.

Psalms 95:8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the
day of temptation in the wilderness:

Hebrews 3:15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden
not your hearts, as in the provocation.

Romans 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same
purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth.


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Who spoke to Paul?

Acts 22:8,9 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am
Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw
indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that
spake to me.

(Please bear this long mail for I had to give a lot of necessary references
since they are very important)

We see Jesus appeared as a bright light and not as a human unto Paul when
he was yet Saul. Even today we have Christ appearing to people especially
Muslims, and He has always been coming as a spirit being as in a bright
light with an outline of a human.

We also see Paul had not just one encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ even
in one of his other encounters where the Lord appears to him we see Paul
says an Angel of God appeared and yet says ‘whose I am, and whom I serve’ -
implying the Lord Jesus Christ.

Again in the book of Revelation we see there are 3 places (in 1 chapter
noted twice) where the term Alpha and Omega (Beginning and End) is used.

In chapter 1 it shows the man Jesus Christ (hands pierced) as being the one
who states He is the Alpha and Omega. Here He states it twice.

In chapter 21 we see a Being seated on the Throne says He is the Alpha and
Omega and He also says He will be their God and they who overcome will be
His sons, thus indication God as Alpha and Omega.

Later in chapter 22 we see John was conversing with an Angel and was going
to bow to Him but this Angel forbids him and later it is this same Angel
who states He is the Alpha and Omega.

When I was reading the Dake’s Bible study reference book I read a comment
where Dake gave of the Lord Jesus Christ as being referred to an Angel,
when I read this sentence at first I thought this man was a heretic and I
almost stopped reading that Bible. I know of Jehovah Witnesses also
thinking in that direction. Later as I was doing my study I too saw that
the Lord Jesus Christ referred man, as Angel and also as God. This
tri-character of Him stands right from Genesis to Revelation thus caused me
to think, then came many questions but later the Lord answered all my
queries (over 2 years).

We need to keep certain fact on the Lord Jesus Christ:- He is God, He was
Son (yet unlike the Angels who were also called Sons of God), He was man,
He was not created, He existed from the beginning (like the Father), He has
life in Himself (eternal life exist in Himself while we get from Him), He
is Alpha and Omega, He humbled Himself and became our sacrifice, He was our
sacrifice from the beginning of the foundation of creation, He awaits when
He will return to the Father and when He will be again glorified in the
Father, He will come again for us and we will be in Him.

When we take all these factors we can start to understand the Lord Jesus
Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ was not created like other life beings for He came
from the Father and thus being God yet He called the Father God. He is from
the beginning as the Father is, since He has all the characteristics of the
Father (since He came from the Father). He humbled Himself and became man.
In His second coming He will return as He went (as man) and will take us to
the Father. We will be in Him (Heavenly marriage) and He in the Father
(return to His glorified self before He humbled Himself).

My next question was when did He humble Himself and when did He become man?
We all know when He became man. But yet there were questions when did He
humbled Himself and what did be become when He humbled Himself and had not
yet come as man in the flesh? Then I came across the scripture ‘the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world (creation)’ pointing to His humbling
and becoming a willing sacrifice even before man was created or sinned.

My further questions got answered easily when I understood man and what man
is - a spirit being having a soul and living in a body of flesh. Jesus said
when we die we are (as) like the Angels. We also see in Revelation man and
Angels are equated as same. Angels as called Sons of God and we await the
moment when we become Sons of God (it is a process wherein the image of God
is perfected in us).

When we understand this we will understand why Angels call themselves our
brethren or fellow servants. We also understand as human how the Lord was
truly human and when He said He overcame as human, He meant it.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we cannot comprehend the things that You have done for us. It is so
true when John wrote that if all that You did is written there would not be
sufficient writing material in the whole world to hold it. Your love O Lord
is manifested on the cross but what we see on the cross is not even a
portion of your love. We pray Lord You open the eyes of your people and let
them know You and have power in You...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Revelation 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto
me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that
have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy.

Revelation 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose
names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world.

Revelation 21:17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty
and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.

Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God.

Revelation 1:7-8,10-18

7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they
also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of
him. Even so, Amen.

8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great
voice, as of a trumpet,

11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou
seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in
Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira,
and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I
saw seven golden candlesticks;

13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of
man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with
a golden girdle.

14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his
eyes were as a flame of fire;

15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and
his voice as the sound of many waters.

16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a
sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his
strength.

17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right
hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for
evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Revelation 21:5-7

5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And
he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and
the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water
of life freely.

7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and
he shall be my son.

Revelation 22:8-13

8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and
seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me
these things.

9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant,
and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of
this book: worship God.

10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this
book: for the time is at hand.

11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let
him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still:
and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every
man according as his work shall be.

13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

Exodus 14:19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel,
removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before
their face, and stood behind them:

Acts 7:30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the
wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

Daniel 12:5-9

5 Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on
this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank
of the river.

6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of
the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?

7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the
river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and
sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and
an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the
holy people, all these things shall be finished.

8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be
the end of these things?

9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed
till the time of the end.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 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:

Daniel 12:1-4

1 And at that time shall Michael [means ‘one who is like God’] stand up,
the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there
shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even
to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every
one that shall be found written in the book.

2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some
to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament;
and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the
time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be
increased.

Revelation 20:7-15

7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of
his prison,

8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters
of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number
of whom is as the sand of the sea.

9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of
the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of
heaven, and devoured them.

10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be
tormented day and night for ever and ever.

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.

Revelation 12:7-9

7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the
dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil,
and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him.

Revelation 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall
overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that
are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Acts 10:3-4

3 He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of
God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.

4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord?
And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial
before God.

Acts 27:23-24

23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom
I serve,

24 Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo,
God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.

Revelation 10:1-3

1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a
cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the
sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:

2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot
upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,

3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had
cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.

Revelation 4:2-5

2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in
heaven, and one sat on the throne.

3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and
there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the
seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and
they had on their heads crowns of gold.

5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices:
and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the
seven Spirits of God.

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O Theophilus

[KJV] Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that
Jesus began both to do and teach,

In different translations we see this scripture written differently. What I
stated above is the KJV AV version.

[NASB] Acts 1:1 The first accounts have I composed, O Theophilus, about
all that Jesus began to do and teach,

[ESV] Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that
Jesus began to do and teach,

[ASV] Acts 1:1 The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all
that Jesus began both to do and to teach,

What we see in all the versions even though they translate the sentence
different yet the Greek word 'Theophilus' they do not translate thus
projecting it as a title or status. This word is a compound word made of 2
words 'Theo' and 'Philo'. Theo means God or accurately Deity (Greeks had
many gods so their term is likewise) and 'Philo'. This word 'Philo' /
'Phileo' (together occur in the NT 54 times not counting the compound usage
of these words) has been translated in many ways in the Bible sometimes as
friend (29 times), to love (22 times) and to kiss (3 times). But this word
has another meaning which is not projected that is associate. In Greek
friend or mate is written 'hetairos' and is used in 4 scriptures.

To understand what meaning is to be used friend or love or kiss we need to
understand the terms. Here we see 3 terms friend, love or kiss [they
project the same emotion] and associate [which is not used]. The problem in
scriptures is between usage of the term friend and associate for there are
some scriptures where in instead of using associate they have used the term
friend. The only way out is to take the meaning of the word from where they
come from.

When the Lord made me understand friendship I was surprised. Friend is a
social relationship between two people who are not related. It talks of the
coordinal or good relationship between 2 people. There are some problems
with this relationship. This relationship is not forever and till the two
are on the same grounds or mindset the relationship exist. The moment one
of the parties thinks likewise this relationship shakes and may even break.
It is unlike being a brother or sister or brethren which is not something
that can be broken unless the person leaves that family.

If you see in James 2:23 we see it is translated as Abraham is called
friend of God. Now this scripture is referring to Isaiah 41:8 and 2
Chronicles 20:7 which uses the Hebrew word 'ahab' which means lover or
love. So we see in all these 3 scriptures Abraham is not called 'friend of
God' but 'lover of God'. We are called His Bride because or spiritual
father is also called His lover.

Now coming to John 15 where the word 'friend' is used. If you look at the
context of the topic Jesus is talking about growing fruits and His Fathers
business (growing fruits). Now business is not something you discuss or
involve friends in. We may consult them only if they have the required
experience, wisdom or knowledge or understanding but not every friend is
discussed on business matters. If a friend is part of our business he
becomes our business partner or associate but not business friend.

When we understand the meaning of an associate in business we will
understand our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. In an associate
company the company is headed by an individual under whose name the company
is primarily registered under. He provides all the main resources to that
organization. The associate partners work under his name. Even though they
work under his name yet they are themselves owners of that company and the
profits of that company are divided between the main owner and the
associates as per the business the associate brings in.

In the Bible we are called Israel which means Princes of God and we see
Jesus is also referred as Chief Prince ('archegos' [occurs 3 times] but
translated as 'prince' which is actually 'archon') . As man He was the
corner stone and chief or head of us.

Under God's Kingdom is serious business and good harvest [fruits] is our
business aim. We work under the Name of Lord Jesus Christ and yet we all
are co-owners of this business. When time comes in Heaven we will all
receive the riches of the business we do here on earth.

So if we translate today's scripture it stands as

Acts 1:1 The true words have I recorded, O Associate of God, of all that
Jesus began both to do and teach,

In today's message we see Luke uses the term Theophilus meaning Associate
of God. He does use this term for himself but states the book of Acts is
for those who are associates of God, so as to know of the business of the
Kingdom of God. Luke, Paul and the other disciples listed in Acts did a
good job as associates, can we call ourselves Theophilus? And if we do let
us look at what mission we are assigned in the business of the Kingdom of
God, and are we doing well in the business?

[Prayer Starter]

Lord You made us beautiful and in your image. Even though we are like
minute worms compared to You yet called us to be Sons and Partners of the
Kingdom of God. Lord we pray we know what it means to be your Son, Lover,
Bride and Partner...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

2 Chronicles 20:7 Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the
inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the
seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?

Isaiah 41:8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen,
the seed of Abraham my friend.

James 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed
God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the
Friend of God.

Acts 3:15 And killed the Prince ['archegos'] of life, whom God hath raised
from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.

Acts 5: 31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince
['archegos'] and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and
forgiveness of sins.

Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the
first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto
him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,


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You too!

Matthew 23:27,28 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye
are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but
are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye
also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of
hypocrisy and iniquity.

There was one lot of people whom Jesus could not stand and that were the
religious people, He reached out to the sinners, robbers, murders etc. but
religious people just got to His nerves so He would always answer them with
questions. Jesus in this scripture compares the religious leaders as white
wash tombs.

Visit a cemetery and you will see graves dressed with beautiful looking
statutes and gardens. When I was not in the Lord and my father had expired
I designed his grave on computer using CAD software and did it more of a
modern design (since I did not have the money to buy huge statues to
decorate it). It was so good that the person doing it himself took extra
interest to make it and show everyone (many copied it); even after it was
done he would visit and update me if any issue every time I would visit
there. Everyone though it was my great love for my father, I too thought so
but later I knew it was my ignorance and lack of knowledge. Once I
understood life and death, and things of the kingdom of God I realized no
one is any one's once a person dies and what remains with us is just the
life story of that person. All our earthly relations perish with our bodies
and only what exist is our relationship in Christ if we are in Christ.

When I came to understand the truth I stopped visiting the grave. Some
thought because I was no longer Catholic I had become hard and was
ungrateful to my father. But had I continued to do what I did then what
would have been buried there would not be my father's remains but the truth
and that would have hardened me from inside and soon I would have been the
greater grave and not those stones.

All ignorant people who practice religion are not religious people but
those who are aware of the truth and due to worldly reason continue doing
the traditions of man which are contrary to the truth are religious people.
The Sadducees and Pharisees did not know God but were people who had some
knowledge of the truth but for worldly reasons became like graves, outside
clean and beautiful and inside spiritually dead. To start with they were
not like that, they may have had a genuine thirst for the Lord but some
religious person caught them and over a period of time made them like them
or worse than them. You may say they would be innocent; sure they will be
till the time they realize they are wrong and yet choose to continue.

Take for example yesterday's mail I had people (some Catholics) respond to
it with justification or attacking me even though they read it and it
convicted them yet they replied to suppress their gilt. If they continue
doing what they are doing even after knowing the truth do they have a
justification towards God? Can they say to God they were innocent and did
not know? Would not God be justified to call them 'God haters'?

Today the Lord is telling us it is not just those who wear white robes and
show they are doing God's work but in reality are inside spiritually dead
like graves, but also those who follow them and do not inquire with the
Lord get counted as dead graves.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray that people have a living conscience and that they do not
kill this conscience doing religious activity. We pray the fear of God in
their lives. We pray they seek You in Spirit and truth and not in
traditions or praises of men...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Matthew 22:29-30

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the
scriptures, nor the power of God.

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

Revelation 21:17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty
and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.

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.

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Those who worship Malcham

Zephaniah 1:5,6 And them that worship the host of heaven upon the
housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear
by Malcham; And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that
have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.

Like it is written evil never changes it only comes in new forms. In few
days millions of people will worship Malcham and that too thinking they are
worshiping God or reaching out to God.

Who is Malcham?

The word Malcham /Molech (word is plural) means king / ruler and refers to
person in reign. Malcham of the Jews was an idol of a woman whom the Jews
worshipped as Queen of Heaven. People have been thinking in the direction
of king and thought to be an idol but they do not realize from the time of
the tower of Babel there has been this female deity that has been out to
destroy the people of God by making them worship her and thus causing the
wrath of God to come on them. She has been changing forms and names and
identities throughout history.

Ashtoreth of the Zidonians, Milcom of the Ammonites, Chemosh of the
Moabites were different forms of the same being and even today various
religions the same being is visible. When I was a Catholic I was a staunch
Catholic and used to say my ‘rosary’ regularly. As I started growing in the
Lord the Lord told me to meditate on the mysteries. When I inquired with
some brothers they gave me a funny smile, I was offending but did not know
why they did that. Later I found that some of the mysteries were indeed
mysteries having no reference in scriptures or contradicting scriptures.
When I checked with the Lord He revealed the character behind Mary was
someone else and nothing to do with Mary the mother of Jesus.

Easter is celebrated by a large section of Christians even today and is the
birthdate of goddess Ashtoreth. You ask them why they are celebrating
‘Easter’ and they say ‘what it in a name’ and that they are actually
celebrating resurrection of Jesus Christ! Ask how do these 2 connect they
will have crazy explanation. Wish someone could call them names and then
say what is in a name. God says He gets most angry when people bring down
His Name, so for Him Name is utmost important. For them to name is
important, if you see the ‘Novenas’ conducted for Malcham / Ashtoreth /
Mary there is a section which is about giving praises to this deity by
forms of a list of names or titles given to this ‘Queen of heaven’.
Catholics who worship her think they are worshipping / asking for
intersession from the Mary the mother of Jesus and do not realize they are
worshiping the same Malcham the Jews did. Jews called themselves ‘People of
God’ like the Catholics who state there is not salvation outside the
Catholic Church but both are far from God.

In today’s message the Lord exposes the reason these people are deceived.
Like the Jews the Catholics (including the Orthodox Christians and other
denominations of the Catholic Church) are deceived because they have no
understanding of scriptures or do not really try to study them. What they
study is what people tell them and not what the Lord tells them. They will
read but will not meditate on what the scripture says but instead will
blindly believe what people say.

They are deceived to believe their Church authored the Bible and that
traditions are stronger than scriptures and the Pope is first hand
appointed by God since the first Pope Peter. They believe these lies for
they do know the history of the Bible and manuscripts, they do not know the
sources and origin of their traditions and they do not know the history of
their Church and how it was not smooth with the Popes’ handover, how at
different times in the past there were more than one Pope and how they
fought with each other.

Today the Lord is telling us we are deceived because we do not pursue
knowledge and understanding of His Kingdom and Him and for this we need to
meditate on His Word and be in communication with His Spirit.

[Prayer Starter]

Father we pray You open the eyes of these people who are under deception
and are deceived to worship the evil one who comes as an Angel of Light.
Lord we pray they confide themselves to your Word and be led by your
Spirit...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amne.

[Reference Scriptures]

2 Corinthians 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into
an angel of light.

Jeremiah 7:18-20

18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the
women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour
out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke
themselves to the confusion of their own faces?

20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall
be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees
of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and
shall not be quenched.

Extracts from - Aspiration to Mary (by St. Alphonsus Liguori)

I venerate (worship) thee, great queen, and I thank thee for the many
graces thou has bestowed upon me even unto this day; in particular for
having delivered me from the hell which I have so often deserved by my
sins. I love thee, most dear Lady; and for the love I bear thee, I promise
to serve thee willingly forever and to do what I can to make thee loved by
others also. I place in thee all my hopes for salvation; accept me as thy
servant and shelter me under thy mantle, thou who art the Mother of mercy.

Extracts from - The Glories of Mary. (by St. Alphonsus Liguori - Doctor of
the Church)

"If the Son is a king," says St. Athanasius, "the Mother who begot him is
rightly and truly considered a Queen and Sovereign" ("Si ipse Rex est, qui
natus est de Virgine, Mater quae eum genuit, Regina et Domina proprie ac
vere censetur."—Serm. de Deip). "No sooner had Mary," says St. Bernardine
of Sienna, "consented to be Mother of the Eternal Word, than she merited by
this consent to be made Queen of the world and of all creatures." ("Haec
autem Virgo, in illo consensus, meruit primatum orbis dominium mundi,
sceptrum regni super omnes creaturas."—Pro fest. V.M. s. 5 c. 3.) "Since
the flesh of Mary," remarks the Abbot Arnold of Chartres, "was not
different from that of Jesus, how can the royal dignity of the Son be
denied to the Mother?" (Nec a dominatione et potestate filii Mater potest
esse sejuncta: una est Mariae et Christi caro."—De Laud. B. Virg.) "Hence
we must consider the glory of the Son, not only as being common to his
Mother, but as one with her" (Filii gloriam cum Matre non tam communem
judico, quam eamdem."—Ibid.).

And if Jesus is the King of the universe, Mary is also its
Queen. "And as Queen," says the Abbot Rupert, "she possesses, by right,
the whole kingdom of her Son"("Regina coelorum, totum jure possidens Filii
regnum."—In Cant. l. 3). Hence St. Bernardine of Sienna concludes that "as
many creatures as there are who serve God, so many they are who serve Mary:
for as angels and men, and all things that are in heaven and on earth, are
subject to the empire of God, so are they also under the dominion of
Mary!"(Tot creaturae serviunt gloriosae Virgini, quot serviunt Trinitati;
omnes nempe creaturae, sive angeli sive hominess, et omnia quae sunt in
coelo et in terra, quia omnia sunt divino imperio subjugate, gloriosae
Virgini sunt subjectae."—Pro Fest. V.M. s. 5, c. 6.) The Abbot Guerricus,
addressing himself to the divine Mother on this subject, says: "Continue,
Mary, continue to dispose with confidence of the riches of thy Son; act as
Queen, Mother and Spouse of the King: for to thee belongs dominion and
power over all creatures!"(Perge, Mari! perge secura in bonis filii tui;
fiducialiter age tamquam Regina, Mater regis et spons; tibi debetur regnum
et potestas."—In Ass. B.M. s. 3.)


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Why cover our nakedness?

Mark 14:51, 52 And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen
cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him: And he
left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.

There are people who promote showing skin as not bad since God created us
beautiful being. There is this worldly saying 'if you have it flaunt it'.
In some countries Christians have gone overboard that they hold service in
the name of worshiping God where the congregation attends in the buff,
wearing nothing.

There is also the larger question of how much skin to show? What is decency
and what is indecency? Where does man draw the line and say enough? These
questions cannot be answered by moral rules or laws but only by the Word of
God for nakedness came into existence due to the existence of the Law of
God (you may wonder how?).

When God created man and woman there was no sin in them and they did not
wear clothes and never felt naked basically because flesh had no hold on
them. But when sin came in them they realized they were trapped in the body
of flesh and because flesh had a hold of them they tried to cover certain
parts of their body, it is then the term nakedness came into existence
(every part /organ of the human anatomy is made according to design
understanding it will reveal spiritual things). Jesus showed He overcame
sin by transfiguring and this was also the reason He was crucified on the
cross without clothes. We cannot use the word 'naked' for Him on the cross
even though there was no clothes on Him since no sin was / is in Him.

We see in the book of Moses the Lord tells the priests not to make steps to
the tabernacle but make a sloping ramp so that their nakedness was not
seen. God was not man to peek from below to see their nakedness. There are
2 dimensions to this verse, one natural and one spiritual.

In the natural at that time the men wore a gown same like the women but the
gown of the men were slight shorter to the women. God said this so that the
people do not see the nakedness of His representatives as they climbed the
height. In reality we hide our nakedness from each other and not from God
because God can see through anything and through time.

In the spiritual dimension steps symbolize prosperity and God knew worldly
prosperity brings out the carnal nakedness of man. That is why God set a
long duration of time for man to gradually grow and come to Him for if He
had shorten this man would have spiritual nakedness. When man knows
something a little quickly, he thinks he knows all and then shows his
spiritual nakedness.

When we dress are we fully covered or party covered is not the question we
should ask but we should ask is our nakedness visible to others? Let us
also remember other than our natural nakedness let us cover our spiritual
nakedness more. The Lord says on Judgment Day those who show their
spiritual nakedness to their brethren will be cut off (will not enter
Heaven).

[Prayer Starter]

Lord people do not understand nakedness since they do not know the meaning
of righteousness. We pray Lord that they do not go the norms of modesty but
spiritually open their eyes and see even if they are fully covered they
could be showing their nakedness. We also pray they more cover their
spiritual nakedness and have fear of Hell fire...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

1 Corinthians 4:10-13

10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak,
but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.

11 Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked,
and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;

12 And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being
persecuted, we suffer it:

13 Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and
are the offscouring of all things unto this day.

2 Corinthians 5:2-3

2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our
house which is from heaven:

3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

Exodus 20:26 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy
nakedness be not discovered thereon.

Exodus 28:42 And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their
nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach:

Leviticus 18:6-18,29

6 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover
their nakedness: I am the LORD.

7 The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou
not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

8 The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy
father's nakedness.

9 The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of
thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their
nakedness thou shalt not uncover.

10 The nakedness of thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter,
even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own
nakedness.

11 The nakedness of thy father's wife's daughter, begotten of thy father,
she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

12 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister: she is thy
father's near kinswoman.

13 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister: for she is
thy mother's near kinswoman.

14 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's brother, thou
shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt.

15 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she is thy
son's wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

16 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife: it is thy
brother's nakedness.

17 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter,
neither shalt thou take her son's daughter, or her daughter's daughter, to
uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness.

18 Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover
her nakedness, beside the other in her life time.

29 For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls
that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.

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Yet a lot to be known of Him and His Kingdom

1 Corinthians 13:12 - For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face
to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

When I came into the Lord, the Lord started teaching me through dreams and
vision and being spiritually immature at that time, every time I used to
get a revelation I could not hold back so the people I met that day I would
share with them and they not being rooted in the Word or in His Spirit
would be shaken. Time and again I would get nasty comments like stones
thrown at me calling me crazy, heretic, having another spirit etc... But
the strong passion for the Lord which was in my bones did not let these
people dismay me and their insults bring me down. Although at times they
did manage to discourage me for a short time but then my God who is
faithful in those moments would give a super boost in way of revelation or
great miracle and I would be on double fire for Him.

Today even though many appreciate the knowledge, wisdom and understanding
the Lord has blessed me with, with regards to His Kingdom and Him yet all
is not well. I do hear some times (though very rare) those same comments.
Of late a few weeks back a brother told me ‘are those Bible scholars
fools?’. Because I admired his knowledge I was setback but then my Lord
gave me a super dose of revelation of something which I was pursuing to
know form many years and then I was back on super fire for Him.

If someone tells you, you need to only follow what the church teaches you
or that which is already written by Bible scholars then that person does
not know the Word of God and is a religious person not led by the Spirit of
God. The Spirit of God being one is still 7 and the Spirit promised to us
when we are baptized in Jesus Christ is the Spirit of Truth. As we are
baptized in the Spirit of God and grow we get more of Him and also of the
other Spirits of 7 Spirits. It is the Spirit of the Lord who reveals the
Word, who Jesus Christ is and who the Father is.

Take for example the fact Jesus Christ is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord and
the Father is Lord yet God is only one (there is nothing like triune God in
Heaven). Till date I have not come any person who has been able to
understand this for they did not know the difference between Son of God and
God the Son, they did not know what son means in spirit, they do not know
the meaning of spirit and they do not know how God being Spirit yet He has
given His Spirit to us (how could Spirit have a Spirit).

Men have been doing pick and choose what to believe and what not to
believe. Scriptures that do not get digested from scriptures he ignores or
overlooks as tradition or casual comments.

In today’s message Paul a man firmly rooted in the knowledge and
understanding of the Kingdom of God and admired even by the other apostles
for his knowledge and understanding, himself says he was on the learning
process. Paul knew but also knew what he knew was too little to the things
that were to be known of the Kingdom of God.

Understand one thing the day we fully know the Word of God and the Truth is
fully revealed to us, man will transfigured / rapture and the end will
come. If we are not transfiguring or rapturing then we are far from the
Truth. So let us pursue the Truth and not let people discourage us in our
thirst of the knowledge and understanding of the Kingdom of God.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray we have a fire in our bones like Jeremiah had in him. Let
that fire not be quenched by the discouragement of others or their insults.
Lord until our eyes close permanently to sleep in You, let them always seek
to see more and more of You and your Kingdom...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Revelation 4:5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings
and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne,
which are the seven Spirits of God.

Zechariah 4:2 And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have
looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of
it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which
are upon the top thereof:

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;

John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he
shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

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

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love
one another with a pure heart fervently:

1 John 5:6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not
by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is truth.

Ephesians 4:4-6

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

5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

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

James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the
devils also believe, and tremble.

Revelation 22:3-5

3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb
[the word used here is not lamb as in an animal but speaks of man] shall be
in it; and his servants shall serve him:

4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither
light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign
for ever and ever.

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Being one from within

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

Last weekend I was ministering to a youth fellowship of a Gujarati Church
and I was so touched by their love and respect for each other. I would not
say they were perfect but what I saw in them is they came to the level of
the other in every way, thus they could relate to the other as their own.

We Christians have true knowledge and understanding of the Truth yet the
way of life of the west has got fused into us and we have associated
western culture or way of life to the belief like the Jews did. The Jews
had a way of dressing of living their life and they hated those of north
Israel (whom they called Samaritans) since they did not follow traditional
Jewish culture or beliefs.

We as Christians think being Christian means being independent and open
minded. We get so independent that we land up being prisoners of our own
selves. Our thinking gets open and open that we land up almost 360 degrees
than later we realize we do not think at all (0 degrees).

No one can be converted to become a Christian. Christianity is not change
of religion but change of life. That does not mean we need to put on
something new. The word used as 'new man' or 'new creation' does not talk
of new but talks of a renewed man, a man reconciled to God to become again
what God made him in the beginning. It means we need to remove the garbage,
directly or indirectly induced in us by this world, via us or via our
forefathers, for when God created us we were made in the image of God and
this image got corrupted.

We do not need to look to others for perfection but look within ourselves
and to know what this perfection looks like, we can see Jesus Christ.

Do we discard furniture which has dust collected on it? Then why do we
dislike people? Are people worth less than objects?

Let us look inside people and see that which is created by God in them and
love them for who and what they are inside, not trying to make them like
ourselves or like people we look up to.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord God when You created men and women in the beginning You said You
created them in your image and they were identical. It is only in the flesh
we have differences or gender and physical looks. Lord when we look at our
brethren let us not go by what we see but go by what in within them that
which is not visible...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Genesis 1: 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
created he him; male and female created he them (male gender plural).

Matthew 9:16-17

16 No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which
is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.

17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break,
and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine
into new bottles, and both are preserved.

2 Corinthians 5:16-19

16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we
have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are
passed away; behold, all things are become new.

18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus
Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not
imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation.



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The Day Mary's faith was shaken

Mark 3:30, 31 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit. There came
then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him,
calling him.

We all have been told about the faith about Abraham and the faith of Mary.
But faith just did not come easy, Abraham was a person who suffered 25years
so that his faith was made strong and Mary the mother of Jesus too was not
perfect in her faith even though she sacrificed her reputation of becoming
a mother for the Lord before married (she was encouraged with the testimony
of her cousin for God knew her weakness).

In today's message we read the lowest point of her faith in her Lord and
son whom she knew so well. Even though she had personal visitation of
Angels and she saw the great miracles that her son did and personally spend
more time with Him in his childhood than anyone else yet the gossip of
people did affect her.

You may think I am misconnecting the scripture. If you take the following
points:-

1) Mark 3:30 talks of people accusing of Jesus operation or having a demon
in Him

2) Mark 3:31 starts with 'there came then'. The word 'then' shows a
continuation of flow of events.

3) Mary comes not alone but with her sons may be two or three (for the word
is plural).

4) Mary came to meet / see Jesus and was restless to see Him so much so she
does not wait for Jesus to finish His teaching but goes to the extent to
disturb Him by sending a word inside that they are waiting outside.

5) Jesus does not respond to this message immediately by going out. In fact
Jesus questions who is His mother and His brothers, almost disassociating
Himself with them in anger (like He got angry when Mary asked Him for a
miracle at the wedding of Canna).

I am not trying to belittle the mother of Jesus but understand she was as
weak as any woman. Secondly she was chosen to bear the child for God (like
a surrogate mother). She was indeed a pious woman dedicated to God, but
then she was not Woman of God evangelizing or having a Calling in the Lord
like the Prophets or Apostles or Teachers or Evangelist etc. We see in book
of Acts she is hardly mentioned, either she may have died (she has a tomb
still existing today) immediately or she took the back seat due to old age.

If you compare between the various Marys that were with Jesus during His
ministry of 3 years (as recorded in the Gospels) we see Mary the Magdalene
had more affection and love for Jesus (mind you she was not a young woman
she had a history of many marriages, a life of prostitution and had
suffered of many spirits before Jesus saved her from being stoned by the
Jews). Jesus called her 'Mary' in an affectionate way giving her the
respect of a mother like He also did to Salome His mother's sister.

Compared to Mary we see Abraham was made perfect in his faith and did not
fail the test that is why he is called father of (and by) faith. Abraham is
called the father of nations but Mary is neither referred to in any way or
given any title by the Apostles or writers of the Bible, other than
recordings of the Gospels, nor was she involved in the building of the
Church in any way.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord let us not lift people up before, for You Lord bring down those who
are lifted up above You. You Lord knew what people would do and like You
hid the body of Moses from the Jews, so also You made sure these incidents
were recorded where a human would be made into a goddess by people who call
themselves your people. You Lord also spoke through the Prophet Simone how
people would the soul of Mary (after her death) would be pierced by the
spiritual fornication that people would do in her name. You Lord allowed
this to expose the 'Christian' idolaters. Lord we pray these people know no
one was and is perfect other that You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Mark 3:22-35

22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub,
and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.

23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can
Satan cast out Satan?

24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand,
but hath an end.

27 No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except
he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.

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

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

30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.

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

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

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

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

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

Romans 4:3-5,16-18

3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted
unto him for righteousness.

4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the
ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the
promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the
law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father
of us all,

17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before
him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those
things which be not as though they were.

18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of
many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

Luke 2:35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the
thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

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Do you know Him?

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

I got this message 2 days back and thought of sending a short message but
then that would please but not edify anyone. So I took the courage to try
and picture who the Lord Jesus Christ is in an as short as possible message
(I know it is a little long please read carefully and also do not skip the
scriptures).

In Bible study there are 4 stages or levels (Isaiah 28:9-11 Commentary,
Cross Reference, Word and the Advance level). Most are in the first stage
and few are in the second stage and even fewer are in the third stage. Most
Bible colleges teach the first and second stage and rarely touch the third
stage and it is very rare I find anyone in the fourth stage of Bible study.

Some time back I was very happy to meet a brother who has immense knowledge
of the Bible and was touching on the fourth stage of Bible study. When I
interacted with him, he told me he loved to study about these aspects of
the Bible which gives a bird's eye view of the Word of God and true
direction of His plans. But then one day we were discussing some topic and
then this brother stumbled on who Jesus was? (This sadden me so much) He
had the understanding Jesus was God as well as man when He was man on earth
for there was scriptures where He is declared Lord and there are scriptures
which state Him as Son of Man. But then there is also the scripture if we
do not declared Him as being (fully) man in the flesh then we do so by the
spirit of the antichrist. Now all cannot be true together.

The biggest problem I see is, Christians do not have a clear definition of
what man is and due to that they stumble on who Lord Jesus Christ is. In
simple words a human is a spirit being living in a body of flesh and the
moment the spirit comes alive in the flesh so does his soul (inner-man)
come alive (become moldable). While the spirit is in the body till then
the inner-man is moldable like clay on a potter's wheel. The understanding
of this world can shape this clay or Satan or God can affect the shape of
this clay. The moment a person dies the spirit remains alive but the
inner-man freezes or stiffens like a dried clay pot. We are all judged
according to what we do with our inner-man.

The day man overcomes in other words gets back the image of God which was
lost due to sin (we overcome collectively not individually like Jesus did)
man will be able to go to Heaven. Bible says the spirit being in man is the
same as the Angels, so each and every one of us are angels waiting to be
set free from these corrupt bodies. Those whose inner-man is shaped in the
image of God will become like the Angels of Heaven - Sons of God. Those who
do not have the image of God become like the fallen angels and thus see
destruction on Judgment Day.

When defining the Lord Jesus Christ I simply put as Part of God who humbled
Himself and came as man. Paul put the definition also in Philippians
2:5-11.

We need to account this one fact - Jesus was God yet as man. That means He
was 100percent man as man even though He was God and this was possible
because He humbled Himself. Almost all do not take into account the fact as
to when He humbled Himself. Bible says He became a sacrifice in the
beginning of creation. That means even before we or this universe was
created God was aware man would sin and He needed to prepare a sacrifice
for the sin and return of man. Now if anyone as an idea of creation then
one would have a true account of the love of God. The love manifested on
the crucifix was not even a part of the love of God and this love cannot be
conceptualized.

So even though Jesus was like us 100 percent in the flesh yet His Spirit
was not human spirit but a part of God which had humbled Himself. So being
God in the flesh yet He was void of divine powers. That means He lived on
earth as man, overcame as a man, suffered and man, died as man and
resurrected as man and awaits us until Judgment Day when He will come again
as man to take us to Heaven where He no longer continues to be man but will
be God again (united back to the Father and us in Him).

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, Your Word is called the instructions of life and was given to give
life unto us. Lord your Wisdom and Love is un-comprehendible. Lord the wise
cannot and will not be able to know you, it is your grace that comes
through faith that allows us to know You and be blessed in You. Lord we
pray you open the eyes and touch the hearts of your people that they may
know You and be blessed in You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Isaiah 28:9-11

9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand
doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line,
line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this
people.

Philippians 2:5-11

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

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

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

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

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name:

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven,
and things in earth, and things under the earth;

11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.

1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof
ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

John 5:26-29

26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to
have life in himself;

27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is
the Son of man.

28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are
in the graves shall hear his voice,

29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection
of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

John 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

John 10:30 I and my Father are one.

Matthew 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come,
ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world:

Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Hebrews 4:3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As
I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the
works were finished from the foundation of the world.

1 Peter 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

Revelation 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose
names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world.

Revelation 21:17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty
and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.

Luke 20:36 Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the
angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire
out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned
with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

Exodus 3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called
unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said,
Here am I.

Acts 27:23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am,
and whom I serve,

1 Thessalonians 4:16 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:

Revelation 22:6-13

6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord
God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the
things which must shortly be done.

7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the
prophecy of this book.

8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and
seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me
these things.

9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant,
and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of
this book: worship God.

10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this
book: for the time is at hand.

11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let
him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still:
and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every
man according as his work shall be.

13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

John 10:35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the
scripture cannot be broken;

Revelation 22:3-5

3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb
shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither
light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign
for ever and ever.

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Love the flag of a Christian

Philippians 2: 4,5 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also
on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus:

Jesus said to be His disciples we need to follow Him, and in today's
message Paul points to one of the most important factors of Christ Jesus
that is love. Paul in his letters always projected love as above all the
other Fruits of the Spirit and even goes to the extent of seeming to say
all others are in this one Fruit.

When we use the word fruit we use it as if it is an adjective meaning the
'outcome' or 'result' like beauty, height, built etc... But the word
'fruit' is a noun it means an object as in that which grows on trees. In
scriptures the Greek word is 'Karpos' here also is a noun. So when a tree
is known by its fruit He did not mean the results but a product, something
that exist and is there. The Greek word 'Karpos' comes from the root word
'Harpas' which means 'to catch up', or 'seige', or 'take by force'.

In spirit world Fruits of the Spirit are not abstract but more real than
objects of this world. Objects of this world can change form like mater to
energy or vice-versa but in spirit world Fruits of the Spirit are constant
even though they increase or decrease. Fruit does not change from one Fruit
to another. Fruits of the Spirit are mentioned in the Old Testament as well
as the New Testament. In the Old Testament since the Spirit of God was not
given to mankind (Church but few did have) thus details was not revealed
fully but was in shadow. Paul understood them well thus did not put all
together in Galatians 5:22-23 but listed 3 separately in Ephesians 5:9.
Revelations goes on to reveal Heaven is made of the 12 Fruits.

Now coming to this Fruit named love, due to world programing we associate
love to emotion or feeling or compassion, but we see in some Bible
translation this very word has been more appropriately translated as
'charity'. We are always told the Greek words Agape as 'God kind love' and
Agapo / Philo as 'human kind love', which is wrong. Agapo is a conjugation
of Agape and means 'I love', Philo on other hand mean more as friend /
associate and may be used also as like.

In simple terms the world did not know love until God humbled Himself and
came as man and showed us the true meaning of love. Even though we claim to
love people, we need know love is not about pleasing people or making them
happy. Love is not love if it does not edify or build people and to do that
one needs understanding of the Truth. Therefore it is impossible to love a
person without the power of the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Truth).

Love of Christ was manifested on the crucifix but understand the crucifix
did and does not please man in fact it has become the greatest stumbling
block to mankind also the true love of Jesus Christ is really known by the
fact that He humbled Himself and became a sacrifice for us from the
beginning of creation. It does not mean that He just volunteered to suffer
and die for us on the crucifix. When we read in books of Moses when an
animal was marked for a sacrifice it was not allowed freedom and was
separated from the rest. You will understand what happened with the Lord
Jesus Christ from His prayer in John 17. So we see since the Fruit of love
is manifested most and we have salvation due to this Fruit although the
Fruit of Righteousness, Holiness and Truth have greater value in Heaven.

Today's message tells us if we have love in us we should be like Christ, we
should reach out to others and live less for ourselves.

Yesterday India celebrated its Independent and the flag of the country was
hosted in many places. The flag handled with respect and raised high up
declaring our pride as Indians I a free country. When any Indian goes
abroad and has this flag displayed, people know that person is most
probably an Indian. In a similar way love is the flag of Christians. Let us
show we are Christians by raising the flag of love for all to see and know
us.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray Christians understand that the meaning of love and that how it
is the flag that identifies us from the rest of the world. Lord we pray
your people reach out to others. We pray Christians do not be misguided in
thinking by pleasing people they love them...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Matthew 7:17-20

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree
bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree
bring forth good fruit.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast
into the fire.

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Galatians 5:22-23

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

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

Ephesians 5;9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness [holiness]
and righteousness and truth;)

Revelation 22:17-20

17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits,
according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.

18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure
gold, like unto clear glass.

19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all
manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second,
sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;

20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the
eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh,
a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

Exodus 28:15-22

15 And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work;
after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of
purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it.

16 Foursquare it shall be being doubled; a span shall be the length
thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof.

17 And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones:
the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be
the first row.

18 And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond.

19 And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst.

20 And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be
set in gold in their inclosings.

21 And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel,
twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet; every
one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes.

22 And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreathen
work of pure gold.


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Sin, atonement, life, death, darkness and light

Romans 5:11,12 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Wherefore, as by
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned:

As Christian we have no problem about believing that by the sacrifice of
one Man our sins (sins of all those across thousands of years) who believed
in Him are forgiven, but when a Muslim who believes in every man pays for
his or her sin (even though their books say contrary), it causes one to
think how is it possible. Jesus died and paid for our sins as man and not
as God, so how does one man's sacrifice give atonement to billions?

As a Christian I would not dare to raise this question to any other
Christian or elder, but I believed they knew and therefore if they are
right then I too should be right. But as I grew in the Lord I realized most
have no understanding of it and in the name of 'faith' they swallow this.
It is good I did not sit on this 'faith' of others, I did take this up to
the Lord and He did open my mind to understand it.

My questions got answered one by one. It all started with knowing God is
Light and He existed from the beginning so how was there was darkness in
the starting of the Bible? From where and how did this darkness come?

Secondly what does Son of God mean and why Jesus at times called Himself
Son of God and at times also Son of Man even though Bible says it is the
spirit of the antichrist which causes us to think Jesus was not 100percent
man when He was on earth.

Thirdly why were the fallen angels called Sons of God even though they had
done wrong and only after Noah's flood were they called demons or Satan
(its plural)?

Fourthly, how come one man's wrong doing affecting all generation? Is not
God unjustified in imputing one man's wrong unto all generation? We may say
okay God also justified many through one man's righteousness. Does that
mean God corrected Himself therefore He is now ok?

Will we see Jesus in Heaven after He has redeemed man and returned to His
glory which was before creation?

Lastly how are those before the Lord Jesus became man saved?

Let us not believe for the sake of believing. Faith does not mean blindly
believing in something, hope does, but faith requires us to have
understanding. And when that understanding gets firmly rooted in us then
faith becomes authority. Jesus was not called man of faith but a man of
authority.

Let us pursue understanding of the little things and these little
understandings will make us understand the larger things of the Kingdom of
God.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray your people stop behaving like the story of the ten blind men
who went to know what an elephant is like. This is the reason why there are
doctrine issues and why there is division in the Church. Lord we pray your
people do not behave like cattle but the glorious creatures You designed
them to be...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a
living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening [produce life / alive]
spirit.

1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof
ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

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

Matthew 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he
that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Matthew 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved.

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Jesus the King that cometh in the Name of the Lord

Luke 19:37, 38 - And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the
mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and
praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;
Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in
heaven, and glory in the highest.

Luke records the disciples welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem with rejoicing and
praises to God. John records along with the disciples, the other Jews also
joined with palms and also spread their robes (outer coats) on the floor
before Him as He entered riding an ass and it's young (He was mounted on
the young ass). They were all shout 'Hosanna' which in literate terms means
'the Savior arrives'.

All this happened just because of 2 reasons; first was the miracle of
bringing back of Lazarus from death to life. Lazarus was not the only one
whom Jesus bought to life and the impact was not just about bringing back
after 3 days but more to do with the Egyptian rituals and beliefs the Jews
followed from that part of Israel. When they came to welcome Him as a great
promised Prophet (greater than Moses) with palms, they got another surprise
to see Jesus fulfill the prophecy of Zachariah of He being the promised
King (greater than David) which was the second reason and thus all shouted
'the Savior arrives'.

It is only when we understand the Lord Jesus Christ will we understand why
at time He is called just 'King', sometimes 'chief King' and at times even
'King of Kings and Lord of Lords' even though this same title is given to
the Rider on the White Horse in Revelation whose name is also 'Word of God'.

Yesterday I was preaching at a Church and during worship there was this
young blind man who was in the front. The way he was dancing and worshiping
the Lord it was a joy to see, and the others did nothing compared to a
percentage of it. His blindness prevented him from knowing the views or
response of others and thus allowed him to have an intimate relationship
with the Lord. The same is with our understanding when we give too much
importance to other people's views on the Bible then we too become rigid in
our thinking and thus are un-teachable by the Lord. We should hear what
others have to say but at times it is best to start on a fresh page with
the Lord.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord Jesus You are God but as man it is evil to say You were God or 'God
and man' and not man. Lord Jesus You are God who humbled Himself and came
as man. As man You were as human as me or anyone else. You were born
without sin and we are made free of our past sins when we are baptized in
You. You were born of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a woman and by the
power of the Holy Spirit You overcame the sin nature of Adam and we receive
the Holy Spirit from You and it is the Holy Spirit who helps us to overcome
this sin nature. Lord we pray your people know You and thus find their
place in You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

1 Peter 2:6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay
in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded.

Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the
first begotten of the dead, and the prince [Revelation] of the kings of the
earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Matthew 21:6-10

6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,

7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and
they set him thereon.

8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut
down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.

9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying,
Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the
Lord; Hosanna in the highest.

10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying,
Who is this?

John 12:12-19

12 On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they
heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried,
Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

14 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,

15 Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an
ass's colt.

16 These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus
was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him,
and that they had done these things unto him.

17 The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of
his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record.

18 For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had
done this miracle.

19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye
prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.

1 Timothy 6:15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and
only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

Revelation 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall
overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that
are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Revelation 19:11-16

11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon
him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and
make war.

12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and
he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is
called The Word of God.

14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite
the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF
KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

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