Corona And “Good Tidings” – Part 2

“7:3 And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?7:4 If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.7:5 And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.7:6 For the LORD had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.7:7 Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.7:8 And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it.7:9 Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.7:10 So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were.7:11 And he called the porters; and they told it to the king’s house within.” (2 Ki. 7:3-11)

All things work for good to those who love the Lord. Even a plague as deadly as the Corona fits perfectly into “all things work for good to those who love the Lord, to those who are called according to His purpose”.

The church has no place for fear of the Corona. On the contrary, this is the perfect opportunity for the church to declare the power of the gospel. I am just thinking, What if the pandemic had come before we received the revelation of the cross?

We might have ended in witch doctor’s houses! But now, this is a time for the church to show forth the unsearchable riches of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In that respect the Corona is good news.

And who is the church?

Unfortunately, today, there is a lot of compromise because the church wants to be like the world. They want wealth, fame, power and basically everything else the world wants. But the true church, those whom God has chosen to inherit the Kingdom of heaven, cannot be in this group. Just like in the case of the Samaritans, the church are the “lepers”. They of necessity must be people whom the world has rejected, for scripture says,

“1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.” (1 Cor. 1:26-29)

I remember back in the days when the gospel was first preached in our country. It was not preached by men in suits, no. It was preached by people who had nothing of this world: they had no worldly riches and no worldly reputation. Above all they had no worldly education. And the gospel was very powerful then. It brought real healing to our country.

In those days there was a lot of armed robberies, and it was the church that played a pivotal role in bringing crime down. Hardened criminals would own up at evangelistic meetings and, with tears streaming down their faces, they would rush off and bring their guns and surrender them the men of God. In public!

This brought great attention on the church. One day, the then Regional Commissioner of Mwanza, the second largest city in Tanzania, spoke up at a public meeting and he told the gathering, “Brethren, I am a Muslim. But there is something so powerful about these ‘Walokole’ (the Pentecostals) I cannot describe it.”

He said, “How can the government not be able to pry these weapons from these armed robbers and yet they are handing them to these preachers in public?”

The Regional Commissioner was visibly touched, and so was the entire nation.

That was the church then. It was powerful. It was full of the riches of Christ.

But the enemy is always at work, trying to destroy the work of God and, even though we know he will never succeed in that endeavor, yet, given the chance, he can do a lot of damage, and sometimes the damage is irreparable.

This, sadly, has happened to the church today. Somewhere down the road, just as we see with the churches that Paul started, the church lost its first zeal. The men in rags disappeared, and the gospel is now preached by men in suits. The introduction of materialism into the gospel opened the door for a spiritual famine to beset the church.

To cater for their new gospel of materialism preachers dumped the true gospel of Jesus Christ and came up with,

“another Jesus, another gospel, another spirit” (2 Cor. 11:2)

It is difficult to hear “Jesus Christ and him crucified” preached in church today.

The outcome is that when the true gospel of Christ and Him crucified is not preached there is a famine in the church. In all my lifetime I have never seen a spiritual famine such as the one that is in the church today. When people in church begin eating grass like goats just because some so-called preacher has told them to, that is an indication of how severe the spiritual famine is.

Elsewhere, God’s people have eaten snakes, drank every kind of oil and filth, brought their underwear to church; they have been sprayed with “Doom” to the point of death; they have been beaten; they have been robbed clean in broad daylight; marriages and families have been destroyed. This is the spiritual carnage that is being perpetrated within the church as a result of… famine.

At the same time the character of Jesus Christ has suffered deeply for Christians do not reflect it in their lives.

But thank God for the gospel. The revelation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified is the best news ever. For it brings life and a true reflection of Christ in us.

This is the gospel that we must preach to a dying church and a dying world that is so fearful of the Corona pandemic.

We must be like these four Samaritan lepers. Upon realizing their mistake, these men stopped thinking about themselves. All of a sudden they changed priorities and their new mission became to announce the “glad tidings” so others could benefit.

I love these men. They were good men. And Christ has put that same goodness in us.

The church in particular needs to hear the Good News – of the cross. This is the food for the church. The revelation of Jesus Christ, “Christ crucified”, is the food that the church needs. It is also the unsearchable riches of Christ. And this is the message we need to fear missing most.

The church cannot fear or even find time to discuss the Corona virus. The Corona pandemic is nothing more than a wonderful opportunity for the church to spread forth the Good News.

It is my earnest prayer that the church may grasp the revelation of Christ crucified. It is not an overstatement to say that the church today has absolutely no idea of this revelation. But it must hear it!

Corona And “Good Tidings” – Part 1

“7:3 And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?7:4 If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.7:5 And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.7:6 For the LORD had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.7:7 Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.7:8 And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it.7:9 Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.7:10 So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were.7:11 And he called the porters; and they told it to the king’s house within.” (2 Ki. 7:3-11)

Hallelujah! Praise be to our Lord! He is a God of great mercy and grace. I thank God so much that He considered these poor lepers and granted them incredible grace. He showed them more mercy than anyone could ever think of.

The Bible says that God gives grace to the humble but He opposes the proud. In verse 2 of this same story we read about a lord upon whose hand the king leaned. This lord, when he heard the prophet of God, Elisha, declaring the Word of the Lord that the next day a measure of fine flour would be sold for a shekel at the gate of the city – he mocked him, stating, “If God were to open the windows of heaven, were such a thing possible?”

There had been a famine in Samaria for three and a half years; not a drop of water had rained on the ground. The lord thought that the prophet of God was crazy. This shows the contempt with which this lord held Elisha.

But the Word of God prevailed and the next day the lord was trampled to death as he attempted to organise the people as they were rushing to buy food at the gate.

But God showed mercy to the humble lepers who at the end proved to be very good men. The difference in character between these lepers and this particular lord prove that you cannot judge a book by its cover. Sometimes those who look wholesome to the natural eyes are sick in their hearts. And those whose failings are visible to the human eye sometimes turn out to have the most humble hearts.

A Tender Hearted High Priest – Part 2

“4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:15-16)

Juxtaposed against our incorrigibly sinful nature are the indescribably TENDER mercies of God. Let us recap and see just how tender God’s love for you and I is.

Firstly, as we saw in Part 1 of this post, Christ has miraculously drawn close to us in that He came down to earth to give His life for us! That is as close and personal as love could get. But, apparently, that was not close enough for our Lord Jesus. Not only did He choose to come and die for our sins but He came and lived the earthly life that we live! – and all to the end that He might become a merciful High for us. This – walking the road of earthly temptation – puts Jesus’s humility and love on a scale that we cannot comprehend.

And yet, in the here and now, there is yet one more way in which the Lord reveals His love for us. How?

It is in the tender mercies that He shows us daily even when we ourselves cannot find the reason that He should think about us. I believe that if we are to look well enough we will find an expression of His tenderness every waking moment of our lives. But even then, every so often, He jolts us awake, so to speak by setting up a miracle that we could hardly have expected, nor foreseen. And often this happens when there is absolutely no reason, no goodness on our part, for Him to do so. It is like God is constantly affirming and reaffirming how tenderly He loves us in spite of ourselves.

So, just to brag a little bit, Jesus did just that for me a few days ago. He blessed me with a gift that I sorely needed. What the Lord did was clearly an affirmation of His tender love for me. It was absolutely unmerited, for I was extremely unworthy to be the recipient of ANYTHING from God. But God blessed me all the same. And it was not just the miracle of provision, but the size of the gift, that overwhelmed me.

The blessing came in the form of a material gift but, as I already stated, the surprise was not in the gift, but in the fact that the hand of God was clearly written all over it. I do not have space nor time to go into the details but, after the miracle occurred I heard God whisper, real close, “I love you more than you can tell.”

A Tender Hearted High Priest – Part 1

“4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:15-16)

One of the reasons Jesus came to earth was in order that He might be tempted “like as we are”. What love! And yet, many of us believers are unaware of (or unable to believe in) the tender love that God has for us.

For many years I was unaware that God loved me to such an extent. Actually, quite to the contrary, I had the exact opposite view of God. To me God was a hard taskmaster who was constantly looking over my shoulder, passing judgement on my every move and it appeared there was nothing (read sin) I could do with any amount of freedom.

I laughed aloud the day I understood this scripture. How could someone who hated you so much that they were constantly passing judgement over you then pay such a price for me as Jesus did? How could He come down to earth not only to give His life for me, but to walk every step of the road I would be walking here on earth? How could a harsh judge partake of every one of my temptations in order that He might become a fully knowledgeable and tender hearted High Priest on my behalf?

I looked from afar and I just could not wrap my mind around that kind of love. But then God’s Word informs me that there is more to this grace. It encourages me to BOLDLY go to Him, He who knows how weak I am, to receive grace in time of need.

It is like everything has been handed to us on a silver platter. All we need is boldness (faith) to enter into this miraculous relationship with God.

But notice especially that we are to go and receive grace in time of need. Many Christians go to God looking for material blessings. They want cars, houses, visas; and some are looking for fame and recognition.

But we are to seek for grace for our pitiful spiritual condition. God can give you a house if that is what you want, but what gives Him true pleasure is when we are concerned with the welfare of our spirits. Where we are looking out against sin in our lives.

And this was the reason Jesus suffered and died on the cross.

Jesus – God And Man

How could Jesus be both God and man all at once? That is practically impossible because of one singular aspect that man has. Man has the singular characteristic of being a sinner. Jesus could not have been both God and Man at the same time on account of this single fact. For, despite the valiant show of righteousness that we humans put up, the cold fact is that all men are not only sinners but we are rotten to the core.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23)

Notice the word “all”. Sin separates all men from God.

But God is holy. God’s Word declares that He CANNOT sin.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (Jam. 1:17)

There is not a shadow of turning with God.

Now, interestingly, when He was here on earth Jesus referred to Himself as “the Son of man” (Mat. 8:20, etc.) and yet, at the same time, He stated that God was His Father. This proves that, Jesus was both perfect God and perfect Man.

So, back to our original question: How was it possible that Jesus was both God and Man while here on earth?

The answer to this question is that Jesus was able to be both Man and God because as a Man He did not sin. That’s all.

This fact is of extreme importance because, as children of God we, too, are not to sin. On the contrary, we are to be holy even as He is holy. Being a man myself I know sin and when I consider the challenge of sin I realize the unspeakable sacrifice that Jesus paid in order to please His heavenly Father.

In the first place Jesus humbled Himself and became Man of His own volition. God the Father did not force Him to it. But He did it out of love to redeem the man He loved. Scripture says for God so loved the world.

Secondly, Jesus did not come in an ironclad Body free from temptation. On the contrary, scripture tells us, He was tempted just as we. It says in Heb. 4:15:

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews

Happily, the challenge to crush sin beneath our feet is the challenge that we, too, are called to. According to 1 Thessalonians 3:13 we are to be

“unblamable in holiness at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.”

That means perfect in holiness, without sin.

That is why the church needs to heed to the message of the cross. The church today is preoccupied with meaningless gospels that cannot realistically deliver man from his sinful nature.

But the message of the cross is proven. The Apostle Paul states:

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor. 1:18)

Led By The Spirit

“7:11 And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.7:12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.7:13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.7:14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.7:15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.7:16 And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.” (Lk. 7:11-16)

This has always been my favorite scripture. To me, if the Bible was a movie, this would be the most expressive piece. The depth of compassion shown by Jesus here cannot be plumbed.

But Jesus did not walk about aimlessly. He was led by the Holy Spirit. On that day, unbeknown to anyone, Jesus was on a mission to Nain. Remember that Jesus was both God and man. But Jesus was no ordinary man. He was a man with “no sin” (1 Pet. 2:22; Heb. 4:15). He was a man, therefore, that was led fully by the Holy Spirit.

Deep in His Spirit, therefore, He knew He had to go to Nain. There, at the gate to that city, He would do a singular miracle that would bring life back, not just to the widow’s son, but to the widow herself.

During my recent visit to the Southern Highlands my host took me to a home to visit a dear sister. A number of family members, including her brother in law, were gathered there and when I commenced speaking, I spoke about the freedom that God has given us to choose our destiny. In the course of my speech, out of the blue I said, “You can smoke and smoke and smoke all the bhang (marijuana) you want, but one day you will stand before God and you will answer for every one of your actions.”

When we were walking back home my host asked me how I came to know about the marijuana. I asked him what he meant. He told me that the brother in law smoked marijuana like oxygen and that he had brought a lot of misery upon that family through his taking marijuana. Moreover, no one dared talk to him about it.

“Well”, I told the brother, “the Lord just talked to him about it.”

The man had sat quietly throughout my sermon.

When we are led by the Spirit we can address many people’s deep felt situations and bring healing where it is most needed.

The Grandeur Of The Cross

“2:1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.2:2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.2:3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Cor. 2:2-5)

Notice, if you will, the connection between verses 3 and 4. (Now, this should have us all pause and reflect deeply but sadly this will not register with many for the way of the cross is a stumbling block to believers while for others it is foolishness).

But we must preach the gospel. In the face of incredible odds the gospel of the cross must be preached for it is the only gospel that can prepare the Church to meet the Lord Jesus Christ.

But we should not think that we can preach the gospel from our couches, or from behind our laptops. The example that we are going to see from the Apostle Paul’s life proves this.

The incredible lesson that we learn from Paul’s words in the above portion of scripture is that the “demonstration of the Spirit and of power” of God in his life was not in anything except in the “weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling” that was in Paul’s life when he was with the Corinthians.

There it is, in black and white. The power of the cross of Jesus Christ is to be found in the breaking of our lives by the Spirit of God.

It is clear also that Paul’s life was broken in public, and the Corinthians bore witness to it. This means that Paul was shamed and humiliated before the eyes of the Corinthians, and they saw… what?

They saw his patience, his humility, his forgiving heart. They saw him rejoicing in the midst of suffering. They saw a man who was a giant in worldly terms allow himself to be humbled and have his “manhood” stripped from him.

How many of us can confess that pride is the greatest stumbling block for many believers. To lose their pride, to surrender who they are, this is the greatest challenge facing Christian believers in the Spirit.

I recall when we first received the revelation of the gospel here the revelation was so clear to us that whenever someone challenged us (for the gospel appeared new), we would ask them a simple question: “Do you have pride?” and that would be the end of the conversation. It was instantly clear to them that they had a problem which they found hard to admit.

Many believers think that the power of the Spirit is demonstrated in miracles. That is true, but miracles are not the ESSENCE of the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The ESSENCE of the power of the Spirit of Christ where the cross is involved is brokenness, and death to self.

Actually, as far as miracles are concerned, the Apostle Paul excludes himself from those who look for the power of Spirit in signs and wonders. Just a few verses prior, in 1 Cor. 1:22-23 he makes that distinction clear, for he says:

“1:22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness”.

That’s how much grander the cross is. When we can allow our lives to be broken and molded into the will of God, therein is the real demonstration of the power of the Spirit revealed in our lives.

Many of us do not pause long enough to wonder at Philippians 2:8-10.

“2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth”.

Was it signs and wonders that endeared Jesus to His heavenly Father? Or was it human wisdom? The answer is no.

The Bible here states clearly that the reason Jesus Christ has been given the Name above all names, and the reason every knee will bow before Him, is because He died the death of the cross. That means Jesus gave up His self to be openly ridiculed and shamed even though He had done no sin.

In fact, in 1 Peter the Bible tells us about the example that Jesus left us. It was the example of brokenness.

“2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:2:22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:2:23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1 Pet. 1:22-24)

To die the death of the cross is the greatest challenge that man has been given by God to undertake, and it is in this singular act that the power of God is revealed.

Man’s pride is his greatest undoing and unfortunately pride has made its way into the Church. In fact, as we just read in 1 Cor. 1:23 the cross is a stumbling block to the “Jews”. The “Jews” mean the Church. Many believers will stumble at the cross because they cannot accept to lose or surrender their personality, their beliefs, their pride, their lives.

I would rather be with the Apostle Paul – “in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling” (1 Cor. 2:4) – than with the great men of this world. The Church especially is plainly guilty of uplifting, sustaining, endorsing, defending and enforcing men who have not the demonstration of the power of the Spirit (through the death of the cross) in their lives. The greater a man appears in the natural, the higher he is held in esteem by the Church!

Where did this come from? It is a bewitching of the Church!

Actually, the truly great man or woman in God’s sight is he or she who can follow Paul, who followed Jesus.

And we all know that, through the cross, Jesus pleased God fully.

Our Unclean Lips!

“6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple… 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” (Is. 6:1,5)

I don’t know about you, friends, but my heart feels heavy when I read these verses. Doubtless, I would have loved to write differently but I cannot. But I can most definitely admit, as the Apostle Paul does in Romans chapter 7, that I, too, find there is war by the members of my body against doing the will of God.

I don’t know about you, but every day I find I need to cry, “Woe! Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips!”

My lips love BOASTING in the flesh. In many small, tiny ways my lips want to declare how knowledgeable I am. I have done a survey and discovered that even the most mundane of my conversations is geared towards exhibiting some form of knowledgeableness on my part.

I can look at the sky, for example, and declare, “It will rain today.” That sounds so innocent until, as in Isaiah’s case, the Lord stands before me. It then transpires that I did not really have to say that. I could have kept my mouth shut even after noticing the clouds; but I spoke out of pressure from the members of my body who want me to be the first to say it first before anyone else does.

Woe is me!

Or I can say something of which in the immediate aftermath I ask myself, Did I really have to say that?

Woe is me!

I am a man of half truths. I would far quicker embellish something with an untruth in order to gain attention.

Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips!

It is with a heavy heart that I make these confessions. But at the very least I thank God that I have seen the Lord! I would never have realized my need otherwise.

All that remains now, and which is my earnest prayer, is that the Lord may touch me and cleanse me from my uncleanliness.

Then I will be fit to serve Him in His holy temple.

Relationships

“8:19 Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press.8:20 And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee.8:21 And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.” (Lk. 8:19-21)

I have been studying the words of Jesus, and none of His words are easy to the human ear. Much of the time whenever He spoke to the Pharisee or the elders or the teachers of the law (the scribes) He would address them directly: “Ye hypocrites”.

Peter, He called Satan.

One of the toughest was when one of His disciples needed to go bury his father who had just passed away. Jesus told the man, basically, that he would not be going. He said to him,

“Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.” (Lk. 9:60)

That was not only tough on the man who had just lost his father; it went way, way, way against societal norms. This was something that was guaranteed to have Jesus stoned. Actually, if the man remained with Jesus after this, he deserves our deepest respect. Not many of us would have been able to bear such a “cross”.

And now here comes Jesus’s mother and all she wants is to see her son. And His brothers want to see their big brother.

Jesus’s response to His family’s claims must have left everyone present shocked to the core. But in heaven there was great rejoicing.

God has an agenda, and we as humans have an agenda. But the two run parallel: they will never meet. God’s agenda is for man to be saved and to go to heaven. This is the sole agenda that God has for His beloved creation, mankind.

Unfortunately, we have been bewitched. Even after we are saved we still have a thousand and one priorities, and God is hard at work trying to pry us from them.

Thank God He sent His Son Jesus into the world! Nothing would leverage Jesus from seeking only to do the will of His Father in heaven.

Many times the Jews took up stones to stone Jesus just because He spoke and did only the will of God.

It is not easy to be as bold and direct as Jesus was. This is especially so as man gets more enlightened. Today, an even newer generation, called the ‘woke’ or GenZ generation has arisen, whose preoccupation is all about “me”. All they know is self.

But for we who have been called by God, we should abandon the human agenda and seek to only hear and do God’s will.

This does not mean we are not going to intermingle with the world, for that would require us to leave the world. What it means, though, is that we are to keep our relationships spiritual. There is so much mixing in with the world today for the church, and there is so much that the church wants to know and imitate from the world.

For some it is friends especially – worldly friends – who are pulling them back. I believe we should cherish worldly friendships only to the extent that we can preach the gospel to them.

But it is in church that the danger is even more potent. There are people in church who have not the faintest whiff of the heavenly agenda in them. They have absolutely no interest in, nor the slightest intention of doing God’s will. Trying to form relationships with such people is a form of spiritual suicide. Unfortunately, amongst these are top well established preachers, preachers who are known all over the world, and who have massive followings.

Persecution – The Way To Heaven

“5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” (Mat. 5:10-12)

The secrets of God are hidden in the every day words of scripture that we read in the Bible. But no amount of Bible study can unlock them: God reveals them to whom He will. That is why it is more important to humble ourselves than to set our hopes on a regime of study, prayer or any other ministry in our endeavor to know God.

Notice that the Kingdom of Heaven is for

“they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.”

The Kingdom of heaven is not for those who gorge themselves with this world and expect to carry on the party in heaven. Unfortunately, too many believers are on that gravy train.

We must be on the lookout for the flesh. Any gospel that does not lead you to the cross (the sufferings of Christ) is a gospel that is based on the wide gate and broad way that the Bible speaks of in Matthew 7:14.

The word “persecution” refers to suffering for truth’s sake. That is why Jesus said,

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.”

Notice that among the “Blesseds” that Jesus proclaimed, this is the only one where the believer is told to

“Rejoice, and be exceeding glad”.

The Kingdom of heaven is for such; why should they not rejoice?

The flesh will never rejoice at persecution. But the spiritual man knows that is the way into the Kingdom of Heaven. And he rejoices in it.