What To Desire – Part 3

Did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah or did He not? Did He rain fire and brimstone upon those two cities or did He not?

Of course He did. The Bible says so. In fact, let us read the account.

“And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, and said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.

And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now we will deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.” (Gen. 19:9)

Now, you may not realize it, but angels are extremely wonderful creatures. Even transformed into men, they were extremely handsome. And when the men of the city, sodomites, saw these fine young men, their lust for strange flesh kicked in. And they ganged up and lay in wait until night came; then they went and surrounded Lot’s house.

“Open up!” they banged on Lot’s door. Now imagine, all the men of the city, hundreds, possibly thousands of them. And they demanded that Lot hand over the two strangers to them – “that we may know them”, they said. In other words, to sodomize them.

Lot was extremely horrified by what was about to happen. He was so horrified that he offered to give up his two daughters, virgins, in exchange for the safety of the two strangers who had sought refuge in his house. What a Godly man Lot was!

But it was in Heaven Itself where this act by the Sodomites was deemed so repulsive that God acted immediately.

“Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.” (Gen. 19:24-25)

God destroyed both Sodom and Gomorrah on account of the sin of sodomy. Just as there are things that we don’t like there are also things that God detests. And when we do those things, we are fighting God.

Modern man has outdone himself in his effort to fight against God. Back in 2013 and 2014 respectively, President Barack Obama of the United States of America publicly gave recognition to and praised two high profile athletes, one from the NBA and the other from the NFL, for coming out publicly and declaring that they were gays, or sodomites. President Obama called them “heroes”; and, indeed, they were labeled so both by the liberal media and by every liberal public figure.

These men were declared heroes by men. For what were they heroes? Had they discovered a new vaccine? Had they made fought in any war and defeated an enemy? No. On the contrary, they were acknowledged and labeled heroes by the mighty men of this world because they had fought against God! They were heroes for fighting against the laws of God, of which the Bible says,

“The law of the Lord is perfect” (Ps. 19:7)

Liberalism without God is slavery to sin. Unfortunately, America provides the best examples of this. I once saw a demonstration in the state of California, and the people who were demonstrating were demonstrating against, of all people, God! They were holding up posters with the words “Get God out of California!”

One thing I know for sure: God does not force Himself on people. Soon after, God packed His bags and left California. Not long afterwards, the forest fires began burning, and they have been burning ever since.

God is not some lifeless entity, and it is incredible to know that there are things that God loves. God loves truth and righteousness. It pleases Him greatly when we too love the things that He loves.

And it hurts Him when we love the things that He is against. But we can always turn and repent, and begin loving the things that God loves, which are the attributes of the Holy Spirit.

What To Desire – Part 2

The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Ps. 19:9-10

The spiritual songs in the old Christian hymn books, books like “Golden Bells”, “Redemption Songs”, “The Baptist Hymnal” and others; each one of these songs, individually, is a gold mine in the Spirit. We have not even began to scratch the top of the spiritual riches that are embedded in each one of these songs. In other words, you could sing just one of these songs all your life and it will keep you perfectly spiritual. The things of the Spirit are that rich!

Nowadays there are telethons and marathon worship services. Here people sing and sing and sing! But people nowadays are more into form. They are into good music, and professional singers. People who are so gifted they can pitch their voices any way they want. Down, up, sideways, etc.

But I can assure you, praise and worship telethons are not what God is looking for. God is not looking for form. God is not even looking for good praise and worship leaders. Nor is He interested in great singing. Actually, the devil could sing far much better than anyone dead or alive. But the devil rebelled against God. God is therefore not looking for such. But Jesus said,

“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (Jn. 4:23-24)

That’s the challenge: to worship God in spirit and truth. And the word “worship” here is not even talking about singing. It is talking about the entirety of the Christian life; and singing is a very small aspect of this life. In fact, it is nowhere near the most important things.

We don’t even need to sing all those songs that we sing. Jesus did not spend his life here on earth singing songs. The Bible records only one time where Jesus sang a song, in Matthew 26:30.

“And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.”

One song was enough for Jesus. Do you think He sang it in the Spirit? Yes, He did, and it strengthened Him.

Considering the apostles were all men, I very much doubt it was great singing that went on there. God is therefore not looking for someone who can sing, no! God is looking for someone who will do righteousness. You can live your entire life without singing a single song and still please God fully. We do not read that Abraham nor Noah spent their lives composing songs. But they did righteousness, and that alone pleased God greatly.

David, the great spiritual composer, did not spend his entire life writing songs. In fact, upon reading the Bible, you wonder where David got the time to write all those psalms, because the Bible is full of the life of David, and not the songs he wrote! But David’s Psalms are included in the Bible because they are an extension of the righteous life that he lived.

What To Desire – Part 1

The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Ps. 19:9-10

I want to zero in on the last part of this scripture.

“The judgments of the Lord are… sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”

Whether you like honey or not, the fact remains that honey is sweet. It is incredibly sweet. And here the Psalmist likens the judgments of the Lord to honey.

When our spirits are dead we use our minds; and when we use our minds, we don’t understand things like “the judgments of the Lord”. They seem to be so tedious and full of drudgery. That is why you can sing ten songs in church, and the only inspiration you get is to want to settle your aching back into a seat a.s.a.p!

But when our spirits are alive to the things of God, we are like a spark waiting to be torched.

When I got saved back in the 1990s, I was in college; and I remember the services we used to have in our school chapel. As one entered the chapel door, you could sense the overpowering presence of the Holy Spirit in that room. And I recall very clearly that the minute the worship team would start singing, before they had even gone through the first verse, the Holy Spirit would descend on us and the entire chapel would literally “explode” with people speaking in tongues and praising and exalting God in every way possible. So much so that the worship team would stop singing and join in worshipping God in prayer. And this would go on for the longest time possible.

In those days, people loved the Lord with all their hearts; and God came down to them to honor their faith.

The spirit of man understands things that his mind cannot even dream of grasping. When our hearts are desirous of the Lord, therefore, our spirits touch heaven and we are enlivened within us. That is why you would rather go to a church service than to the movies. That is why you can spend the whole night praying instead of watching TV or even sleeping.

That is why you can have a spiritual song singing in your heart for an entire day, or a week, or even a month

That is why you can have tears freely flowing down your cheeks every little while.

But that is also why you will love things that pertain to the Spirit: things like truth and righteousness. These are things that are mortal enemies to the flesh; but they are sweet as honey, and most desirable to the spiritual man.

The Attributes Of God

23 Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Jer. 9:23-24

This is a big one…

But, before we start… We have to realize that every word written in the Bible is written to believers, not to unbelievers. The Bible is the believer’s handbook. The words above, therefore, written by the Prophet Jeremiah, were written to the church, not to unbelievers. And the way these words are written suggest that here, right in the church, in the Body of Jesus Christ, there are believers who are boasting in all kinds of things which God never thought that a child of His would boast in.

There are believers boasting in their wisdom. Have you ever heard of people called motivational speakers? In church, I mean. They talk all kinds of lofty things and they have all these grand ideas of how you can achieve practically anything you want to achieve and how you can basically become anything and anyone you want to become. You would think they work for The American Dream, Inc. But motivational speakers are just a small part of this large group of wise men and women.

There are believers boasting in their might. I heard one owner of a Christian denomination in a neighboring country tell his bishops, “Any bishop who does not respect my wife I will throw out of my church. This time I will show you my power.” These are powerful men. They have lawyers and all kinds of musclemen who will do their bidding at any cost.

In my country, there are preachers who have all kinds of titles on them, ranging from “Transformer” to “Caterpillar” (equated to the famed heavy earth-moving machinery), to “Chief”. A little further down south we have the Major, of course.

All these self-given titles talk of earthly (not spiritual) might.

There are believers boasting in their riches. Have you ever heard the gospel called the gospel of prosperity? God’s Word hits the nail on the head with this one. The people who subscribe to this gospel are many and they flaunt their wealth about “in the Name of Jesus”.

There are a million and one ways that God’s people use to show off their “godliness”, or how much they “know” God. In addition to the few we have mentioned above, there are all kinds of circuses (real ones) going on in church today. People vibrate, pole vault, and do all kinds of gymnastics in church, all geared towards making a statement about their “knowledge” of God. Some preachers are capable of roaring like lions, with devastating effect upon their blind, terror-filled followers.

As I said, man is capable of doing a million and one things to try and convince people – and God, hopefully – that God is on his side.

But God is not in any of these groups. God does none of those things. In fact, notice how humble – and simple – God is. He states simply that He exercises

“lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth”.

Just in case you are tempted to think that those are lofty, unattainable ideals, the answer is no. They are simple, everyday principles which every believer in Jesus Christ can practicably attain to.

In the Swahili Bible, the word “lovingkindness” is translated “goodness”. How so clean and simple! Goodness is the opposite of evil, or maliciousness. It means not doing evil to your fellow man, only good.

God is simply good. His goodness has no strings attached to it.

“Judgment” speaks of a lack of favoritism.

“Righteousness” talks of not sinning against God.

All these are the simplest things that a child of God can do. And the Bible says that these are the things that please God. Not those other things which we saw so forcefully put forward in church.

But we must realize that we can attain to doing the things that please God only when our flesh is crucified; when we are crucified with Christ, as the Apostle Paul says of himself in Galatians 2:20:

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

[Goodness is doing no ill to your fellow man, only good]

Of A Nation And God

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Gal. 5:13

There is no such thing as freedom of the flesh, where men are free to do whatever they feel like doing. Such freedom throws out the mandate of God to

“use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh”.

Liberty being an occasion to the flesh ultimately leads to greater and greater wickedness against God. True Godly freedom can only be found in the cross of Jesus Christ, as the Apostle Paul says in Galatians 5:23-24:

“… against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”

And this goes all the way down to our worldly governments. A while back, a powerful CNN commentator called Christian Amanpour was interviewing the Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta on TV. She asked him about Kenya’s position on gay rights. The question seemed to trouble the Kenyan president and I could see the pain on his face as he struggled to find the right words. Finally, he replied, “That is not an agenda with this country. It is not in the interests of Kenyans, whom I represent, to even consider such a subject.”

The lady replied, “You are getting yourself into trouble.” She did not elaborate who the Kenyan president was getting into trouble with. But her allusion was clear. He was getting himself into trouble with the people that matter in this world.

All of a sudden, I saw this lady in a new light and, even before the president could reply, the rejoinder leaped in my mind, “Lady, it is you who is getting yourself into trouble. You are getting into trouble with God.”

At about the same time I read the story of a man in the U.S., a homosexual whose partner had just died. In the article, the writer very sympathetically reported that the man was mourning the death of his husband. Maybe you think you didn’t read that right. Yes, the article said exactly that: his husband. Of course there is no such phrase in normal language; but there it was, courtesy of the liberal media.

But this is exactly the problem with this particular group: They do not want to acknowledge God, nor His righteousness. There are so many similar stories from these ’emancipated’ minds. This group reminds me of the story of Nabal and David in the Bible. You can read the story in 1 Samuel chapter 25. The truly interesting thing here is the question that Nabal asked the young men whom David sent to ask him to give “whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.” (v.8)

Mind you, David had graciously looked over Nabal’s flocks and herdsmen in the wilderness, allowing no harm to come to them. But when the young men reached Nabal and delivered David’s request, he asked,

“Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse?” (v.10)

Wow! What a question for the man to ask David! But that is the liberal agenda. They ask, Who is God? They have no idea who He is and they find no reason why they should obey His laws.

I hate the liberal agenda; and the American version is especially revolting. It goes along the lines that, basically, man is free to do whatever he wishes, without God. You have no idea where such a blind idea can lead to. When you think you are free to reject God, you have just opened a hornets’ nest right in your bedroom.

America, and the free world in general, was founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs. That is what makes America and any other free nation truly free. In other words, the fear and worship of God. The founders feared God and sought to establish His righteousness in the land. The Word of God says in John 17:3:

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent.”

The liberal movement seeks to uproot that foundation. They do not want to acknowledge God nor His Son Jesus. They are for freedom; but freedom without God. Eventually, America’s undoing will be a result of its rebellion against the Judeo-Christian God and His values. I was shocked to learn recently that there are Muslim members in the American Congress now, complete with hijab! I cannot imagine where America is headed with that kind of ‘freedom’. We all know that Islam is absolutely against the Judeo-Christian faith.

No good can come out of a nation that seeks to forsake the sound foundation of the Judeo-Christian faith on which it began.

The Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta, and the president of the United States, Donald Trump may not be perfect men. But their unwavering stand support for the Judeo-Christian principles will make them to find grace in the sight of God. And may they and their countrymen find even more grace in the eyes of God.

[Just expressing my undying love for the old Hillsong songs. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a clearer video on the internet]

Interlude: Tribute

55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Acts 7:55-56

Two days ago, a terrible tragedy occurred in our country. An overloaded ferry which was making a crossing between two islands in Lake Victoria capsized and, as I write, more than 150 people have been confirmed dead from that accident. The social media in our country is clogged with photos of the bodies of these our fellow countrymen and women . Our nation is currently in a state of deep mourning. So many lives have been needlessly lost; and so many lives left irreparably scarred. Lake Victoria islands are closely-knit communities, and many families lost more than one relative. At any rate, the nation of Tanzania is like one big family, thanks to our founding father, ‘Mwalimu’ Julius Nyerere, who managed to unify it under the banner of one language, Swahili.

This tragic accident occurred at about 2 p.m. local time. That same evening, another death occurred, far from and quite unrelated to the one on Lake Victoria. At 8 p.m. of the same day, a lady in one of our churches went home. She went to be with the Lord. I was informed of the news by her pastor at the exact time she died, since she died in his arms.

When I heard the news, I broke down and cried. In fact, I cried the whole night. I cried, not because this lady had died, but because I knew the circumstances surrounding her demise. And my tears were tears of joy, not of sorrow.

For those of you who read my recent post titled “Kishapu!”, immediately I left the town of Kishapu I passed by one of our churches in a town called Igunga. Being new in these parts, it was my first time to visit this church. I intended to sleep over and have a little chat with the pastor there.

Early the next morning, however, before I left, the pastor took me to see one of his parishioners. He informed me that the lady in question had been suffering for a while now with what appeared like the beginnings of paralysis on one side of her body. She had been to the hospital and all the doctors could diagnose her with was high blood pressure. But no medication brought any relief. The pastor wanted me to pray with her.

When we arrived at her house we found her alone; her children had gone to school. She was attempting to go about her normal chores, but it was clear she was in extreme pain. Her body seemed bent completely to one side.

My heart went out to this sister. I could not imagine someone living in that condition for any amount of time. But in my heart, I knew I had to do something more than just pray. I told her, “Sister, before we pray, I want to know a little bit about your life history.”

Although she was in pain, she managed to talk clearly and she told me quite a lot about her life. She told me that she had suffered much in life (I could see it in the poverty surrounding her). She had four children to take care of; but what really hurt her was that her husband had left her. Life was therefore very difficult. She ended by saying that she was “bitter at life”.

When I heard that, I knew I had nailed what was troubling her.

Right there, in the presence of her pastor, I told her, “Lady, you have to let that go. You have to let go that bitterness. You cannot take one step forward in life with that heart condition.”

Immediately, I said that, she went into a paroxysm of pain as the paralysis hit her.

But I was unrelenting. I told her, “The condition that is tormenting you is a result of what you have allowed into your heart. You have to forgive where you need to forgive, and you have to let go where you need to let go.”

With many such words, my fellow pastor and I coaxed this lady to once again submit to the Lordship of the Lord Jesus in her life even though she was already saved. I waited for her to respond.

At length, she nodded her head in acquiescence, and I prayed for her. I prayed for God to heal her body and her soul. As is normal with me, I laid in heavily when it came to praying for her soul; my heart was all there!

When the pastor called me to inform me of this sister’s demise two days later, I was surprised. She hadn’t seemed that close to dying. But then the pastor told me something that made my heart to dance with joy. He told me that the sister’s last words were: “Thank God for the words you and pastor spoke to me. I am well in my soul. I have let go everything and I feel at peace with God.”

After which she said, “I am having a splitting headache, pastor. Please pray for me.”

Those were her last words. She tried to talk further, but nothing else coherent came out of her mouth. Her body gradually lapsed and death made its final futile grip on her.

That was when the pastor called me.

When I received news of her death, I spent the whole night visualizing the kind of welcome that sister must have received from the Lord Jesus Christ. I played the scene over and over. And I cried and cried.

With the stroke of a pen, so to speak, this precious lady had accomplished what none of us could accomplish were it not for the grace of God. Even though it were a matter of something that she probably had accomplished in a single day, yet this lady had joined the ranks of the Apostle Paul, who wrote,

“7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Tim. 4:7-8)

For the believer, death is all about finishing the race that has been set in front of us in the Spirit. It is a matter of grasping the incredible grace that is available to every child of God, and putting it to good use.

[Home – our eternal home – calls]

The Cross, The Final Solution – Part 2

7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Phil. 3:7-11

In the Swahili Bible, the word used for “righteousness” is the same word used for “justice”. Therefore, we could re-write verse 9 thus:

“And be found in him, not having mine own justice, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”

The Apostle Paul wanted, not his own justice, but Christ’s.

Now, that word, “own”, is crucial here. We all know that nothing good comes from the word “own” as far as it refers to man. So what is our “own justice”?

Our own justice is our rights. It is our worldly, human rights. According to the Bible, we should give them up. All of them. Including the right to life.

With the Bible, there are only two things: law and grace. If we are to be men and women of grace, we are to surrender our rights. If seek after justice for ourselves, we have become men and women of law, and Christ is become of no value to us. Christ is of value to whoever will lose their lives.

Notice verse 7:

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.”

What were the things that were gain to Paul? Paul is talking about his worldly rights. He counted his rights loss for Christ. That means he gave them up, that he might gain true life, which can only be found in Christ.

Paul surrendered all. Not some, or half, but all of his worldly rights. He surrendered even his life (Acts 21:13).

But Paul was simply obeying what our Lord Jesus taught. Jesus taught:

“38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.” (Mat. 5:38-41)

And,

“10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 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. 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

Moreover, in Romans 8:35-36, the Apostle Paul himself writes:

“35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

And, finally, in 1 Peter 4:1 we read:

“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin”.

All these scriptures go against what the world teaches; but, again, the Bible is not the world. The Bible is the Word of God. The world teaches an eye for an eye; the Bible teaches to surrender your life. If we would have true life in us, we must account ourselves as given to suffer and to die with Christ – literally.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is no soap opera. On the contrary, it is all about being man enough to face the cross of Jesus Christ.

Emboldened by the realization that nothing else could save this woman, my pastor friend asked the lady, “Would you be willing to take your own life because you cannot bear to lose? Ultimately, the real problem here is not your husband, but you, if you cannot bear to lose. In Jesus Christ there is abundance of everything you are lacking: peace, joy, and love. You need to love your husband just as he is, with all his weaknesses. But these things can come into our own lives only when we allow Jesus into our hearts, and we do that by losing.”

And with many other words he preached Christ to the lady.

The lady bowed her head and let the words sink into her heart. When she raised her head, she told the pastor, “I will come to church on Sunday.”

And, true to her word, the lady went to church on Sunday, and worshiped. She was filled with joy and a new hope in her life. The pastor had given her the secret to beating one of the most difficult situations she could ever face in life. It was to surrender her rights.

The cross is the final solution to absolutely any problem on earth.

[Women are the most oppressed members of society. In Christ Jesus, though, this state of affairs translates into a blessing, for these same women have the best head start in the Spirit if only they can take up their cross and follow Christ]

Prayer, Faith, And Obedience – Part 3

There is one thing that was not so simple as the provision of bread, and this is what truly troubles God. Jesus told His disciples:

“Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.”

Now, in those words, there was a work to do! This, finally, is the time for the saint to wake up. A lack of bread is nothing to wake anyone up about. But here – where the leaven of the Pharisees and the Herodians is – here is the place to shake everyone awake. It is the place for the saint to keep his eyes peeled. No time for sleep here!!

Where hypocrisy and every work of the flesh is, that is where the saints are involved. That is what should concern us. Not Burger Kings! Or Kentucky Chicken. Or houses or lands or clothing or cars or private jets. Or even whether our kids go to the best school or not (Today, education for our children, especially here in Africa, is at a premium. It has shot so high in esteem for the children of the Kingdom it is threatening the very throne of God in importance.)

But, in a sense (and this is where Jesus needs us to be mature), God is not too worried about the things of this worldly life as we are. There are examples in the Bible to show that, with regard to this natural life, God is not too worried even whether we live or die! There are instances where God gave up His children to be slaughtered.

What has God truly worried is when we carry the leaven of the Pharisees in our hearts. And here God has set up a whole system – the way of the cross, the singular gospel that the Apostle Paul preached – to ensure that we do not continue carrying this leaven with us. That is the eternal gospel.

Let us have the simple faith to trust God for our needs… and let us move on to seek after the wellness of our hearts for this is what truly matters with God.

Grasping The Eternal – Part 1

5 And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.

6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.

8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?

9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?

12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Mat. 16:5-12

The disciples of Jesus (if they had any wits about them) must have thought that Jesus was about to start a cult – THE CULT OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, it would have been called. Yes, it appeared that was the direction Jesus was headed. Now, if it had turned out to be so – which, bless the Lord, it turned out not to be the case – that would have been an Old Testament cult. Unfortunately, today, in Christianity, there are so many such cults, cults that are embedded in the Old Testament. There are people today who will defend the old covenant to their death at the expense of the new covenant. Well-meaning men, but who have no idea of the work of grace that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished at the cross. Such men, such churches, are steeped in law.

I heard one ‘apostle’ from Philadelphia, in the U.S., claim he bars men in his church from sitting together with women in the pews for the sake of discipline. Yep, those were his very words. He doesn’t want the men in his church, he said, looking down strange women’s exposed cleavages, or have them dropping their pens every now and then in a desperate attempt to look at their female counterparts’ beautifully-formed ankles and leg calves!

The Old Testament law, under which many churches today are entrenched, is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. With the gospel of Jesus Christ, law works; but it works the exact opposite of Godliness. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:3:

“But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.”

All law does is to remind one of sin. Or, to put it more clearly, it makes you aware of sin. That is what it says also, very clearly, in Romans 7:7-11:

“7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. 9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.”

It couldn’t be stated clearer than that.

I love this preacher from Philly, he is a well-meaning man, but he has got it all wrong. He does not have the revelation of the gospel of grace. By doing what he is doing, he is putting law on God’s people. And you cannot lead people into God’s righteousness by harnessing them under Old Testament law. By his own admission, all the men seated in his church are unrepentant sinners who need the law to keep them from committing sin! His ‘church’ therefore ceases to be the church, but a cult.

On the other hand, the gospel of “Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23) – which the Apostle Paul preached, glory to God! – is solid gold. It is the power of God. God’s grace, that comes through the working of the cross, breaks the power of sin in our lives. If, say, a short-skirted woman were to sit next to me, a man, who is being ministered to under the new covenant (the true gospel of Jesus Christ, whereby I am crucifying my flesh daily) that short-skirted lady would not make the slightest difference to me in the natural. If she had the most visible cleavage, still it wouldn’t make any difference. The likely scenario is that I would yearn for her in a Godly manner. On the other hand, when you are under the ministry of law, in such a situation you would not be free. You would be under pressure. Your un-crucified flesh would give you problems. The very thought of looking at that woman would have you beginning to fret. That is the difference between law and grace. Grace sets people free; law binds them. Preachers are stunting and ultimately killing God’s people spiritually by preaching law instead of grace to them. The law cannot set anyone free from sin.

Anyways, back to Jesus and His disciples…

[To know Christ is to understand grace]

Grace Only In The Cross

This post is based on Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5 through 7. Imagine Jesus was speaking these words to people who did not know anything but law! What hope did He have that His words would change them? Could the law they were under change them even by hearing such beautiful words?

But Jesus was speaking of a time that would come, after His crucifixion, when there would be a revelation of the cross in the hearts of God’s people through the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember, before the Holy Spirit was shed forth on the day of Pentecost, the risen Jesus spent forty days with His disciples talking to them the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. But after the Holy Spirit had come, Jesus left the scene.

The gospel can never be about law. Just because you tell someone not to do something does not give them the ability not to do the thing you told them not to. Just tell a man not to look at a woman lustfully and all you end up doing is to make him aware that there is a woman around. And once he becomes aware of the woman’s presence, his carnal nature kicks in. Without the revelation of the cross in our hearts, we can only fulfill the letter of the law. But the law is powerless to defeat sin.

On the contrary, the gospel of Jesus Christ is a revelation; the Holy Spirit revealing to our born-again spirits the incredible power in the cross of Jesus Christ – power over sin and death. That is the grace of God.

That is why, when we are people of law, we easily get angry at people who are not changing. We short-charge and quickly get impatient with them. Which, of course, is an indication that we ourselves have not changed one iota!

Grace, on the other hand, can wait it out. It can give all the rope to a man.

Jesus would not have expected the people in His time to change instantly because back then, grace was given only in a measure. In other words, during the era of law, grace was scarce! That is difficult to comprehend today with all that we know about the abundance of God’s grace. But before Jesus died on the cross, it was all law; but God, because He is merciful, still gave measures of grace to His people.

After Jesus had come, though, grace was given without measure. The Bible declares that even before Jesus was crucified, He Himself was given grace without measure (John 3:34)!

In our present time, therefore, we do not need law to teach us how to worship God in true holiness. In the first place, as we have said, law cannot perfect us. On the contrary, today, what we need is a revelation of the cross in our hearts. This was the revelation that was given to the Apostle Paul as an Apostle of Jesus Christ (1Cor. 2:2 and elsewhere).

This revelation makes available to us the abundance of God’s grace in our lives. We can therefore live a life that is pleasing to God, and to men because our spirits have grasped the power in living a crucified life. The Apostle Paul said,

“I am crucified with Christ…”

Let us also read about the life of Jesus who, during His life here on earth, had grace without measure:

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” (Lk. 2:52)

As a result of the grace of God upon His life, Jesus gained in wisdom and in favour with both God and man. That is our calling as children of God.