Mark 1:14-15 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Battle stations Friends! The enemy cometh! Now that your batteries have been recharged, it’s time to get back into the fray and fight to the death! And remember, NO prisoners, it’s strictly conviction and repentance! (smile) Yes my people, it’s Monday morning, no singing the blues from too much partying. The weekend was meant for rest and recuperation, prayer and fellowship, and a general rejuvenation of one’s spirit, not wild, riotous living. Notice how every so often Jesus went off, either by Himself or with the disciples for some R and R. And if He needed it, so do we. The problem is finding a balance that gives optimal time to all three essential pursuits; fighting, fun and rejuvenation. And we desperately need to do that if we’re going to be successful in this world and in Jesus’ army. As promised, we’ll continue looking at the start of Jesus’ earthly ministry. So how did He do it? By building on John’s foundation: ‘John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission (forgiveness) of sins.’ (Mark 1:4) And John said; ‘Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ (Mat.3:2) Jesus said the same thing, but more decisively and authoritatively, for He was THE PROMISED ONE. John had already set the stage by also declaring: ‘I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I…he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.’ (Mat.3:11) In His own pronouncement, Jesus emphasized the impending, soon come factor. ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.’ The kingdom of God is near, there’s no time to waste. God, through His generous grace, is preparing to do something very intense and important in man’s life. ‘The time is fulfilled,’ refers to Daniel’s prophecy: ‘Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks…’ (Dan.9:25) And per the scholars’ calculation, where a week equals seven years, dating from the decree of the Babylonian king Artaxerxes to Nehemiah in 444 or 445 B.C, the prophecy works out properly. Again we have solid proof of the Good Book’s divine inspiration. Praise the Lord! And Bruh Paul surely has an opinion on the subject. To Titus, he states: ‘In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour.’ (Tit.1:2-3) In short, God, who cannot lie, had planned all this from the beginning, and imparted His Word to the people, when He saw fit, through prophets and preachers. And now that the promised Messiah had finally arrived, after centuries of waiting, the people were doubtful, for they had been expecting more of a warrior king, than an itinerant preacher to be their Saviour. Then Jesus tells them they need to repent, turn from their sinful ways to the righteousness of God. It certainly struck a sour note amongst many, especially the elite, who considered themselves holier than holy, but in actual fact were living according to the sinful laws of man, with fraud, hypocrisy, suppression of the poor and outward show their real masters. So they obviously had a problem with Jesus’ ministry since it would spoil their lucrative and self-important existence under Roman domination. And not only did Jesus stress outward repentance and righteousness, but also, and even more importantly, inner cleanliness, from one’s heart. And Friends, as we’ve often emphasized, the true state of our heart is what really matters, both to God and man, for God reads our heart, not just listens to our lips. And if our hearts are not right, then God will ignore our pleas and supplications. Likewise, regardless of all the outward show we put on, like the Pharisee’s of old, without a truly right heart, we’ll never be able to really treat our fellow man the way we ought. That’s because the rightness of our hearts produces a care and concern for God and man that a false heart can never match and will ultimately betray its true colours. Along with repentance and righteousness also came the need to believe in, to trust in Jesus and His message. So when Jesus comes up and begins to castigate the Jewish elite and show mercy, forgiveness and LOVE to the poor, sick and downtrodden, it obviously created enmity and lead the powerbrokers to seek His demise. Ah my people, it’s therefore not surprising, with Lucifer and his cronies in a predominant position in our world, that the same things are happening today. But thankfully the solution to the problem is still the same: Belief and trust in Jesus and His message. A turning from sin to righteousness, for it’s the only way we’ll ever see God’s face. And living a life of shining example, spreading the gospel, turning sinners, through conviction and repentance to righteousness is the job earmarked by our Saviour for us, His followers on this earth. Now Friends, it’s imperative that we get a move on, for every day the kingdom of God gets closer and remember, the Lord doesn’t want to lose even one of His children to Lucifer. So let’s seriously hunker down and do the job. Much LOVE!…to truly LOVE Jesus…is to do His bidding…with a right heart…
Battle stations Friends! The enemy cometh! Now that your batteries have been recharged, it’s time to get back into the fray and fight to the death! And remember, NO prisoners, it’s strictly conviction and repentance! (smile) Yes my people, it’s Monday morning, no singing the blues from too much partying. The weekend was meant for rest and recuperation, prayer and fellowship, and a general rejuvenation of one’s spirit, not wild, riotous living. Notice how every so often Jesus went off, either by Himself or with the disciples for some R and R. And if He needed it, so do we. The problem is finding a balance that gives optimal time to all three essential pursuits; fighting, fun and rejuvenation. And we desperately need to do that if we’re going to be successful in this world and in Jesus’ army. As promised, we’ll continue looking at the start of Jesus’ earthly ministry. So how did He do it? By building on John’s foundation: ‘John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission (forgiveness) of sins.’ (Mark 1:4) And John said; ‘Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ (Mat.3:2) Jesus said the same thing, but more decisively and authoritatively, for He was THE PROMISED ONE. John had already set the stage by also declaring: ‘I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I…he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.’ (Mat.3:11) In His own pronouncement, Jesus emphasized the impending, soon come factor. ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.’ The kingdom of God is near, there’s no time to waste. God, through His generous grace, is preparing to do something very intense and important in man’s life. ‘The time is fulfilled,’ refers to Daniel’s prophecy: ‘Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks…’ (Dan.9:25) And per the scholars’ calculation, where a week equals seven years, dating from the decree of the Babylonian king Artaxerxes to Nehemiah in 444 or 445 B.C, the prophecy works out properly. Again we have solid proof of the Good Book’s divine inspiration. Praise the Lord! And Bruh Paul surely has an opinion on the subject. To Titus, he states: ‘In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour.’ (Tit.1:2-3) In short, God, who cannot lie, had planned all this from the beginning, and imparted His Word to the people, when He saw fit, through prophets and preachers. And now that the promised Messiah had finally arrived, after centuries of waiting, the people were doubtful, for they had been expecting more of a warrior king, than an itinerant preacher to be their Saviour. Then Jesus tells them they need to repent, turn from their sinful ways to the righteousness of God. It certainly struck a sour note amongst many, especially the elite, who considered themselves holier than holy, but in actual fact were living according to the sinful laws of man, with fraud, hypocrisy, suppression of the poor and outward show their real masters. So they obviously had a problem with Jesus’ ministry since it would spoil their lucrative and self-important existence under Roman domination. And not only did Jesus stress outward repentance and righteousness, but also, and even more importantly, inner cleanliness, from one’s heart. And Friends, as we’ve often emphasized, the true state of our heart is what really matters, both to God and man, for God reads our heart, not just listens to our lips. And if our hearts are not right, then God will ignore our pleas and supplications. Likewise, regardless of all the outward show we put on, like the Pharisee’s of old, without a truly right heart, we’ll never be able to really treat our fellow man the way we ought. That’s because the rightness of our hearts produces a care and concern for God and man that a false heart can never match and will ultimately betray its true colours. Along with repentance and righteousness also came the need to believe in, to trust in Jesus and His message. So when Jesus comes up and begins to castigate the Jewish elite and show mercy, forgiveness and LOVE to the poor, sick and downtrodden, it obviously created enmity and lead the powerbrokers to seek His demise. Ah my people, it’s therefore not surprising, with Lucifer and his cronies in a predominant position in our world, that the same things are happening today. But thankfully the solution to the problem is still the same: Belief and trust in Jesus and His message. A turning from sin to righteousness, for it’s the only way we’ll ever see God’s face. And living a life of shining example, spreading the gospel, turning sinners, through conviction and repentance to righteousness is the job earmarked by our Saviour for us, His followers on this earth. Now Friends, it’s imperative that we get a move on, for every day the kingdom of God gets closer and remember, the Lord doesn’t want to lose even one of His children to Lucifer. So let’s seriously hunker down and do the job. Much LOVE!…to truly LOVE Jesus…is to do His bidding…with a right heart…
SCRIP-BITS 