Colossians 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering.
Oh Friends, how wonderful it is to be able to sit on my porch again and watch the world go by without the threat of frostbite! Hn! I can even sit out there naked now, if I so desire. (smile) Those of you who enjoy hot, tropical weather year round won’t understand my great appreciation for such a seemingly simple action. But it does upset the spirit, when you can only comfortably use something you enjoy for about three months of the year. Anyway, enough of my sitting naked on my porch, let’s get into out Bit. And to support it, here are some classic words from William Penn, that our generation grew up on, but we some how lost them as we got older and more mesmerized by the false glitz and glamour of this evil world. Consequently, we never instilled and inculcated them into our children, much to everybody’s detriment. And they are simple but heartfelt words: ‘I expect to pass through life but once. If, therefore, there can be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow human being, let me do it now.’ Oh my people, right there is the basic foundation of Christianity; to show kindness or do anything good for a fellow human. And it’s not surprising that William Penn, founder of the State of Pennsylvania, should pen those words. An avowed Quaker, he was apparently kicked out of Oxford U. for his Puritanical leanings, hence his banishment to the colonies by his father. That brings us smack dab into the principles on which America was founded by the Quaker forefathers; godly principles by godly people. Now their vision might have been a tad utopian, but nonetheless, they set out to build a society dedicated to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whose people would live by His dictates. But sadly how very different were those original intentions to where we’re at in America right now. Many want to get rid of God altogether and replace Him with the idols of Lucifer; greed, pride, immorality, selfishness and lust for the dispensable, perishable things of the world. But Friends, this should not be so, believers ought to be showing Christian virtues to the ungodly, disbelieving world if we hope to convert them. As Bruh Paul correctly states: ‘Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies (tender mercies), kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering.’ My people, I want to point out two things here. In the first place Bruh Paul refers to us, believers, as ‘the elect of God, holy and beloved.’ And so we are, but Friends that designation carries with it not only great privileges, but more importantly, great responsibility and accountability. We can’t only consider ourselves privileged in God’s eyes, but must also live a life that’s worthwhile, that’s responsible, that reflects, exemplifies the holy and beloved status we enjoy. Hear how the rock of Christ’s Church, Peter, greets his readers. ‘Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you.’ (1 Pet.1:2) He too acknowledges that believers are special. And Bruh Paul informed the Ephesians: ‘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.’ (Eph.1:4) Yes my Friends, we are indeed special, privileged children of God, therefore we need to behave in a manner that denotes it. However, that isn’t happening half as much as it should today. Too many of us believers want to be in the world, of the world and of Jesus at the same time. But that’s impossible mih breddren. We needs must be in the world, but we can either be of it too or of Jesus. There’s no straddling the fence. And I’m declaring, that being of Jesus in the world, is by far the better of the two possible scenarios. Now having said that, let’s go back to Bruh Paul’s first words; ‘Put on therefore,’ which means dress your self, literally put on something. In this case it’s saying that living the Christian life doesn’t come automatically, it calls for a conscious effort on our part to walk the talk we are so great at. The virtues, attitudes and all the other aspects of Christian living have to be learned, then be continually practiced before we can truly call ourselves believers. And unfortunately again Friends, in the current cataclysmic state of our world, those virtues and attitudes we consider compulsory aspects of our faith are not being sufficiently highlighted, shown forth by enough of us supposed believers. We’re allowing the evil, ungodly aspects of the world to hold too much sway over our lives, which is certainly not what our Saviour desires or expects of us. And that’s basically why Beelzebub and the forces of evil are in the driver’s seat right now. The believers are not putting up enough resistance; we’re selling out, giving in, rather than standing up strong and steadfast for what we profess to believe in. Oh Friends, can you imagine the reaction and response of the Quakers who colonized our shores only a few centuries ago to the evil rat race that’s called America today? They’d possibly be struck dumb first, and then dead, whey they found out it was comparatively worse than the England they fled from. But please remember Friends, the war’s far from over, and we have the omnipotence of the Holy Trinity on our side, but it’s solely up to us whether we put their might and power to work on our behalf. Come on nuh mih people. Just look at the mess our world is in, where even some of the wicked are unhappy with its chaotic state. Let’s put out heads, hands, hearts, backs and bellies together, and truly join with Jesus to clean it up nuh. We’re supposed to leave it in a better, not worse state than we found it. But time’s run out, so we’ll continue this tomorrow, God willing of course. Till then, Much LOVE!…think of the children…what will there tomorrow be like…in the world’s current state…
Oh Friends, how wonderful it is to be able to sit on my porch again and watch the world go by without the threat of frostbite! Hn! I can even sit out there naked now, if I so desire. (smile) Those of you who enjoy hot, tropical weather year round won’t understand my great appreciation for such a seemingly simple action. But it does upset the spirit, when you can only comfortably use something you enjoy for about three months of the year. Anyway, enough of my sitting naked on my porch, let’s get into out Bit. And to support it, here are some classic words from William Penn, that our generation grew up on, but we some how lost them as we got older and more mesmerized by the false glitz and glamour of this evil world. Consequently, we never instilled and inculcated them into our children, much to everybody’s detriment. And they are simple but heartfelt words: ‘I expect to pass through life but once. If, therefore, there can be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow human being, let me do it now.’ Oh my people, right there is the basic foundation of Christianity; to show kindness or do anything good for a fellow human. And it’s not surprising that William Penn, founder of the State of Pennsylvania, should pen those words. An avowed Quaker, he was apparently kicked out of Oxford U. for his Puritanical leanings, hence his banishment to the colonies by his father. That brings us smack dab into the principles on which America was founded by the Quaker forefathers; godly principles by godly people. Now their vision might have been a tad utopian, but nonetheless, they set out to build a society dedicated to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whose people would live by His dictates. But sadly how very different were those original intentions to where we’re at in America right now. Many want to get rid of God altogether and replace Him with the idols of Lucifer; greed, pride, immorality, selfishness and lust for the dispensable, perishable things of the world. But Friends, this should not be so, believers ought to be showing Christian virtues to the ungodly, disbelieving world if we hope to convert them. As Bruh Paul correctly states: ‘Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies (tender mercies), kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering.’ My people, I want to point out two things here. In the first place Bruh Paul refers to us, believers, as ‘the elect of God, holy and beloved.’ And so we are, but Friends that designation carries with it not only great privileges, but more importantly, great responsibility and accountability. We can’t only consider ourselves privileged in God’s eyes, but must also live a life that’s worthwhile, that’s responsible, that reflects, exemplifies the holy and beloved status we enjoy. Hear how the rock of Christ’s Church, Peter, greets his readers. ‘Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you.’ (1 Pet.1:2) He too acknowledges that believers are special. And Bruh Paul informed the Ephesians: ‘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.’ (Eph.1:4) Yes my Friends, we are indeed special, privileged children of God, therefore we need to behave in a manner that denotes it. However, that isn’t happening half as much as it should today. Too many of us believers want to be in the world, of the world and of Jesus at the same time. But that’s impossible mih breddren. We needs must be in the world, but we can either be of it too or of Jesus. There’s no straddling the fence. And I’m declaring, that being of Jesus in the world, is by far the better of the two possible scenarios. Now having said that, let’s go back to Bruh Paul’s first words; ‘Put on therefore,’ which means dress your self, literally put on something. In this case it’s saying that living the Christian life doesn’t come automatically, it calls for a conscious effort on our part to walk the talk we are so great at. The virtues, attitudes and all the other aspects of Christian living have to be learned, then be continually practiced before we can truly call ourselves believers. And unfortunately again Friends, in the current cataclysmic state of our world, those virtues and attitudes we consider compulsory aspects of our faith are not being sufficiently highlighted, shown forth by enough of us supposed believers. We’re allowing the evil, ungodly aspects of the world to hold too much sway over our lives, which is certainly not what our Saviour desires or expects of us. And that’s basically why Beelzebub and the forces of evil are in the driver’s seat right now. The believers are not putting up enough resistance; we’re selling out, giving in, rather than standing up strong and steadfast for what we profess to believe in. Oh Friends, can you imagine the reaction and response of the Quakers who colonized our shores only a few centuries ago to the evil rat race that’s called America today? They’d possibly be struck dumb first, and then dead, whey they found out it was comparatively worse than the England they fled from. But please remember Friends, the war’s far from over, and we have the omnipotence of the Holy Trinity on our side, but it’s solely up to us whether we put their might and power to work on our behalf. Come on nuh mih people. Just look at the mess our world is in, where even some of the wicked are unhappy with its chaotic state. Let’s put out heads, hands, hearts, backs and bellies together, and truly join with Jesus to clean it up nuh. We’re supposed to leave it in a better, not worse state than we found it. But time’s run out, so we’ll continue this tomorrow, God willing of course. Till then, Much LOVE!…think of the children…what will there tomorrow be like…in the world’s current state…
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