Jeremiah 7:23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
Oh Friends, it’s Tuesday, and sadly the long Labour Day weekend is now over. Hope you all had a good time, but did not overdo it, so that you’re fresh, full of energy and vigour to go out and labour today, all dressed in your coat of spiritual armour, ready to fight Beelzebub to the death and bring about the furtherance of God’s kingdom. Remember, that’s our earthly purpose! Anyway, two days ago I likened our current society to that of ancient Israel, and we traced some scriptures where the Lord kept reminding Israel of His covenant with them, and the need to follow it, if they wanted to live long lasting, prosperous lives. Today, we’ll continue that topic. So what happened to Israel eh? The Lord, through Jeremiah, sadly declared: ‘But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imaginations (stubbornness) of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.’ (Jer.7:24) Now doesn’t that sound exactly like us, my people? A couple decades ago, when God was a mainstay, both in our society and our individual lives, everything ran much smoother. Life was much less stressful, and things were more on an even keel. But with the explosion of communication technology and the mad rush for worldly glory, both our lives and society began going downhill. Our basic morals and behaviour just fell apart. God then became a hindrance, rather than a help in our eyes, so we began removing His influence from all aspects of the society, and unwisely, from our lives too. We became like the Israel the psalmist, Asaph, wrote of: ”I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people would not hearken to (heed) my voice; and Israel would (have) none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts lust (desire, stubbornness): and they walked in their own counsels. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways.’ (Ps.81:10-13) Yes Friends, since the Lord’s given us freedom of choice, all He can do is ask, and if we accept, welcome us into His ever LOVING presence. But if we refuse His invitation, He leaves us up to our own ungodly, evil and foolish ways. It obviously saddens His heart, so much so that He lead Isaiah to despairingly declare: ‘O that thou hadst hearkened to (heeded) my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels (body) like the gravel (grains of sand) thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.’ (Is.48:18-19) Oh my people, it’s the same rueful cry the Lord uttered when we began removing His Holy presence from our society and replacing it with Lucifer’s evil, immoral, devil worship of man made things and ways. ‘And the Lord said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil (calamity) upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.’ (Jer.11:9-11) And in the last twenty or so years, our society began falling apart. All that we held sacred and secure was either thrown out or simply ridiculed and relegated to obscurity, while man made idols, or men with severe Achilles heels were raised on high, given statuses much greater than that of the Most High God Jehovah, Creator, Keeper and Ruler of the universe. ‘Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry (out) unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.’ (Jer.11:12) Yes Friends, in these very troublesome and uncertain times, all the other things, people and places we’ve placed before the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob cannot help us to overcome the mess we’ve made. And unfortunately the situation seems to be deteriorating; what with all the partisan politics, the infighting and general disagreement between different levels and social strata of the society, between different nations with different religious beliefs and different social philosophies. My brethren, our whole world is in a state of serious turmoil brought on by our unwise behaviour in all aspects of life. We have strayed so far from Jesus’ basic commandment, that who knows what the eventual outcome will be? ‘A new commandment I give unto you, That ye LOVE one another; as I have LOVED you, that ye also LOVE one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have LOVE one to another.’ (John 13:34-35) Oh my people, that’s not rocket science, just basic common sense. Jesus didn’t even need to tell us that, because if we’re as smart as we think we are, we ought to know that the only way to live, long and prosperous is by living decently with each other. And I’m sure if we went around asking what’s the formula for a successful society, strife or LOVE, everybody would say LOVE! So how can we put that into practice now? Unfortunately Friends, if the world is going to improve any, then the onus is on us believers to act as the catalysts, the movers and shakers to do so, for Lucifer and his evildoers enjoy the strife and confusion we’re currently facing. And the first move towards that awesome day people, is for us to start bringing God back into the society and our lives, through our prayers, our godly lives and the strong fortification of our children’s minds. Yes my brethren, we can’t ever forget those little ones, for they are the future, and can only grow up to be what they were groomed to be. Oh Friends, I know that amidst all the confusion and hard times, these things we’re asking might seem and sound somewhat unfair and unrealistic, but remember though that with our God working in, for and through us, anything’s possible in this world. So, for the children’s sake, let’s buckle down and do our best nuh. We can, and will succeed if we work seriously with our God to do it. Much LOVE!…for our children’s sake…let’s build a wonderful world nuh…one filled with LOVE…
Oh Friends, it’s Tuesday, and sadly the long Labour Day weekend is now over. Hope you all had a good time, but did not overdo it, so that you’re fresh, full of energy and vigour to go out and labour today, all dressed in your coat of spiritual armour, ready to fight Beelzebub to the death and bring about the furtherance of God’s kingdom. Remember, that’s our earthly purpose! Anyway, two days ago I likened our current society to that of ancient Israel, and we traced some scriptures where the Lord kept reminding Israel of His covenant with them, and the need to follow it, if they wanted to live long lasting, prosperous lives. Today, we’ll continue that topic. So what happened to Israel eh? The Lord, through Jeremiah, sadly declared: ‘But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imaginations (stubbornness) of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.’ (Jer.7:24) Now doesn’t that sound exactly like us, my people? A couple decades ago, when God was a mainstay, both in our society and our individual lives, everything ran much smoother. Life was much less stressful, and things were more on an even keel. But with the explosion of communication technology and the mad rush for worldly glory, both our lives and society began going downhill. Our basic morals and behaviour just fell apart. God then became a hindrance, rather than a help in our eyes, so we began removing His influence from all aspects of the society, and unwisely, from our lives too. We became like the Israel the psalmist, Asaph, wrote of: ”I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people would not hearken to (heed) my voice; and Israel would (have) none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts lust (desire, stubbornness): and they walked in their own counsels. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways.’ (Ps.81:10-13) Yes Friends, since the Lord’s given us freedom of choice, all He can do is ask, and if we accept, welcome us into His ever LOVING presence. But if we refuse His invitation, He leaves us up to our own ungodly, evil and foolish ways. It obviously saddens His heart, so much so that He lead Isaiah to despairingly declare: ‘O that thou hadst hearkened to (heeded) my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels (body) like the gravel (grains of sand) thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.’ (Is.48:18-19) Oh my people, it’s the same rueful cry the Lord uttered when we began removing His Holy presence from our society and replacing it with Lucifer’s evil, immoral, devil worship of man made things and ways. ‘And the Lord said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil (calamity) upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.’ (Jer.11:9-11) And in the last twenty or so years, our society began falling apart. All that we held sacred and secure was either thrown out or simply ridiculed and relegated to obscurity, while man made idols, or men with severe Achilles heels were raised on high, given statuses much greater than that of the Most High God Jehovah, Creator, Keeper and Ruler of the universe. ‘Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry (out) unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.’ (Jer.11:12) Yes Friends, in these very troublesome and uncertain times, all the other things, people and places we’ve placed before the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob cannot help us to overcome the mess we’ve made. And unfortunately the situation seems to be deteriorating; what with all the partisan politics, the infighting and general disagreement between different levels and social strata of the society, between different nations with different religious beliefs and different social philosophies. My brethren, our whole world is in a state of serious turmoil brought on by our unwise behaviour in all aspects of life. We have strayed so far from Jesus’ basic commandment, that who knows what the eventual outcome will be? ‘A new commandment I give unto you, That ye LOVE one another; as I have LOVED you, that ye also LOVE one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have LOVE one to another.’ (John 13:34-35) Oh my people, that’s not rocket science, just basic common sense. Jesus didn’t even need to tell us that, because if we’re as smart as we think we are, we ought to know that the only way to live, long and prosperous is by living decently with each other. And I’m sure if we went around asking what’s the formula for a successful society, strife or LOVE, everybody would say LOVE! So how can we put that into practice now? Unfortunately Friends, if the world is going to improve any, then the onus is on us believers to act as the catalysts, the movers and shakers to do so, for Lucifer and his evildoers enjoy the strife and confusion we’re currently facing. And the first move towards that awesome day people, is for us to start bringing God back into the society and our lives, through our prayers, our godly lives and the strong fortification of our children’s minds. Yes my brethren, we can’t ever forget those little ones, for they are the future, and can only grow up to be what they were groomed to be. Oh Friends, I know that amidst all the confusion and hard times, these things we’re asking might seem and sound somewhat unfair and unrealistic, but remember though that with our God working in, for and through us, anything’s possible in this world. So, for the children’s sake, let’s buckle down and do our best nuh. We can, and will succeed if we work seriously with our God to do it. Much LOVE!…for our children’s sake…let’s build a wonderful world nuh…one filled with LOVE…
SCRIP-BITS 