Matthew 17:17. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
Oh Friends, March is over now, and hopefully the snowfall too, but it’s still cold. Even the trees refuse to be fooled again and haven’t brought forth any buds as yet. Anyway, we’re alive and well, which is the important thing. And all God’s people lifted their heads, hands, hearts and eyes heavenward and offered up a grateful: ‘Thank you Lord!’ But unfortunately my brethren, there’s still one major problem; the proportion of the population that offered that thanks is way too small, it’s in the minority, while the majority fall under Jesus’ condemnation in our Bit. ‘O faithless (unbelieving) and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer (bear with) you? bring him hither to me.’ The occasion for this rebuke is a man bringing his epileptic son to Jesus to be cured after the disciples were unable to heal him. And when the disciples asked why they could not cure the child, Jesus declared these famous words: ‘Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove (move); and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.’ (Matt.17:20-21) Sadly though my people, there still exists today a great pool of unbelief, disbelief, non-belief, call it what you will, but too many people don’t sincerely believe in Jesus Christ as the answer to our problems, and thus we have become the most perverse and idolatrous generation ever, although we’re supposed to be the most advanced and enlightened. That might show up in other aspects of our lives, but certainly not in terms of accepting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. And though that’s an unfortunate fact, it’s not totally unexpected given our forefather’s behaviour down through the ages. Moses ominously declared it in his song: ‘They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children (they are not his children because of their blemish): they are a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite (repay) the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father that hath bought thee? Hath he not made thee, and established thee?’ (Deut.32:5-6) Unfortunately Friends, not many of us seem to think so in our current society. And Moses’ words are a direct reference to our generation since more people follow Beelzebub’s evil ways than do the Lord’s godly desires. And the blame for that lies at the feet of we believers for several reasons: for being too weak, silent and scared when Lucifer’s minions try to wipe out God from our everyday lives; for not being strong and proactive enough to mount sensible campaigns to bring unbelievers into the fold, and above all, the many dissensions and continual strife in our ranks. Remember yesterday we talked about strife being Lucifer’s number one weapon, well he’s used it very successfully on us. Jesus said it quite clearly: ‘And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.’ (Mark 3:25) And Christians are so divided that I don’t know how we survive! Meanwhile, Lucifer and his boys stand together and together corrupt the world with evil and violence. Oh Friends, in the essence of brevity, (smile) we’ll end with some wise and encouraging advice from Bruh Paul. ‘Do all things without murmurings (grumbling) and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless (innocent), the sons (children) of God, without rebuke (fault), in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation (generation), among whom ye shine as lights in the world.’ (Eph.2:14-15) Yes my people, only if we behave like godly children and work in harmony with each other, with a strong and proactive bent, can we ever hope to retake this evil world for Christ. If we keep on allowing the enemy to divide and conquer us, then the Lord’s army will either be soon defeated or remain second-class, and neither position is tenable in the eyes of Jesus. So it’s up to us, His supposed followers to ramp up our hearts, minds and efforts and do our bounden duty. Let’s take our lights from wherever we have them hidden and bravely expose them to the world, shine them from every roof and mountain top, in Jesus name. Amen! Much LOVE mih people!…only in so far as all Christians come together…and fight a war of solidarity against the forces of evil…can the forces of good ever hope to be victorious…
Oh Friends, March is over now, and hopefully the snowfall too, but it’s still cold. Even the trees refuse to be fooled again and haven’t brought forth any buds as yet. Anyway, we’re alive and well, which is the important thing. And all God’s people lifted their heads, hands, hearts and eyes heavenward and offered up a grateful: ‘Thank you Lord!’ But unfortunately my brethren, there’s still one major problem; the proportion of the population that offered that thanks is way too small, it’s in the minority, while the majority fall under Jesus’ condemnation in our Bit. ‘O faithless (unbelieving) and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer (bear with) you? bring him hither to me.’ The occasion for this rebuke is a man bringing his epileptic son to Jesus to be cured after the disciples were unable to heal him. And when the disciples asked why they could not cure the child, Jesus declared these famous words: ‘Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove (move); and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.’ (Matt.17:20-21) Sadly though my people, there still exists today a great pool of unbelief, disbelief, non-belief, call it what you will, but too many people don’t sincerely believe in Jesus Christ as the answer to our problems, and thus we have become the most perverse and idolatrous generation ever, although we’re supposed to be the most advanced and enlightened. That might show up in other aspects of our lives, but certainly not in terms of accepting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. And though that’s an unfortunate fact, it’s not totally unexpected given our forefather’s behaviour down through the ages. Moses ominously declared it in his song: ‘They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children (they are not his children because of their blemish): they are a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite (repay) the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father that hath bought thee? Hath he not made thee, and established thee?’ (Deut.32:5-6) Unfortunately Friends, not many of us seem to think so in our current society. And Moses’ words are a direct reference to our generation since more people follow Beelzebub’s evil ways than do the Lord’s godly desires. And the blame for that lies at the feet of we believers for several reasons: for being too weak, silent and scared when Lucifer’s minions try to wipe out God from our everyday lives; for not being strong and proactive enough to mount sensible campaigns to bring unbelievers into the fold, and above all, the many dissensions and continual strife in our ranks. Remember yesterday we talked about strife being Lucifer’s number one weapon, well he’s used it very successfully on us. Jesus said it quite clearly: ‘And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.’ (Mark 3:25) And Christians are so divided that I don’t know how we survive! Meanwhile, Lucifer and his boys stand together and together corrupt the world with evil and violence. Oh Friends, in the essence of brevity, (smile) we’ll end with some wise and encouraging advice from Bruh Paul. ‘Do all things without murmurings (grumbling) and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless (innocent), the sons (children) of God, without rebuke (fault), in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation (generation), among whom ye shine as lights in the world.’ (Eph.2:14-15) Yes my people, only if we behave like godly children and work in harmony with each other, with a strong and proactive bent, can we ever hope to retake this evil world for Christ. If we keep on allowing the enemy to divide and conquer us, then the Lord’s army will either be soon defeated or remain second-class, and neither position is tenable in the eyes of Jesus. So it’s up to us, His supposed followers to ramp up our hearts, minds and efforts and do our bounden duty. Let’s take our lights from wherever we have them hidden and bravely expose them to the world, shine them from every roof and mountain top, in Jesus name. Amen! Much LOVE mih people!…only in so far as all Christians come together…and fight a war of solidarity against the forces of evil…can the forces of good ever hope to be victorious…
SCRIP-BITS 