SCRIP-BITS

Ah Friends, it’s amazing how life can suddenly change from one instant to the next! We’re talking in particular here about the town of Goderich in Southern Ontario, which proclaimed itself as ‘the prettiest town in Canada.’ Hn! Well not anymore nuh! That wonderful distinction was made null and void at around 4 p.m last Sunday afternoon when a violent tornado, possibly the worst ever seen in these parts, savagely tore though the lakeside town. Packing winds between 250 and 300 km/h, the tornado ravaged the pretty town in minutes, leaving it looking like a war zone. Luckily, it seems that only one life was lost in the tragedy, but it just urgently brings home the need for us to live as close to God as possible, because we don’t know when all the good things we enjoy and take for granted will suddenly come tumbling down. And that certainly has been the experience of many towns and cities across North America this year. Now yesterday we spoke of the unexpected passing of Jack Layton, the Leader of the Opposition in the Federal Government, which drew a great outpouring of LOVE. It seems that he knew his time was short and over the weekend drafted a last letter to Canadians. Here are some excerpts: ‘Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change… My friends, LOVE is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be LOVING, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.’ Oh Friends, those are words of absolute truth! And furthermore, they don’t only pertain and apply to Canada, but to all the world! With so much strife, fear and hatred polluting our world, those are the things we need to predominate if we ever want to see better days. LOVE, Hope, Optimism; in other words, FAITH, and lots of it, is needed to bring serious, positive change to our strife torn planet. No wonder Jesus’ pronouncement in our Bit: ‘And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.’ And that’s a fact! The woman didn’t only have much faith, but also a bold, daring, confident faith, otherwise she would not have dared to enter the rich Pharisee’s house uninvited, knowing her low social status and all the negativity it entailed. Then having the chutzpah to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears, dry them with her hair and anoint them with the fragrant ointment could only come from a great inner commitment. Oh my people, that is exactly the kind of daring, committed faith we are expected to have, and need to have if we are to make any serious headway in these troubled times. Without that strong confidence in our God, we’ll be beaten down and rendered useless by the enemy’s continuous assault. Remember, he doesn’t give up, is always on the prowl, so we need to ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.’ (1 Pet.5:8) Or as the old people would say: ‘Drunk or sober, mind yuh business.’ (smile) And on the matter of faith, where Jesus was personally concerned, listen to His modus operandi. This example concerns His healing of two blind men, who followed Him and cried: ‘Thou son of David, have mercy on us. And when Jesus was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened;’ (Matt.9:27-30) Yes Friends, Jesus could do anything, but He first desired His subjects to believe and have faith, and the amount of their faith dictated whether their wishes would come true or not. And nothing has changed since then. We are still required to have faith pertaining to all that we do and ask for. Without it, our deeds most probably won’t flourish, and our requests won’t be well considered by the Almighty. So please my brethren, let’s ramp up our faith nuh. Let’s take it to a higher level so that we can accomplish more in Jesus’ Name. Amen! More on this tomorrow, our God willing. Till then – keep the faith steadfast and strong! Much LOVE!…remember…all things are possible…only believe…

Oh Friends, it’s a sad day in Canada; actually a day of mourning, for Jack Layton, the Leader of the Federal Opposition, died yesterday of that dreadful scourge cancer. He was one of the few half-decent politicians in the country. And I say half-decent because nowadays the very word ‘politician’ bears connotations of dubious, distrustful qualities. Jack Layton though, seemed to stand up for what he believed in, ostensibly, the working-man. I guess when we talk about life being unfair, he could be the current poster boy. For years his NDP party, branded the voice of labour, languished in the nether regions of Parliament, with only a handful of seats compared to the mighty Conservative and Liberal parties. However, in last year’s Federal Elections, the NDP, with Jack at its helm, shellacked the once powerful Liberals to at long last become the country’s official Opposition Party. As a man though, he was not immune to human frailty, having had hip surgery recently and previous bouts with cancer. But he seemed to be doing okay, walking around with his cane, until a few weeks ago, when he took a hiatus from the leader’s job to concentrate on wrestling the cancer that had resurfaced. He vowed to be back soon, but unfortunately, the cancer obviously overwhelmed him. Ah Lord eh! Just when he’d reached the pinnacle for which he’d laboured so long and hard, he was struck down. Just when he’d achieved the status and power where he could arguably make a worthwhile difference, at fifty something, in the prime of his life, he was denied the opportunity to show what he could really do. It does seem grossly unfair, but as believers, we need to remember that in spite of whatever unfortunate things happen in our lives, our God was, is and will always be a good God. And that’s the gospel truth! Please offer up some prayers for the Layton family in their time of grief, and also some for our great country, that a capable leader from the opposition benches will soon emerge to provide godly guidance, and be as much a foil as possible to the authoritarian government currently in power. Now turning to our Bit: ‘And he (Jesus) said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.’ Oh Friends, the word ‘faith’ or ‘strong belief’ was a necessary characteristic in all of Jesus’ earthly doings. The particular instance in our Bit deals with the time Jesus was dining at Simon, a wealthy Pharisee’s house, when a woman, a known sinner, appeared uninvited with a flask of fragrant ointment. She washed his feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, then anointed them with the sweet smelling ointment. (Luke 7:36-38) Obviously the hypocritical Pharisee was upset, but Jesus, in His own inimitable manner, straightened out Simon with the parable of the creditor. (Luke 7:41- 47) Then Jesus told the woman: ‘Thy sins are forgiven.’ (Luke 7:48) Hn! That only further stirred up the company of diners, with each silently pondering: ‘Who is this that forgiveth sins also?’ (Luke 7:49) Ah my people, faith is the very basis of our Christian existence. When Jesus tried to teach His disciples forgiveness, (Luke 17:1-4) their response was; ‘And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine (mulberry) tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.’ (Luke 17:5-6) That just goes to show how strong even a little faith can be! Unfortunately though my brethren, Christian faith is not something that can be taught. One can be directed to it, and given glowing examples of it, but in the long run, faith is an individual thing that must be personally experienced, built through complete trust and total surrender, hardship and misfortune, through humility and steadfast belief in the gospel of Jesus and the great Triune God we worship. And since we desperately need it to live a successful Christian life, it means that we have to make a conscious decision to put our noses to the grindstone and labour on – in faith. Oh Friends, time and space have run out, but we’ll continue this topic tomorrow, providing God’s in favour. Till then, keep the faith – steadfast and strong! Much LOVE!…Jesus…the perfect example …of faith personified…

Oh Friends, it’s Monday! Yes, the day we all LOVE to hate! But please remember that hate is a word that’s not supposed to exist in the believers’ vocabulary, nor the negative emotion it produces, in our hearts. So with that in mind, let’s suck it up nuh, and get out into the wicked world and fight for what we claim to believe in. Now let’s sing our Monday Morning Battle Hymn to get our adrenalin flowing. ‘Oh Lord God Almighty, Creator of the universe and all therein! We, your humble servants, praise your Holy Name and thank you that this Monday morning we have jobs to go to; jobs we don’t like, jobs that are unfair, difficult and even dangerous, but which serve a useful purpose here on earth; keeping lives and families together. We also thank you Father for the renewed vitality and enthusiasm you’ve wrought in our weary souls over the last two days. It’s that rejuvenation of Spirit which allows us now to sally forth with confidence into the evil, ungodly world that surrounds us, to begin a new week of work, constantly buffeted and bombarded by the enemy’s wicked taunts, wiles and lies. But heavenly Father, we’re not afraid, for we know we’re invincible, sure conquerors, once we’re wearing your powerful, protective spiritual armour. We surrender our all to you, and humbly ask that you let your incredible aura of LOVE, the Holy Spirit, lead and guide all your servants as we go out to meet the enemy in battle. Fill us with steadfast faith, so that we can make worthwhile inroads into the enemy’s ranks, and thereby further your glorious kingdom. We pray this in the Holy Name of your Son, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN!’ Ah Friends, that dovetails nicely with our Bit: ‘I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.’ Bruh Paul intends that believers in every area must pray. And my people, I sure hope that wherever you were just now; at home, school, work, the park, library, on the bus, or anywhere else, that you prayed our Monday Morning Battle Hymn without shame, disgrace or hesitation, but with much enthusiasm. Jesus our Saviour gave us the perfect example of praying any and everywhere when He prayed His last earthly body prayer from the cross. ‘Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do…’ (Luke 23:34) Regardless of our geographical position or location, all people infused with the Holy Spirit of Christ must pray; be it at a given time, or whenever necessary, but pray we must. And how ought we to pray? By ‘lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.’ What does that mean? Basically by living a holy and righteous life, from which things like constant anger, bitterness, doubts and disputes are absent. The psalmist in his exhortation to praise, puts it thus: ‘Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.’ (Ps.134:1-3) Oh my brethren, a believer’s greatest tool on this earth is prayer, because it’s our main source of communication with God. Note how Jesus constantly talked to His Father in heaven, for that was where His strength and power ultimately came from. Consequently, we must not be afraid to use it at any time, any place or in any situation, for only as much as we talk to God, will He talk to us. So if we truly desire to hear from Him, let’s pray – anywhere and everywhere – as the occasion warrants – without fear – but in steadfast faith – bubbling over with godly enthusiasm! Much Love!…prayer is the element…that binds us to God…like crazy glue…

Oh Friends, fellow believers in Christ, I sure hope that this message finds you all in good health and good spirits, enjoying life to the fullest, making full use of the many blessings and mercies meted out from heaven on this particular day. That means all is right in your little world, you’re snugly wrapped up in the Lord’s ever-LOVING embrace, overwhelmed by His LOVING-kindness and tender care. Now that would be the ultimate situation, but sadly Friends, too many of us are experiencing untold difficulties, where not much is right with our individual worlds, a startling mirror image of the big, hostile world around us. Why is that eh? Our Bit says it perfectly: ‘Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.’ Yes my people, those are words of indisputable truth, for though written eons ago, they very appropriately describe the sinful, ungodly, unrighteous, inhumane, oppressive and destructive times in which we’re currently living. We all breathed a sigh of relief twenty something years ago when the Soviet Union broke up and the then Cold War with all its espionage activities and brinkmanship ended. However, a new and more deadly wave of fear was unleashed, ushered in by the murderous activities of September 11 2001, when the World Trade office towers in New York City were destroyed. Since then, the fear factor in our lives has increased daily, with the governments and powers that be using it over the past decade as a scare-mongering tool to bring in more drastic and draconian changes to our way of life. Granted, we need to take more precautions, become more security conscious, but not to the extent, the extreme that we’re now going to. North America has now become a defacto Police state: Law enforcement powers have steadily increased, while secrecy in government and the many agencies this fear has spawned has reached alarming levels. Travel, whether by land, sea or air has become time consuming, very annoying and overly invasive. Paradoxically we’re fighting for democracy in other parts of the world, while daily losing it at home. Hn! Just look at the word we’ve chosen to describe our situation nuh; Terror! That’s possibly the highest level of fear; when we’re actually quaking in our boots, cowering under our beds, behind tightly closed and bolted windows and doors, where we’re afraid to talk to our neighbours, much less strangers. Unfortunately though that’s the direction in which our world is lurching along; where terrorists and terrorism are taking up a much too big slice of our lives and times. To make matters worse, we’ve also become a very violent society, with a young generation who seem to have very few qualms about violence and no appreciation for the sanctity of human life. And if all of that wasn’t bad enough, we’ve now introduced the economic fear factor, featuring great debt, loss of untold jobs and homes, extensive white-collar fraud and a yo-yo like stock market. Not to mention the rash of natural disasters that have been recently plaguing our world, ably assisted by plenty man made strife too. Oh Friends, can this be the judgement of the world Isaiah spoke about so long ago? ‘From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness (poverty), my leanness, woe unto me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh out of the midst of the pit shall be taken (caught) in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly (violently) broken down, the earth is clean dissolved (split open), the earth is moved (shaken) exceedingly. The earth shall reel (stagger) to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage (totter like a hut); and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall and not rise again.’ (Is.24:16-20) Oh my brethren, that’s a very negative picture we’ve painted of our world, but sadly it’s a very true one. And as we keep saying, it’s only by our turning back, in great numbers, very, very soon, to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our Creator and true Provider, can we avoid the dreadful catastrophe that’s brewing worldwide. Ah my people, it’s mostly up to us believers to right our sinking ship, and though it seems like an exceedingly rough row to hoe, we can do it, if we all band together, and with Jesus working in and with us, we put our hands firmly to the plough, move forward and don’t look back. It’s our ONLY hope. So let’s do it for our children nuh…and Jesus too. Much LOVE! Stand up, stand up for Jesus…the trumpet calls obey…till every foe is vanquished…and Christ is Lord indeed…

Oh Friends, did you give God thanks this morning when you arose from a night of peaceful slumber? Did you exalt Him, praise His Holy Name for granting you another day on beautiful planet Earth with new blessings and mercies?  I sure hope so, else you would have been failing very seriously in your duty to daily exalt and glorify your Maker and Provider, Jehovah Jireh. For without Him, we are nothing, and can do nothing. All that we are, and are able to do, springs from His overflowing fountain of LOVE and tender care! As our Bit so rightly states: ‘Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.’ And all God’s people cried in adulation: ‘Glory to God, for He is indeed most worthy to be praised!’ Now when Bruh Paul wrote those words in the Bit to the church at Corinth, he was referring particularly to ministers in the New Testament, but they also hold true for all God’s creations, since we are all expected to be spreaders of the gospel. It is God who empowers us to be who we are and to accomplish whatever we accomplish. And if you don’t believe me, then listen closely to Jesus on the topic of the vine and the branches. ‘Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath LOVED me, so have I LOVED you: continue ye in my LOVE. If ye keep my commandments; ye shall abide in my LOVE; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his LOVE.’ (John 15:4-10) Yes Friends, straight from the Saviour’s lips to us, hopefully to our hearts. Simple and to the point: If I’m not in you, and you in me, doing as I asked you to do, then you’ll be powerless and unfruitful, and thus unable to glorify the Father as you ought to. So why then do we still insist on doing so much stuff in our own strength, when we know full well that if God isn’t involved, and it’s not in concert with His law, then the project(s) will either be doomed or fail to meet their full capabilities? I guess whatever little earthly power we enjoy goes to our head after a while and gives us a false manifestation of our own potential, our own fruitfulness. Unfortunately Friends, that’s why so many of us are miserable and disappointed, for we get running around with something and completely forget or ignore the One who makes it all possible. Bruh Paul himself stated it in very clear terms in his first letter to the Corinthians: ‘For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet (worthy) to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.’ (1 Cor.15:9-10) Yes my people, we do owe our very lives and accomplishments all to the grace of God. Let’s not forget that. And as was written in Hosea, long before Jesus came to earth: ‘Ephraim shall say, what have I to do anymore with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree (cypress). From (In) me is thy fruit found.’ (Hos.14:8) So please, let’s ignore the many idols that are vying for our attention, and keep that attention where it should be rightly focused, on the green fir tree that’s God, where good fruit abounds. Much LOVE!…there is only one true source of power in the universe…Almighty God…