Today’s Scrip-Bit   8 October 2021 Ephesians 4:30.

08 Oct 2021 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ephesians 4:30.      And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Oh Friday, are we ever glad to see you, because you are the harbinger of good news – the weekend! And this past week in my area has been so rainy, and if not rainy, then cloudy and grey, like the sun has lost its energy or will to shine. But it’s a good thing that we have the best light ever – Jesus – who shines His marvellous light on our souls, thus we can handle the lack of light on our bodies. So that even when our outsides are clothed in darkness, our insides are filled with joy, and gladness, the everlasting light of life that is Jesus! 

That’s why we shout: ‘The joy of the Lord is our strength!’ And no one can take that from us, though the enemy keeps on trying. Yes friends, once we accept Christ as Lord and Saviour, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us and effectively seals us as a child of God, a seal that no man can break. 

Hear Bruh Paul to the Ephesians. ‘In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise. Which is the earnest (down payment or deposit) of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.’ (Eph. 1:13-14) And yes friends, that sounds like it’s very complicated, but it’s not. It simply means that we Gentiles who believed on Christ received the Holy Spirit when we believed, not afterwards. 

The scholars tell us: ‘The sealer is Jesus; the seal is the Holy Spirit. The sealing of the Holy Spirit guarantees the benefits of our salvation, as a person might seal an envelope to guarantee its enclosures. The Holy Spirit as the seal to the believer is also the earnest of our inheritance, that’s a down payment of Christ’s commitment to someday give the believer all other things God has promised. With that seal of the Holy Spirit, God therefore assures the Christian that the realization of the rest of his salvation is forthcoming.’ 

So, once we believe, there’s no need to worry about all the other promises of salvation, because we have the deposit, the down payment of salvation dwelling with us, within us, and by our side! Glory Hallelujah! Now why would I refuse to accept such a wonderful invitation to come into Christ’s marvellous body, His church eh? No reason whatsoever! 

And there are a couple of other verses that talk about the sealing of the Holy Spirit. Bruh Paul also mentions it in that beautiful fourth chapter of Ephesians where he discusses the new life in Christ that believers ought to adopt. Things like putting on the new man, being renewed in the spirit of our minds, not lying, not being angry, and not letting the sun go down upon our anger. Not using foul language, but words that are edifying to our listeners. Then He says: ‘And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.’ (Eph. 4:30). 

Yes mih bredrin, we do grieve the Holy Spirit when we abuse our fellow men with foul language. It’s like James said of the tongue: ‘Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude (likeness or image) of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter. Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.’ (James 3:9-12) 

Oh my people, that’s ever so true! We bless God and curse those made in His likeness with the same tongue. It ought not to be that way, because then we grieve the Holy Spirit. And the last scripture about sealed by the Holy Spirit, comes from the second epistle of Bruh Paul to the church at Corinth, where he reassures them of the promises of God and his confidence in them. ‘Now he which stablisheth (established) us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us is God. Who hath sealed us, and given the earnest (down payment) of the Spirit in our hearts.’ (2 Cor. 1:21-22) What reassurance for the believer! 

And the scholars explain that ‘The sealing of the Holy Spirit has a threefold significance in the New Testament. (1) to indicate ownership; (2) to indicate genuineness; (3) to preserve and keep safe (cf. Eph. 4:40; 2 Tim. 2:19; Rev. 7:2-3) This last idea is amplified with the earnest of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit Himself is the down payment or pledge, of redemption. The indwelling Spirit is the surety and the “security” of all that is to follow in the final salvation of the believer (cf. Rom. 8:9-11, 23; 2 Cor. 5:5; Eph. 1:14).’ 

Oh saints in Christ, what more or better assurance can we have, or do we need to put all our trust in Christ Jesus eh? None whatsoever! Christ not only died for us, He also pledged the Holy Spirit, the best deposit or down payment we can ever have as a promise of our salvation! 

Now being thus reassured of Christ’s promise, let’s do what we are advised to do nuh; go boldly to the throne of grace with our problems, to seek help in this time of great need. So as one strong, confident, but humble voice, let’s declare our Friday Chant. ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. You know it’s been rough… what with all the anxiety, the confusion and havoc that the Covid-19 virus and our many other problems are causing. We can’t seem to fix it on our own Lord, that means we desperately need your help. 

Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat both the virus and the unrest in our streets. So Lord, we sincerely ask you today to give the governments and those involved in the forefront of this serious and unexpected storm, the wise guidance to handle the situation properly, with the least amount of loss to life and property as possible. And please help those of us who must go out to work amidst all the confusion, to be responsible and to stay safe, and avoid any more serious setbacks. 

And Lord, we fervently pray that You’ll use this situation to bring a lot of backsliders back to your fold, show them the error of their ways. And please introduce a whole new flock, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion by the example, we, your faithful believers set. Yes Lord, please use this pandemic and the unrest in the streets as a means of restoring faith in You, so that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

And I should not have to remind us, but I will, (smile) that all of what we asked for, depends on our repentant behaviour and the true motives of our hearts. Much LOVE!

…the best guarantee ever…the Holy Spirit…on Christ’s promise of salvation…                                                                                                       

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ8            

Today’s Scrip-Bit 3 September 2021 Isaiah 42:8.

03 Sep 2021 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Isaiah 42:8.     I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

And then it was Friday, that blissful day we all look forward to, and joyfully declare: ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday oui!’ It means the beginning of our weekend frolic time. And this weekend is even better because it’s the Labour Day long weekend. Unfortunately, I don’t believe there will be any big Labour Day parade in Brooklyn, New York after the terrible flooding that occurred over the last few days in that city. But mankind, being the quickest animal to rebound from a disaster, or even to celebrate in a disaster, one never knows. (smile)  

Anyhow, let’s hope and pray for our besieged world, where so much of it has recently been plagued by disease, poverty, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, wildfires, floods, famine, hurricanes, hunger and our ever-present human strife. Oh my people, it’s really a sad time in the life of our world, and one that will only improve with our turning back to Almighty God. Yes, the same One who created and LOVED us so much that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us to be saved from our abominable sinful and ungodly lifestyle. 

And please note friends, that unless we soon do something about our evil and ungodly machinations, our world will continue to crumble under our feet, until it just simply implodes or explodes with a fierceness that we cannot imagine. Oh, we blame a lot of it on what we call climate change, but who has caused climate change eh? We the people, who insist on littering the earth and the heavens with our ever-increasing refuse and polluting it with new pollutants every day. And yet we still expect it to be such a glorious place to live, and can’t believe that we’ve done so much damage to our wonderful environment. 

Now, let us not forget the strong possibility of the hand of God being present in our worldly misfortunes, because it is said that He will not allow the sinful to continue in their sinful ways for ever. Remember, one time He got so fed up with our sinful ways that He destroyed the earth and all therein by flood, except for Noah, his family and one set of every animal so that He could replenish the world, give us a brand new start. 

Unfortunately though, over time, we returned to our sinful, ungodly ways. And unless you are so living in the darkness of sin, that you are totally blind to what’s happening around you, you will acknowledge that this is one of the most depraved and sinful eras of mankind’s existence, even as his intelligence and knowledge have reached unimaginable heights. That has led him to want to remove God from the society, because he now feels that he is a god unto himself. 

But mankind forgets that he is a created being, meaning he cannot stop or prevent the death and the eventual destruction of his human body, and no matter how intelligent he becomes, he will never be able to fully replicate himself, because neither can he do the ultimate job of breathing the breath of life into a body. Yes, he can imitate it by creating an artificial being, a robot with all the accoutrements of a human body, but never the breath of life, because that’s reserved for Almighty God Himself, the creator and ultimate controller of the universe. 

We have obviously forgotten, or simply choose to ignore God’s statement to the ungodly Israelites. ‘I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.’ (Is. 42:8) And as the gotquestions.org website tells us on the subject. ‘God’s glory is His honor, splendor, and dignity, and He will not share it with anyone. In telling Israel of how He was sparing them from destruction and giving them new prophecies, God says, “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another” (Isa. 48:11) I don’t know how much clearer the Lord can be nuh. 

And we’ve said all of that friends, simply to say, that there is a higher power than mankind in this universe, and it will not let him destroy it or bring it to ruin through his sinful, ungodly behaviour. And having given us an option to reject sin, to get away from eternal damnation, through accepting His Son, Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, Jehovah God cannot be blamed if He just gets tired once more with our sinful shenanigans and destroys our world once more. And this time friends, He’s promised that it won’t be by water. 

So, can you think of other methods of destruction? I believe they are all worse than water. One commentator asks these two interesting questions: ‘God promised no more floods. Is there a loophole—fire next time? Will God continue to self-limit when faced with our continuing evil? God promised not to destroy the earth (at least by a flood). Will God let us destroy it?’ Who knows the answers eh? And if yuh want a li’l heads up on it, listen to the album titled ‘The Fire Next Time’ by that awesome rap group from T&T, 3 Canal. (smile) 

And right now friends, there are numerous wildfires burning in every corner of our universe, fires that we have been fighting for months, and are still unable to put out. Fires that are causing people to evacuate their safe and wonderful homes and cities every day. So, the world going up in flames, is not such an incredible option or idea, as so many of us would like to believe. All I know is that if we want to survive worldwide disaster, we have to, we must, bring God back into our society, re-establish Him and His rule as the Number One factor in the way we live our lives. 

And we can begin doing that right now by going to Him in humble prayer, through our Friday Chant, sincerely asking for His help. So, as one voice: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. You know it’s been rough… what with all the anxiety, the confusion and havoc that the Covid-19 virus and our many other problems are causing. We can’t seem to fix it on our own Lord, that means we desperately need your help. 

Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat both the virus and the unrest in our streets. So Lord, we sincerely ask you today to give the governments and those involved in the forefront of this serious and unexpected storm, the wise guidance to handle the situation properly, with the least amount of loss to life and property as possible. And please help those of us who must go out to work amidst all the confusion, to be responsible and to stay safe, and avoid any more serious setbacks. 

And Lord, we fervently pray that You’ll use this situation to bring a lot of backsliders back to your fold, show them the error of their ways. And please introduce a whole new flock, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion by the example, we, your faithful believers set. Yes Lord, please use this pandemic and the unrest in the streets as a means of restoring faith in You, so that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

Now friends, as always, the Lord’s answer will be based on the way we keep the promises we’ve made! Much LOVE!

…most of man’s woes…result from his own wrong doings…                                                                                                     

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ8        

Today’s Scrip-Bit 30 July 2021 Galatians 3:26.

30 Jul 2021 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Galatians 3:26.      For ye are all the children (sons) of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Morning mih faithful bredrin in Christ Jesus! It’s a bright and sunshiny Friday morning, the coffee’s hot, sweet and strong, and going down nicely on the chest. (smile) Then we have this long weekend, the August Civic Holiday on Monday, to look forward to! Wow! And thus, all’s right with the world! Okay, okay, so you are disputing that last statement, but how much can we as individuals change whatever is wrong with it eh? Not a whole lot, although we can certainly do our small part in our neighbourhoods and workplaces. 

However, as the great and mighty and ever-spreading church of Christ, we can move mountains, change the bloody, strife filled, evil world we live in to one where Christ is worshipped and glorified! But it means taking Him and His word seriously and coming together as the ONE together church that He envisions, instead of the one that seems to be continually dividing and breaking up into even more cliques and denominations than we already have. 

Oh my people, do you think that Christ ever envisioned His church to be broken up into some three thousand denominations and sub-denominations and all the other supposed Christian groups that exist today? Obviously not! That’s the doing of our sinful, selfish human nature. We all think we know what Christ wants, and if can’t find it where we are at, we go elsewhere and seek it, or just start up a new group ourselves. It’s way too much about us friends, and not enough about Jesus! 

Remember Bruh Paul’s words to the church at Ephesus, when he talks about the two groups, uncircumcised Gentiles and circumcised Jews. The former had no part in the blessings of the God of Israel until after Jesus shed His blood on the cross at Calvary and brought them into the fold of God. ‘But now in Christ Jesus, ye who were sometimes (once) were far off are made nigh (near) by the blood of Christ.’ (Eph. 2:13) That is, Gentiles were now brought into covenant worship with God through Christ’s atoning death. 

‘For he (Christ Himself) is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition (division) between us. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make (create) in himself of twain (the two) one new man, so making peace. And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain (put to death) the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off (Gentiles), and to them that were nigh (Jews).’ (Eph. 2:14-17) 

Oh precious people, the long and short of all that is simply Jesus, by His death on the cross broke down the wall in the temple courtyard which physically prevented Gentiles and unclean Jews from entering the temple, as well as disregarded the man-made rules, not God’s commandments, that previously kept Jews and Gentiles apart. Those man-made rules were made to supposedly protect Jews from pagan corruptions, but were terribly abused to make Jews feel superior to Gentiles which obviously caused dire enmity. Jesus’ death on the cross, served the wonderful purpose of abolishing all that enmity and making them One Body, through His Christian church. 

Now here is an interesting commentary on Bruh Paul’s discourse above, from the website Bible things in Bible ways. It claims: In short, this is what Paul is trying to say: As sinful gentiles, we had no part in the covenants of promise, and were also excluded from the citizenship of Israel. But when Christ came and saved us through God’s Grace, the partitioning wall that kept us outside, was broken down. No man-made decree can keep us away from enjoying the covenants of promise or the Citizenship of Israel, as all who believe in God are now made into one people. We were once hostile to God, but now through the blood of Messiah, we have been drawn into His sanctuary, not to be separated ever again.’ 

And all of God’s people shouted loud, proud and grateful: ‘All thanks and praise and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ! May His mighty name and glorious works be spread all over the land! May He reign for ever and ever!’ Yes friends, Jesus came to create ONE body, but we are tarnishing His image, destroying that single entity He envisioned, where all are one, all are welcome, by creating numerous conflicting divisions. 

Now listen to these fateful words of Bruh Paul on the subject, to the Galatians nuh. ‘For ye are all the children (sons) of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek (Gentile), there is neither bond (slave) nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.’ (Gal. 3:26-28) 

And that’s the living truth my fellow saints in Christ! If we have received Christ as Lord and Saviour, then we have all been made children of God and there are no longer any differences between us! We have been made ONE in Christ through His shed blood on the cross and reconciliation with our heavenly Father. So please, let’s stop dividing nuh, and instead start coming together. That is if we want to be true to the ideals of Jesus and not follow the foolish dictates of man, which has made the world a living hell! 

And we can begin right now by going to our heavenly Father in prayer, through our Friday Chant and asking for His awesome help and forgiveness. So as one strong and united voice, let’s pray: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. You know it’s been rough… what with all the anxiety, the confusion and havoc that the Covid-19 virus and our many other problems are causing. We can’t seem to fix it on our own Lord, that means we desperately need your help. Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat both the virus and the unrest in our streets. 

So Lord, we sincerely ask you today to give the governments and those involved in the forefront of this serious and unexpected storm, the wise guidance to handle the situation properly, with the least amount of loss to life and property as possible. And please help those of us who must go out to work amidst all the confusion, to be responsible and to stay safe, and avoid any more serious setbacks. 

And Lord, we fervently pray that You’ll use this situation to bring a lot of backsliders back to your fold, show them the error of their ways. And please introduce a whole new flock, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion by the example, we, your faithful believers set. Yes Lord, please use this pandemic and the unrest in the streets as a means of restoring faith in You, so that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

Ah mih people…now it all hangs on our ability to deliver that promise; to be faithful believers and set a good example to unbelievers and backsliders. Much LOVE!

…the church is ONE foundation…in Jesus Christ ALONE…                                                                                                    

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ8