Psalm 118:14. The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.
Oh Friends, this Thursday morning the ole fella’s a bit tired. I’ve had a busy week and all that busyness has played havoc with my sleep. But like the mail, the Bit has to go out come sunshine, rain or snow. (smile)
Now today I want to touch on three incidents that happened in the past couple weeks, and together give us some insight into the sorry state of our world.
The first is a reported incident last week in Jamaica, where a 16 year old gay youth dressed up in women’s clothing and went out to a party in public. Now what was he thinking eh? He was sixteen years old, not six. He must have known that Jamaica is one of the most homophobic societies in the world. Therefore his actions were really akin to gross stupidity.
Knowing that there are even laws on the books against homosexuality, should make you keep your mouth shut and your actions closely guarded. The upshot of the story though, is that he was badly beaten and left by the roadside to die. How sad eh!
The next incident is one in Florida, where a man supposedly killed his wife, then posted the gruesome scene on Facebook or some such social medium, with a confession, then went and turned himself into the police.
Ah Friends, the damage that these social media forms are causing is daily increasing. And I don’t care about their sometimes usefulness, because they are doing more harm than good to our society, especially our children, since that’s all they know.
The nonsense that we’re putting out there, plus too much of our private lives, is being used and abused by criminals, ordinary people like ourselves, and also the powers that be. Everyday you hear about somebody getting in trouble because of something they said or did on one of the many social media platforms.
But the powers that be adore it, because it not only brings them more money, but also helps them keep closer tabs on us. When will we ever learn that more often than not, and especially in these troubled times, that silence is truly golden eh?
And the third incident is that between a lowly sales clerk and the mighty Oprah Winfrey. Hn! I believe the confrontation took place in Switzerland, but definitely in Europe. The story goes that Oprah went into this store, I guess it was one of those upscale ones, she sees a bag on a high shelf that catches her interest and asks the clerk to take it down so that she can have a closer look at it.
Obviously the lady doesn’t recognize Oprah, one of the world’s wealthiest women, or rather persons. I believe her programs don’t air in that particular country. But that’s certainly no excuse for the sales clerk refusing to take down the bag and insisting that she looks at some less expensive stuff. Oprah wisely doesn’t make a scene, but simply walks out of the store.
Now I don’t believe in the adage that the customer is always right, because clerks are human too and should be treated as such, and some consumers can be really rude and nasty to the lowly clerks. But then again, where does this sales clerk get off telling, or intimating to somebody she doesn’t know from Adam, what they can afford? And to make the matter even more volatile, it’s a white woman intimating to a black woman. Ah Lord eh!
The annoying part is that when the story breaks the clerk tries to fight back by wondering why a powerful woman like Oprah should be picking on a poor sales clerk like her. Why? Because she’s a fool and a disgrace to store clerks all over the world! She was either too lazy to climb up and get the bag, and/or engaging in an act of racism, thinking that because Oprah was black, she couldn’t afford the thirty something thousand dollars the bag apparently cost.
Whatever her feelings, they were totally wrong and uncalled for. She was being paid to assist whatever customer came in the store, regardless of colour creed or race. Oprah should have gone out and bought the blooming store then fired her for her insulting behaviour.
What is the world coming to eh, when sales clerks determine what a customer can or cannot afford eh? It reminds me of the story where this old ‘trampish-looking’ white man enters a car dealership and enquires about one of the expensive cars in the showroom.
The sales clerk, this time a man, and white on white, behaves very rudely and snobbishly towards the old man, again intimating by the man’s looks that he cannot afford the car. The old man simply walks out, comes back later with a garbage bag full of money and buys the car cash. I only hope he didn’t buy it through that foolish, demeaning salesman.
And that’s my ranting for the day Friends! (smile) Please ponder those incidents and see what you think of them. I do hope that they will make some impression that will help us all to improve our social skills and general behaviour.
Let’s turn to our Bit now. ‘The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.’ Wow! What explosive truth there is in that simple, but powerful statement Friends!
And it follows that if all three perpetrators of the incidents above had had the Lord as their strength, song and salvation, they would never have found themselves in the uncomfortable, dangerous and life threatening situations in which they did. But obviously they were infatuated with the things of this evil, ungodly world, rather than those of the divine God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
And, keeping in mind the length of the Bit, and our busy day, (smile) we’ll end today with some rather instructive words of Moses from his song of praise. ‘The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation (praise Him); my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.’ (Ex.15:2-3)
Oh my people, until our world learns that lesson, and conducts itself accordingly, in true reverence and worship to Jehovah God, it will continue drifting and sinking in the mire of quicksand that’s slowly engulfing it, as it becomes more evil, as it departs from the Word of the Creator and Controller of the universe and all therein.
Oh Friends, for our children’s sake, please, let’s make haste to get some serious action going to reverse our sad situation nuh, because it is only us, true believers, who have the power, the faith and the divine means to do so.
And who knows when the day of reckoning will come upon us? But just supposing it is tomorrow, or even today… What then eh? Too many souls would be lost to Lucifer for eternity. So let’s get a move on RIGHT NOW nuh! Much LOVE!
…only as the world truly embraces the Most High God Jehovah…will the powers of evil be destroyed…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 10 August 2013 Acts 9:16
10 Aug 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: action, adversity, beaten with rods, believers in Jesus Christ, boasts, burn with indignation, Christ's gospel, Christian faith, Christians, cold, Damascus, deep concern, don't quit, dreary life, faith, false brethren, fastings, fear, fires of adversity, fortitude, going through tough times, good news, great things, holy spirit, hunger and thirst, infirmities, journeys, labours, laid it on the line, magnaimous God, mature in Christ, nakedness, never give up, passion, perils, planet earth, preaching Christ crucified, prisons, protective umbrella of Christ, religion, robbers, rough situations, same old, saviour jesus christ, seed of Abraham, shame, shipwreck, sleeplessness, small deed for Christ, stagnant riddim, steadfast and true, steadfast faith, stoned, stripes, stumble, suffer in my name, synopsis, tests, theology, times of trial, toil, victorious, weariness, when the going gets tough, wilderness, world's standard
Acts 9:16. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.
Oh Friends, oh Friends, it’s another day in the same old, same old dreary life on planet earth. Yes, for many of us life just moves along in the same old stagnant riddim that’s become the world’s standard.
But my people, here’s the good news! As believers in Jesus Christ, we Christians have the ability to rise above the daily drudgery and mediocrity and make each day something special!
And why is that? Because we have the Holy Spirit of our great and wonderful God dwelling right inside of us. Wow! And to make things even better, if we sincerely follow His lead and guidance, very seldom will two days be the same, for everyday will be an interestingly different one!
Now note I didn’t say easy or necessarily pleasant, but I can personally vouch that every day spent under the protective umbrella of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is different and also interesting. And since the Lord wants us to be come more like Jesus with every passing day, that means there will be tests and trials of various types and intensities, because like gold and silver, we can only be refined by passing through the fires of adversity.
But also remember that the Lord has promised to safely bring us out of whatever He allows us to go through. And the fact of the matter is that when we go through those times of trial, we usually come out of them much stronger than before. So there’s no need for fear, shame or bewailing our rough and tough situations.
Just remember it’s all a test, and if we stand up strong, steadfast and true, the Lord will eventually reward us. And we all know that there’s no bigger or more generous rewarder than our magnanimous God, just look at Job.
Now all of that just leads us up to our Bit: ‘For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.’
Yeh mih breddren, we talk about going through tough times, but how many of us, if any, have faced, or will ever face the adversity that Bruh Paul went through to spread the Christian faith eh? Yet we make such a big fuss if we’re asked to put ourselves out of the way to do some small deed for Christ.
Now it certainly seems like everywhere Bruh Paul went he stirred up trouble by preaching Christ crucified. After he got out of prison in Philippi, He went to Thessalonica, Berea and Athens, where they had to spirit him out of each town because the townspeople took exception to his zealous, confident preaching. (Acts 17)
Anyway, we don’t have time to go through all the things Bruh Paul suffered in Christ’s name, so we’ll just give a synopsis in his own words. In writing to the Corinthians, he didn’t want to boast, but some false teachers were doing just that, so to show that he had the parts and had been through the fire, he laid it on the line for them.
‘Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save (less) one.
Thrice I was beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness (toil), in watchings (sleeplessness) often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
Beside those (other) things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of (deep concern for) all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended (made to stumble, and I burn not (do not burn with indignation)? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities (my weaknesses).
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.’ (2 Cor.11:22-33)
Ah mih people, very few of us, if any, would have survived, lived to tell the tale of even a quarter of what Bruh Paul went through in his passion and action to spread the good news of Christ’s gospel. But please remember that it was the power of God’s Spirit working in him that allowed him to come out victorious.
Likewise Friends, in our current lives, whatever we come up against that needs fortitude and steadfast faith, it’s God’s Spirit that will enable us to bear up under the strain. So let’s not be too quick to give up when adversity strikes… In fact we can never give up, never quit, since those terms don’t exist in the believers’ vocabulary.
So please remember the adage; when the going gets tough, the tough, that’s we believers get going. Therefore please stand strong in Jesus my people! Much LOVE!
…where there’s no adversity…a believer will not grow and mature in Christ…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 18 April 2013 1 Corinthians 1:22
18 Apr 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: action, appreciation, blind leading the blind, conviction, disbelievers, doubters, eternal life, forgiveness, foul weather, God is the greatest, grateful heart, Greeks, holy spirit, hypocrites, incredible relationship, Jesus' Second Coming, Jews, judgement, LOVE, mercy, Pharisees, relationship to God, reverence, Sadducees, salvation, selfless sacrifice, signs, spirituality, straight and narrow path, submit, surrender, tenderness, the BIBLE, the Good Book, tribulation, wisdom, worthless sinner
1 Corinthians 1:22. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek wisdom.
Oh Friends, every time I rise and shine to greet a new day, the Holy Spirit convicts me with more conviction (smile) that our God, He of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is indeed the greatest! And in true fact, there’s NO other like Him! When I consider His undying, unconditional LOVE, His tenderness, mercy, forgiveness, and grace, not to mention the selfless sacrifice of His only Son Jesus to save a worthless sinner like me, all I can say, with a heart brimming over with LOVE and appreciation, is a grateful, sincere, ‘Thank You Lord!’ The fact that He made us to fellowship with Him, and simply refuses to let us be separated from Him by our sins, only endears Him more to me. Oh Friends, please search your souls today, this wet, rainy spring morning and truthfully ask, judge, measure your relationship and reaction to Almighty God. And if your entire being isn’t flooded with joy, sincere reverence and LOVE for Him, then something’s definitely and drastically wrong somewhere, and I’d advise you to quickly seek Him and fix it asap. For without Him your life will be unfulfilled, aimless and meaningless. If He’s not solidly secreted in that compartment of your soul meant ONLY for Him, then you’re missing out on an incredible, as well as an incredulous relationship. And all God’s people declared a loud, heartfelt, ‘Amen!’ Now here’s our Bit: ‘For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek wisdom.’ It’s the same as the last two days, because I want to touch on a couple more instances involving Jesus, where signs were spoken of. And this first one comes from Matthew 16, just before Jesus warns His disciples to beware of the leaven (yeast) of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matt.16:6) Anyway, the Good Book describes the scene thus: ‘The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting (testing) desired (asked) him that he should show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, when it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowring (threatening). O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall be no sign given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. And he left them and departed.’ (Matt.16:1-4) Oh Friends, I have to laugh whenever I read how Jesus put those hypocrite Jewish leaders in their place, anytime they tried to catch Him off guard. And please note that His answer was the same as when they’d earlier asked for a sign, as we discussed yesterday, (Matt.12:38-42) only that of Jonah, which melded well with His own upcoming tribulation on the cross and in the grave, from which He’d triumphantly rise on Easter Sunday morning. But as usual, they didn’t, or refused to understand His message of salvation and eternal life, and unfortunately millions of doubters and disbelievers are still doing the same thing today. How sad, my people. As the saying goes, there’s none so blind as he who refuses to see. And as Jesus so cleverly says of the Pharisees: ‘Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.’ (Matt.15:14) Gospel truth my Friends! And it’s still happening today; only with more blind leaders, leading many more blind followers, which makes the situation very scary. But it’s our job, my fellow believers, to try and open the eyes of those blind leaders and followers. We need to confront them and show them the error of their ways, through the Word and our generous, LOVING lifestyle in bristling, bustling action, so that they too can believe and successfully come to Jesus. And I just saw some scholarly info on the above scripture that I think is important to share. ‘The unbelieving leaders came seeking a sign from heaven, that is, an outward miraculous manifestation. Notice that miracles alone never save anyone. They serve only to authenticate and call attention to the message, which must be believed in order for salvation to be experienced in the soul. Instead of another miracle, Jesus points them to the signs of the times, eschatologically related (doctrine of death, judgement, heaven, hell) to the sky and His second coming. The sign of the prophet Jonah relates to His resurrection (see 12:38-40; John 2:18-22) This sign gives hope to the believer but is an indication of judgement for the unbeliever, who will be judged by the risen Christ at His second coming.’ Oh my people, that same blindness of the early Jewish leaders still applies to too many of us today. We can’t read the signs of the times, that they are drawing ever closer to Jesus’ second coming; the wars and rumours of wars and all the other signs Jesus gave to the disciples as the beginning of sorrows, until the gospel is preached to all the world. (Matt.24:6-14) Oh my people, that’s enough for us to ponder on today. We’ll continue this topic tomorrow, God in favour. Till then, please let’s get our act together as good and faithful Christians by seriously communicating with our God and Maker, genuinely submitting and surrendering our lives to Him, so that He can lead and guide us aright, down that straight and narrow path that leads to Him. That’s wisdom at its zenith. Much LOVE!…the Bible is our guide for earthly living…unless we read and pay close attention to it…we’ll surely go astray…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 10 April 2013 Daniel 9:19
10 Apr 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: a sound mind, action, ardent supplications, atonement for sin, Christian persecution, divine wisdom, dreadful oppression, early rain, fear, fearful times, fearful worship, founding fathers, free world, good night's sleep, Holy Name of Jesus, Jerusalem, Lord forgive, Lord hear, LOVE, power, pray for the suffering, prosperity, protective umbrella, religious strife, repression, retribution, selfless sacrifice, spirit of fear, unity of Christians, worship God, worship openly
Daniel 9:19. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
Oh Friends, the ole fella’s up bright and early this wet, Wednesday spring morning! That’s because I went to bed early last night and caught up on some of the rest I’d been missing. There’s nothing like a good night’s sleep to rejuvenate both body the body and mind. And like we’re finally getting the early rain to prepare the ground for planting, as the past two evenings the rain has fallen mightily in my area. It’s about time too, we’ve seen enough of that white stuff. And talking about that, the snow this year has been rather resilient, for though we’ve had several warm days in the last little while, yesterday morning there was still a few mounds of the stuff lurking around. But thank the Lord that threat is now over for a few months, though the rain reminds me of the leak in my laundry room. And to make matters worse, I understand that my maintenance person is now frolicking in the warm, sunny, colourful, twin island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. But not to worry, the Lord will look after me, as He’s been doing all along. That brings us to our Bit: ‘O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do (listen and act); defer (delay) not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.’ Oh Friends, that was a part of Daniel’s prayer for his people Israel, when they were in captivity in Babylon. God’s city of Jerusalem was a mess, destroyed by Israel’s enemies. Unfortunately today it’s still a mess, this time though with mostly religious strife. It’s a prayer that all Christians should still be praying in these evil, troubled and fearful times, because Christians all over the world are still being horribly persecuted and subjected to dreadful oppression; physically, mentally and emotionally. In many places they can’t worship openly, can’t even say the Holy Name of Jesus out loud, but in very soft whispers, for fear of terrible retribution by the ruling enemy. That is just so sad my brethren, and even if we can’t do anything about their physical circumstances, we can always, should and must pray for those who are suffering simply because they believe in Jesus Christ. Now that kind of persecution is indeed terrible, but to some extent our behaviour in the supposed free world, where we can worship openly, is even worse, because we are steadily allowing the evil powers to erode all the gains that Jesus and His church have made in our society over the last few hundred years. The founding fathers must be turning over in their graves, completely horrified at the sad state of the church today, and the overall evil, immoral, greedy, selfish society in which we now live. It’s basically the same thing they ran away from in old Europe; the harsh repression of the powers that be, and the inability to worship their God in peace and dignity. Unfortunately Friends, we are going right back to that kind of society, and unless we believers get up and actively stop it, the pendulum will eventually swing right back to those harsh times of fearful worship and repression. Oh my fellow believers in Christ, we simply CANNOT allow that to happen! Jesus sacrificed His holy, sinless life so that we could be free, free to worship Him in peace and LOVE. So please let’s step up to the plate nuh, let’s stand strong in His awesome might and power and reject, reverse the evil, ungodly trend that’s threatening to take over the world and cause the downfall and eventual demise of Christ’s church. That must NEVER happen my brethren! Please remember the powerful, reassuring words of Bruh Paul to Timothy: ‘For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of LOVE, and of a sound mind.’ (2 Tim.1:7) That means there’s no need to be afraid of the enemy. They can’t do us anything for worshipping Christ. We have to take the bull by the horns and take back what’s rightfully ours through Christ Jesus. Oh my brethren, if we don’t unite soon and quickly move as one to secure Christ’s church, it will eventually be lost in the dust of history. Now that would definitely be a waste of Jesus’ selfless sacrifice. Do we want to have that sin on our conscience my people? Absolutely not! Well then, let’s get up off our fat, lazy, comfortable rear ends and fight for our rights to worship in peace and have our society back under the protective and prosperous umbrella of Jehovah God! It doesn’t take great wisdom to see that the downhill slope we’re quickly sliding down and the numerous disasters we’re currently experiencing are all a part of our turning away from our Creator. And it’s all well and good to make ardent supplications like Daniel in our Bit and Asaph in the following scripture. ‘Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, purge away (make atonement for) our sins, for thy name’s sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, where is their God? Let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging (avenging) of the blood of thy servants which is shed.’ (Ps.79:9-10) Oh Friends, the Lord’s already made atonement for our sins through the sacrifice of Jesus’ life, and He was also much better known to the heathen even fifty years ago, than He is now. So whose fault is it that our society is going to the dogs, without the support of Almighty God eh? Certainly not His, but ours! Oh Friends, the long and short of the story is that we’re in a partnership with God, and if we do our part, He will do His. He’s faithfully promised never to leave or forsake us, but by the same token we’ve got to seek Him. He’s not going to come looking for us. So let’s rise up do our thing nuh, fight the enemy tooth and nail, so we can bring the many lost souls out there to Christ, and thus ensure the resounding victory and success of Jesus’ LOVE Revolution. That my Friends, is one of our major purposes here on God’s great earth. So if we truly desire to make Jesus’ church a success here on earth, then please, let’s all get serious and diligently do our parts nuh. That’s divine wisdom for an earthly life! Much LOVE!…all the talk in the world…won’t get Christians anywhere…much more action is badly needed…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 27 March 2013 Daniel 11:32
27 Mar 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: action, awesome truth, believers, blooming flowers, buzzing bees, Christ, covenant, death defeated, Easter Sunday, eternity, ever-LOVING God, exploits, faithful, flattery, flora and fauna, followers of Christ, glory hallelujah, Good Friday, green grass, holy spirit, Holy Week, ill-gotten gains, leave a mark, LOVE Revolution, make a difference, Most High God, new life, only true God, Praise the Lord, prophecy, rejuvenation, resurrection, sacrifice, scripture, singing birds, sound mind, spirituality, spring, strength, sunshine, the Good Book, unity, wickedness
Daniel 11:32. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.
Today’s Scrip-Bit 15 March 2013 Matthew 12:33
15 Mar 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: action, adultery, blasphemy, cast into the fire, corrupt fruit, corrupt tree, daily blessings, deeds, evil thoughts, faith, false prophets, false witness, fellowship, fornication, Friday chant, fun, glorification of God, glory hallelujah, God's glorious kingdom, good fruit, good tree, internal intent, murder, new mercies, relaxation, rest, TGIF! Thank God it's Friday!, theft, theology, weekend, what comes out defiles
Matthew 12:33. Either make the tree good, and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
Oh Friends, Friday’s up…! And it’s not Robinson Crusoe’s man… (smile) It’s another new today named Friday, bringing all the new daily mercies and blessings of our wonderful God! And the effervescent cries, shouts, hoots and hollers of ‘TGIM! Thank God is Friday, and the labouring for another week soon finish!’ echo all around the globe. But sadly they echo in too many polluted areas, a fact that causes untold problems for the human breathing apparatus. But that’s the price of progress, they say… Hogwash! The price of cheap, greedy, ‘gravalicious’, doh-care-about the planet progress yes! Anyway mih people, it’s Friday and a lot of the world’s happy because they won’t have to labour for massa for two whole days. And all God’s children gave a mighty shout of ‘Glory Hallelujah!’ Yes my brethren, it’s certainly nice not having to hit the road and the unending traffic jams for two days, but by the same token, we need to use that time off wisely. So let’s chant our Friday Chant that helps us put the weekend into proper perspective. ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work! It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through. Now, please help me to get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that I can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out and do it all over again next week, furthering your glorious kingdom with each step I take. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.’ And having reminded ourselves of how to use the weekend properly, let’s turn to our very interesting and important Bit. ‘Either make the tree good, and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt (bad), and his fruit corrupt (bad): for the tree is known by his fruit.’ And that’s gospel truth Friends! Now yesterday we saw where Jesus told the multitude that stuff we put into our mouths doesn’t defile, but what comes out of us does. (Mat.15:10-11) Later though, Peter came back and asked Jesus to explain the parable because the Pharisees had been angered by it. (Matt.15:15) And Jesus gets a little testy with Peter. ‘Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out (eliminated) into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.’ (Matt.15:16-20) Oh my people, that’s the living truth, as we all know, if we’re honest with ourselves. That’s because deep down inside of us, our souls, is really where all our good and evil thoughts and actions begin, take root, sprout, then are noised abroad. So again we have to be rather careful about what’s in our souls, for what’s there will eventually come forth from our mouths, and if they are evil intents, then evil words will emanate and unfortunately spoil our witness. Jesus felt that our internal intent was so important, that He also used the good and bad tree analogy when talking about false prophets. ‘Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening (ravenous) wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil (bad) fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil (bad) fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.’ (Matt.7:15-20) Please note Friends, the emphasis Jesus places on the fruit; the work, the action, the deeds of those involved in ministry. What we say is important, but lots of times, what we do is actually much more important. Our actions should at all times reflect our words. As James says, ‘faith without works is dead.’ (James 2:20) Meaning we can talk all we want, but if we don’t back up that talk with action, the talk is of no use, simply wasted breath. And we’ll end with another analogy of Jesus to trees and fruits, where He talks to the disciples about 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 will be done unto (for) you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples.’ (John 15:4-8) Oh Friends, Jesus could not have explained the philosophy of His ministry any simpler or clearer! Now it’s up to us to embrace it and comply with it as fully as we can. If we don’t, then we’ll be cut down like the useless, withered branches and cast into the fire, as well as have to account for all our words on the judgement day. So let’s be very careful of what we say and how we act, because inappropriate words and actions not only affect our witness here on earth, giving Jesus a bad name, but also where we spend eternity. Much LOVE!…Christians…by their very nature…with the Holy Spirit dwelling in them…ought to be always good trees…thus always bearing good fruit…
SCRIP-BITS 