Today’s Scrip-Bit 10 May 2014 Acts 10:38

10 May 2014 Leave a comment

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

Acts 10:38.      How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Oh Friends, it’s another wonderful day in the life! And though our physical surroundings and our personal circumstances may not be ideal, there is always one thing we can count on; that’s the joy of Jesus, His Holy Spirit dwelling in our souls! Oh glory be, my people!
 
Yes Friends, there’s a certain peace and joy that comes into our souls when Jesus, when His Holy Spirit takes up official and permanent residence there. It’s a feeling like no other that can be felt on God’s great earth! So let’s hope you have Jesus dwelling in you full time, so you can enjoy His rest and peace, and the easy yoke and light burdens He places on us.
 
And if unfortunately you don’t have the Holy Spirit of Jesus living within you Friends, than I strongly suggest you go and get Him, because without Him, you are missing out on the most enjoyable times that a human being can have on this earth. And that’s no lie, but gospel truth!
 
Anyway my people, today is going to be a day filled with scripture; we going to just revel in the Word! (smile) We’re going to dissect our Bit: ‘How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.’
 
Now there are basically three parts to that scripture. The first is ‘How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power:’ And how did all of that come about? Well it all began with Isaiah’s declaration of good tidings of salvation to Zion.
 
‘The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath appointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek (poor); he hath sent me to bind up (heal) the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
 
To appoint unto (console) them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.’ (Is.61:1-3)
 
There Isaiah is continuing his prophecy of a king, Christ, coming to save His people. And we all know that for every significant prophesy, there is usually a fulfillment. So here is that fulfillment. Jesus is born, incarnated as a man, lives as a man, undergoing all that that entails, then begins His earthly ministry.
 
Then comes that fateful day when He returns to His hometown of Nazareth: ‘and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised (oppressed),
 
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister (attendant), and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears (hearing).’ (Luke 4:16-21)
 
Now there seems to be some contention amongst the scholars as to whether Jesus stopped reading at that particular point because ‘the day of vengeance’ (final judgement), which refers to His Second Coming had not yet arrived, or He just read those lines to excite the minds of His listeners, re the whole promise filled chapter of Isaiah 61.
 
Whatever the reason, it’s clear He did get through to them, although later on they became rather unhappy with Him, so much so that they threatened to throw Him over a cliff at the edge of town. (Luke 4:29) And as He so aptly told them: ‘Verily, I say unto you, No prpohet is accepted in his own country. (Luke 4:24) And that’s the veritable truth!
 
Now here is an enlightening comment from the scholars on verse 16: ‘4:16. This is the oldest known description of a synagogue service. There would be prayers, both public and private, a sermon if someone suitable were on hand to deliver one, and several readings from the Old Testament. Here Jesus functions as a reader.’
 
Ah mih people, I believe I should also share this info from the scholars on verse 18, since it is so revealing and educational. (smile) It deals with the Holy Spirit in the Life of Christ. ‘4:18. Although Jesus was God during His earthly life and ministry, He still recognized His dependence upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This was particularly necessary in view of His humiliation in the Incarnation. So intimate was the relationship between Christ and the Holy Spirit that in the New Testament He is viewed as endued with the power of the Holy Spirit.
 
Illustration: Specifically, the New Testament recognizes the ministry of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s incarnation (Heb.10:5), birth (Matt.1:18), growth (Luke 2:40 ,52), baptism (Luke 3:21-22), temptation (Luke 4:.14), ministry (Luke 4:18-19), miracles (Matt.12:28), death (Heb.9:14), resurrection (Rom.8:11), and glorification (John 16:14).
 
Application: The Lord recognized His need to have such an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, which in turn emphasizes the Christian’s need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. (Eph.5:18). (First Ref. Luke 3:22; Primary Ref. Luke 4; cf. John 16:8).’ 
 
Ah mih people, plenty scriptures to look up, but please do check them out, for they are quite interesting and will undoubtedly increase our understanding of God’s Word. But that’s enough for today, don’t want to wear out my welcome by giving your busy minds too much heavy stuff to inculcate. (smile)
 
So please read, mark and inwardly digest the stuff we’ve talked about today, so that the joy which comes from knowing Jesus will remain in our hearts, forever and ever. Amen. Much LOVE!
 
…for the joy of the Lord is our strength… (Neh. 8:10)…and no one can take it away from us…unless we let them…
 

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 8 January 2013 2 Corinthians 1:2

08 Jan 2013 Leave a comment

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

2 Corinthians 1:2.     Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Aye Friends, whoever says that our God isn’t something else, doh really know Him nuh. Listen to this story: A couple days ago He worked a magic on me, a nice magic obviously, and now would you believe that He wants me to testify to it. Hn, hn! But you know, since I try to be obedient as much as possible, I am going to testify, though not simply out of obedience, but more so out of LOVE and gratitude for God’s awesome goodness, and as usual, He was just in time. Anyway, the story goes like this. That day I guess I was feeling somewhat tired and low down, plus the weather was sort of wet and damp, and to make matters worse, my old bones were acting up with the arthritis, so I was having a bit of a pity party, day dreaming about the wonderful weather in Tobago. And right at that momentous moment in time (smile) the duchess called me from downstairs to pick up the phone. And lo and behold, it was one of my sisters in Jamdown (Jamaica) calling to wish me a Happy New Year and also to tell me that my niece and nephew from Tobago had just had dinner with them. And I don’t have to tell you all what that caused – my joy was most thoroughly renewed! And who says that our God isn’t a real great God eh? Foolishness! Much thanks Sister Audrey! I’m sure she didn’t even know that she was then being used by the Most High to revitalize me. And some of you must be wondering how come I have sisters in J.A. But they must be my sisters since some forty years ago, when I was living there, their parents took me in when I had no place to go, and the family showered me with plenty, plenty LOVE, a true action of Jesus. Thanks so much Aunt Amy and Uncle Aubrey. I won’t even venture to think what would have become of me, if the LOVE of Jesus hadn’t penetrated your hearts and caused you to take me in. And as I keep saying Friends, we miss the best part of our God when we don’t see His wonderful actions in our daily lives. Ah sorry for you people who don’t look for Him in the everyday situations, and thus cannot appreciate what He does in the ordinary, day to day moments, but the Lord has done so much ordinary magic in my life that He’s made me a sure believer. Unfortunately, most of us keep looking for big miracles, which are obviously few and far between, when we should be looking for the small ones, which happen almost everyday. However, from today, RIGHT NOW, I want us all to look for and thus enjoy those smaller moments of magic, cause that’s when we truly come to know, appreciate and LOVE Him. I also want us to be serious about our New Year’s resolution to increase the level and intensity of our LOVE Walk with Jesus. That means being more committed in thought, word and action to the LOVE REVOLUTION we’re trying to foment. Oh Friends, I guarantee that if you all really tried to get closer to Jesus, you’d be amazed at the good changes that will start taking place in your lives. Then you’d start to believe more. In other words, you’d be growing in faith. And that’s the name of the game my people: believe… experience… more belief… more experience, at an even higher level… faith grows even stronger… with righteousness not bad at all… and you just keep growing until He’s ready to call you home. In fact, once you come to really know Jesus, you never stop growing because there’s such an awesome amount of stuff to learn about and from Him. And that Friends, is my testimony for this Tuesday morning, early in January, in this new year of 2013 with its promised watershed, unexpected, and most interesting happenings. Ah mih people, if we can’t find joy in the Lord, then something’s wrong. But here’s our Bit: ‘Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.’ And like Bruh Paul, I’d like to wish us all that this morning. That greeting came to be his signature at the beginning of almost all of his writings, beginning with that to the Romans. ‘To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.’ (Rom.1:7) The scholars explain that thus: ‘Called to be saints. This tells how they got to be saints, namely by way of God’s call (cf. 8:30). Grace is the typical Greek greeting, whereas peace is a traditional Hebrew greeting. Note Paul’s greeting in his other epistles, for this characteristic expression of Paul.’ And re our Bit, here is the scholar’s note. ‘Grace to you and peace: for Paul, grace always precedes peace. Peace is subsequent and comes because God’s grace has been received by faith. Nothing brings this peace as much as the undiluted gospel of God’s grace (cf. Eph.2:14; Phil.4:7; Col.1:20; 3:15). From: The single preposition ‘apo’ links the Father and the Son in an indissoluble union, thus pointing to the deity of Christ.’ And all God’s children declared a loud and grateful, ‘Praise the Lord!’ Now Friends, we’ll close with the words to the chorus of another li’l reggae ditty I recently heard that are most appropriate to our Bit today. It’s called ‘Beauty for Ashes, and is sung by Germaine Cowan. Please sing the chorus with me: ‘Beauty for ashes, In a shower of grace. Hope for tomorrow; It’s a bright and brand new day. He took away my sorrow. Put a smile on my face. Beauty for ashes, In a shower of grace.’ Isn’t that just plain beautiful and filled with so much gospel truth my brethren! Let’s ponder on those things today nuh, let’s consider the many instances where our wonderful God has taken our ashes and given us beauty in return. Let’s start looking for His glorious presence in our everyday lives, because that’s where He wants to be and is mostly to be found. Much LOVE!…And of his fullness…have all we received…and grace for grace…(graced heaped on grace)… (John 1:16) 
 
 

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