Easter Monday | SCRIP-BITS

Psalm 95:1. O Come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise (shout joyfully) to the rock of our salvation.

And then it was Monday Friends – Easter Monday with the joyful celebrations of Christ’s resurrection and victory over the dark and evil powers of Hades and the world still in full cry! Glory Hallelujah!

That’s only for some of us blessed ones though, unfortunately the remainder have to go back out to work today and won’t be able to participate in the Easter Monday frivolities. Oh don’t you feel so sorry for them? For sure we do, but that’s just the luck of the draw, whether where you work recognizes Easter Monday as a holiday or not.

However to show our solidarity with them, let’s sing our Monday Morning Battle Hymn with much zeal and fervour. As one marvellous choir now: ‘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!’

Oh Friends, that was pretty good, though there were a few hoarse and out of tune voices, obviously from the hard and heavy partiers. (smile) Jesus just chuckled and shook His head knowingly when He heard them.

Now that ought to get us revved up and just rearing to get out into the world and show the unbelieving hordes exactly what true Christians are like, and have them panting with longing to come to Jesus and get what we have, salvation and eternal life. That’s why my people, Psalm 95 – A psalm of praise to the great God – is so appropriate at this Easter time.

And our Bit leads it off: ‘O Come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise (shout joyfully) to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise (shout joyfully) unto Him with psalms (songs) (Ps.95:1-2)

And that is very meet and right my people, since the Lord went to such great trouble to have His Son sacrifice Himself to atone for our sins. It’s a no-brainer that we should be everlastingly grateful for that wonderful action on His part. He didn’t have to do it, but He LOVED us so much that He just couldn’t live with Himself and see us simply go down to the pits and dungeons of hell with the evil Lucifer without giving us a fighting chance to do better.

And as the psalmist continues: ‘For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.’ (Ps.95:3) And isn’t that the indisputable truth my brethren? It certainly is! Who else, other than a great and compassionate God and King would have put Himself to so much trouble and heartache to give us an opportunity to atone for our sins and reconcile us to Himself eh? Definitely not some small time god and/or king, who was only interested in their own welfare.

The palmist then reminds us that: ‘In his hand (In his possession) are the deep places of the earth: the strength (heights) of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.’ (Ps.95:4-5) More gospel truth my brethren, since the Lord made the universe and all therein and still controls it with His mighty right hand!

Therefore the psalmist next words are quite in order. ‘O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation (rebellion), and as in the day of temptation (trial or testing) in the wilderness: When your fathers proved me, and saw my work. (Ps.95:6-9)

Oh Friends, that would be so foolish on our part, especially since we now know about Jesus and all the wonderful things He has to offer.

Now listen to what happened to those foolish forefathers of ours. ‘Forty years long was I grieved (was I disgusted) with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err (go astray) in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter my rest.’ (Ps.95:10-11)

And my people, our God wasn’t joking nuh, for none of those who left Egypt ever entered the Promised Land besides Joshua and Caleb. Even the great messenger of God, Moses, only saw the Promised Land in the distance from a hill top.

So my people, please don’t be taken in by the false and deceitful promises of the evil world, for our God might be very LOVING and generous and magnanimous, but He values obedience to His will above everything else, and His wrath is not something we ever want to feel.

And also, if you should hear Him knocking on the door of your heart today, be wise, please open it with a big, glorious and welcoming smile, for He is the only One who can give us all that we need, both down here on earth, and in heaven above. Much LOVE!

…when you open your heart to Jesus…all heaven shouts for joy…for one more is added to the godly flock…

Today’s Scrip-Bit 1 April 2013 John 21:21

John 21:21. Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?

Oh Friends, it’s Monday, Easter Monday! And suddenly there’s a joyous shout of ‘TGIM! Thank God is Monday yes! Thank God is Easter Monday and we don’t have to go to work! Thank You sweet Jesus!’ Hn, hn, hn! Yes Friends, that joyful shout was more because Easter Monday is a holiday in many countries around the world, than that we’re ecstatic to go back to work. And I hope that we all had an enjoyable Easter Sunday, with uplifting fellowship and worthy gatherings of friends, families and neighbours, many of which will continue today. Just remember Granny’s warning though: ‘Sonny boy, drunk or sober, please mind yuh business.’ Yeh mih breddren, we need to do that all the time, but more so in times of celebration. And usually the greater the celebration, the greater the potential for Lucifer and his band of evildoers to find a chink in our spiritual armour and exploit it. Anyway, today’s not only a day of wine and song, because many of us still have to go out and labour. So to give them that spiritual boost, let’s sing our Monday Morning Battle Hymn in full voice with them. ‘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!’ That was good Friends, though I suspect that the loudest voices were those that did not have to go out and battle the forces of evil today. (smile) And by the way, did you realize that today’s April 1; April Fool’s day, or as we call it back in the West Indies, All Fool’s day, where practical jokes are played on unsuspecting individuals. I don’t believe it’s such a big thing now, but in my youth, it was, and consequently often led to inflamed tempers and the odd fisticuff. Please be careful what jokes you run today, because with the recent sudden explosion of communication possibilities, they can more easily lead to serious problems. Now let’s see what our Bit is about. ‘Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do (what about this man)?’ Ah mih people, that’s certainly an interesting Bit, and involves a negative principle that still greatly reverberates with us two thousand years later. Let’s get some background on it. It comes from from John chapter 21. The scene’s set in the early morning on the beach, the third time Jesus appears to His disciples after His resurrection. That night, seven of them, like lost lambs, had gone fishing, the only thing they knew how to do. They hadn’t caught a thing, and on drawing close to shore, they saw this man standing on the beach, but didn’t know it was Jesus. He asked if they had any fish, and when they answered no, He then told them; ‘Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.’ (John 21:6) They obeyed, and caught so much, they could hardly drag the net to shore. Then John realized that it was Jesus and pointed it out to Peter. To cut a long story short, after they had wrestled the catch to shore, Jesus invited them to dine with Him. After that, He got on Peter’s case. Using his old name of Simon, not his new spiritual name of Peter, three times Jesus asked if he LOVED Him. Three times He got the same affirmative reply, and three times He told Peter to feed His sheep. (John 21:15-17) The scholars claim that Jesus used Peter’s old name and repeated the question three times to coincide with the three times that Peter had earlier denied Him. After the third time, Jesus continued: ‘Veruly, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.’ (John 21:18-19) That’s when Peter turned around, saw John and asked the question in our Bit. But lo and behold, ‘Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry (remain) till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.’ (John 21:22) Oh Friends, in plain speaking terms, Jesus told Peter to mind his own business. What happened to John was no concern of his. Peter should just concentrate on doing what he was called to do. And sadly my people, that’s exactly what’s happening to a great extent in our society today. We’re too taken up with what others are doing, and not paying enough attention to our personal calling. It’s a major problem in Christ’s church, where there’ are too many cliques, too much watching and sou-souing, (smile) and criticizing, instead of getting on with our own jobs. It brings to mind 3 Canal’s advice in their song: If you don’t have a business, then find one, and stop minding other people’s. The sad fact though is that today minding other people’s business is big money business. Note the rise of the paparazzi, the tabloids, the shows like Entertainment Tonight. There’s no real entertainment, just gossip and other people’s business. The sad part is that we, the general population lap it all up like a thirsty dog. We don’t have any lives of our own, or what we consider interesting lives, so we have to live through other people’s. And unfortunately we can’t, or refuse to see the mess that most of these supposed celebrities and important folks make of their own lives. Followers of Jesus should not indulge in this foolish celebrity passion because it’s essentially idol worship. The Lord gave us all different things to do, and that’s what we should be concentrating on, not what other people are doing. If we were doing that, our affairs, personal, national and worldwide, wouldn’t be in such a mess. Anyway my people, the moral of the story is that of today, this Easter Monday of 2013, let’s stop worrying about what others are doing and start paying closer attention to what we’re supposed to do. If the Lord chooses to let our paths coincide, then fine. But otherwise, please let’s concentrate on walking the path, working the plan, the Lord has set out for us as individuals. That way we’ll be able to do so much more profitable work in Jesus’ name, with less confusion, dissensions, divisions, gossiping and all the other negatives that minding other people’s business brings. Then we can truly further Jesus’ glorious kingdom as we’re expected to do. It’s the only way that the LOVE Revolution can be successful. Much LOVE!…only as we follow the Lord’s plan for our lives…can we ever hope to truly become like Jesus…

SCRIP-BITS

Today’s Scrip-Bit 6 April 2015 Psalm 95:1

Today’s Scrip-Bit 1 April 2013 John 21:21

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