Today’s Scrip-Bit   1 October 2023   1 Corinthians 3:11.

01 Oct 2023 Leave a comment

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

1 Corinthians 3:11. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

And a fine welcome to all you faithful believers in Christ Jesus on this bright, warm and sunshiny Sunday morning, the first day in the month of October! And what a day it is to join with other believers to praise and worship our great God! And to open our celebrations, today we’ll be singing an oh so important song, so relevant to these times of apostasy, of turning away from Christ, of significant bickering and division in Christ’s church. It’s aptly titled, ‘The Church’s One Foundation.’ So, with sincere, heartfelt emotions, let’s raise our sacrifices of praise to high heaven in a soulful mid-tempo version of this marvellous and ever important of our Christian hymns. 

Singing: ‘The Church’s ONE foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord, She is His new creation By water and the Word: From Heav’n He came and sought her To be His holy bride, With His own blood He bought her And for her life He died. – She is from every nation, Yet one o’er all the earth; Her charter of salvation, One Lord, one faith, one birth; One holy name she blesses, Partakes one holy food, And to one hope she presses, With every grace endued. -The Church shall never perish! Her dear Lord to defend, To guide, sustain, and cherish, Is with her to the end: Though there be those who hate her, And false sons in her pale, Against both foe and traitor She ever shall prevail. – 

Though with a scornful wonder Men see her sore oppressed, By schisms rent asunder, By heresies distressed: Yet saints their watch are keeping, Their cry goes up, How long? And soon the night of weeping Shall be the morn of song! – ’Mid toil and tribulation, And tumult of her war, She waits the consummation Of peace forevermore; Till, with the vision glorious, Her longing eyes are blest, And the great Church victorious Shall be the Church at rest! – 

Yet she on earth hath union With God the Three in One, And mystic sweet communion With those whose rest is won, With all her sons and daughters Who, by the Master’s hand Led through the deathly waters, Repose in Eden land. O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we Like them, the meek and lowly, On high may dwell with Thee: There, past the border mountains, Where in sweet vales the Bride With Thee by living fountains Forever shall abide!’ 

Ah mih people, that was a wonderful rendition of the song, but do we ever for a moment stop and truly think what it’s all about and how it came to be written. Let’s answer the last part first. ‘”The Church’s One Foundation” was composed as a primary answer to the division within the Church of South Africa generated by John William Colenso, first Bishop of Natal, in the mid-19th century, who denounced much of the Bible as untrue.’ There we have it again, foolish divisions within the church, just like we are having today. Now, if a Bishop of Christ’s church can say that the Bible, on which the faith is built is untrue, what do we expect from ordinary believers eh? 

‘When Bishop Colenso was dismissed for his teachings, he pleaded to the higher religious authorities in England. It was then that Samuel Stone became included in the discussion. It sparked him to draft a set of hymns based on the Apostles’ Creed in 1866. He titled it, Lyra Fidelium; Twelve Hymns on the Twelve Articles of the Apostles’ Creed. “The Church’s One Foundation” is based on the ninth article, The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints. Music by Samuel Sebastian Wesley 1810-1876.’ So that’s how the hymn came to be born. 

And what’s it about? ‘”The Church’s One Foundation” is a Christian hymn written in the 1860s by Samuel John Stone. This hymn describes the church’s relationship to its “foundation” being Jesus Christ. The church is represented as the collective Christian fellowship of the earth as it is wholly united by its Saviour, the Son of God.’ And that’s the gospel truth friends! Yes, we all know that the Church is ONE BODY…at least it’s supposed to be. And whom is it supposed to be built on? Obviously Jesus Christ, the one who founded it! 

Remember Jesus’ statement to His disciples when He asked who they thought He was, and Peter admitted ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter (Petros – little rock), and upon this rock (Petra – large rock) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’ (Matt. 16:16-18) 

And we all know the controversy as to whether Christ was referring to Peter himself as the rock, although in the original Greek it seems to use two different words, Petros and Petra, meaning small and large rocks. The important thing though is that Christ was going to build Himself a strong and powerful rock-like church, in which Peter and the other apostles would play a large part. 

And I like how Dan Doriani puts it in his article on the subject. ‘Jesus blesses Peter’s confession, “for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” God’s revelation gives Peter “holy joy.” Jesus continues, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. Jesus will build his church on Peter’s confession… Thus, Jesus is saying that hell’s defenses will not thwart the church’s progress. The church will advance and prevail through the confession that Jesus is Messiah and Son of God. Jesus is the church’s founder and builder, yet Peter has a role.’ 

And on that solid rock we stand my fellow saints! And furthermore, Jesus also made it clear that His church would not only be for the Jewish people, but for the Gentiles as well, when He said: ‘And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold (flock), and one shepherd.’ (John 10:16) And that’s why Bruh Paul taught that ‘The Christian church is like a human body. It is one individual organism made up of many different parts that serve a wide variety of functions. All those functions matter.’ (1 Cor. 12:12-14) 

And that’s what we have to understand and accept friends, that we all are important in our own way, but our ONE devotion is to build Christ’s church. And how we do that? By using Christ our founder and leader as our cornerstone. Thus, as Peter filled with the Holy Spirit declared (yesss!!!) to the Jewish council that had arrested him and John for preaching Christ crucified and healing a lame man: 

‘Be it known unto you all, and to the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of (rejected by) you builders, which is become the head of the corner (the chief corner stone). Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.’ (Acts 4:10-12) 

Oh my people, how I wish that in these evil and ungodly times we could be as bold, brave and courageous as Peter was back then, and stand up strong for Christ. And we ought to be, because we have the same Holy Spirit dwelling in us that enabled Peter to stand up before the Jewish Council, who had authority to put him away and even kill him. But no such body exists today in our society, so why are we so passive and uninterested in standing up for Jesus eh? Why are we allowing Christ’s church to fall apart eh, with so many divisions and disunity, when we’re supposed to be ONE, united body, built on one foundation, as Bruh Paul writes to the Corinthians. ‘For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.’ (1 Cor. 3:11) 

Please friends, let’s remember that as we go about our business this week and do our best to bring unity back to Christ’s church, if we sincerely want the gates of hell not prevail against it! Much LOVE!

…behold …I lay in Zion…a chief cornerstone…elect (chosen) and precious…and he that believeth on him…shall not be confounded (put to shame)… (1 Pet. 2:6) 

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Today’s Scrip-Bit 23 May 2021 Matthew 21:42a.

23 May 2021 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 21:42a.     ​Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner (the chief cornerstone):

It’s Sunday friends! The Lord’s Day, the best day of the week; the day on which we get together to sing and dance and give thanks and praise for His everlasting goodness to the children of men! And I like how Bruh Paul greeted the Galatians as they were beginning to backslide, listening to the Judaizers false doctrine. ‘Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world (age), according to the will of God and our Father. To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.’ (Gal. 1:3-5) 

Yes my brethren, Jesus most certainly gave Himself, or sacrificed His sinless body and soul at the Father’s behest, so that we could be set free from the bondage of sin. And please note that He, and He alone could have done it! No one else but the Son of God had what it took, mainly a sinless persona. And that’s why our song of praise and thanksgiving today is so important in the Christian life. It is most appropriately titled ‘The Church’s One Foundation.’ And who else could that be but Jesus Christ eh? 

It’s a hymn written by Samuel John Stone in the 1860’s. And the website Godtube tells us: ‘This hymn describes the church’s relationship to its “foundation” being Jesus Christ. The church is represented as the collective Christian fellowship of the earth as it is wholly united by its Saviour, the Son of God.’ And so it should be! Now let’s sing a rousing version, making sure that both heaven and earth understand how blessed, joyful and grateful we are, because the words come sincerely from our hearts. 

So as one harmonious voice: ‘The Church’s one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord, She is His new creation By water and the Word: From Heav’n He came and sought her To be His holy bride, With His own blood He bought her And for her life He died. – She is from every nation, Yet one o’er all the earth; Her charter of salvation, One Lord, one faith, one birth; One holy name she blesses, Partakes one holy food, And to one hope she presses, With every grace endued. -The Church shall never perish! Her dear Lord to defend, To guide, sustain, and cherish, Is with her to the end: 

Though there be those who hate her, And false sons in her pale, Against both foe and traitor She ever shall prevail. – Though with a scornful wonder Men see her sore oppressed, By schisms rent asunder, By heresies distressed: Yet saints their watch are keeping, Their cry goes up, How long? And soon the night of weeping Shall be the morn of song! – ’Mid toil and tribulation, And tumult of her war, She waits the consummation Of peace forevermore; Till, with the vision glorious, Her longing eyes are blest, And the great Church victorious Shall be the Church at rest! – 

Yet she on earth hath union With God the Three in One, And mystic sweet communion With those whose rest is won, With all her sons and daughters Who, by the Master’s hand Led through the deathly waters, Repose in Eden land. O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we Like them, the meek and lowly, On high may dwell with Thee: There, past the border mountains, Where in sweet vales the Bride With Thee by living fountains Forever shall abide!’ 

Yes friends, Christ bought the Church, paid for her with His own precious blood, and is the sole foundation on which it’s built! As He so poignantly pointed out to His listeners in Matthew, quoting Psalm 118:22-23: ‘Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner (the chief cornerstone): This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.’ (Matt. 21:42) 

Oh my people, from the very beginning the Lord had planned to have His Son redeem mankind and be the very foundation stone on which the new kingdom was laid. But you know how it was back then, the chief cornerstone was the most important stone in the entire building because it bore the majority of the load, so it had to be very special, sturdy and strong. And no stone the builders refused could ever become the cornerstone of a building. 

However, with Jesus it was different. The people of His time rejected Him, but nonetheless, He became the chief cornerstone of the Christian Church! Glory be my fellow saints! Our great God does move in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform! But as we know, everything that man touches, he sullies and or destroys. Now Christ’s church has not been any different, for all down through the ages, even to this day, it has been rife with dissension and controversy, and constantly threatened by false doctrine. 

And unfortunately, according to the website Godtube: “The Church’s One Foundation” was composed as a primary answer to the division within the Church of South Africa generated by John William Colenso, first Bishop of Natal, who denounced much of the Bible as untrue. This issue is referenced to within the fourth verse of the lyrics “Though with a scornful wonder men see her sore oppressed, by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed.” 

When Bishop Colenso was dismissed for his teachings, he pleaded to the higher religious authorities in England. It was then that Samuel Stone became included in the discussion. It sparked him to draft a set of hymns based on the Apostles’ Creed in 1866. He titled it, Lyra Fidelium; Twelve Hymns on the Twelve Articles of the Apostles’ Creed. “The Church’s One Foundation” is based on the ninth article, The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints. Music by Samuel Sebastian Wesley 1810-1876.’ 

Ah Lord eh! What won’t mankind do to get rid of Christ and His church eh! But yuh know what, despite all the isms and schisms, the false doctrines and petty dissensions, the separations and many different religions, Christ’s church is still going strong today, and nothing is ever going to break it up. And when He comes back for His own, which could be very soon, then the whole situation will be made right, because the true foundation, the majestic and magnificent cornerstone will solidly anchor His church in the bedrock of His shed blood! 

So my fellow saints, let’s not forget to keep careful watch, knowing that our ‘night of weeping shall be the morn of song;’ and that ‘the consummation of peace forevermore’ is close at hand… ‘and the great church victorious, shall be the church at rest.’ Have faith and stand strong my brethren, our troubles will soon be over, for the last trump will sound and Christ will appear on the horizon in full glory, to take us home!Much LOVE!

…the earth and all therein may perish…but the church of Christ NEVER WILL…                                                    

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