Today’s Scrip-Bit   25 October 2023 Matthew 28:19a.

25 Oct 2023 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 28:19a. Go ye therefore, and teach (make disciples of) all nations,

It’s a rainy, cloudy Wednesday morning in my area, but the temperature is supposed to be above seasonal, all week, so we can’t complain. But I’m here chuckling because when I say it’s a rainy morning I’m being somewhat facetious, for if what I heard falling this morning was the only rain that fell, then a rainy morning is certainly a misnomer. 

I was lying in my bed awake, around seven thirty a.m. when I heard the rain coming down. If I heard it, then it must have been a good shower for my windows were closed. However, by the time I could mentally say, ‘some rain at last,’ the rain was done. I don’t know if it even lasted for a minute. Hn, hn! I guess though, that the important thing is not how long the rain fell, but that some rain fell and watered the land, and since outside still seems wet, then some rain did fall. And that’s my conundrum, my quandary or difficult question for this 25th day of October 2023! (smile) 

But let’s turn to a place where there’s no conundrum or quandary whatsoever; that’s to prayer! And I want to share the prayer in this month’s In Touch Devotional. So please pray with me: ‘Father, help me to be understanding – to approach everyone with empathy, humility, and curiosity. Please keep arrogance and judgement far from my heart and lips. Teach me to focus on similarities and find ways to respect differences. Lord, I want to practice this kindness and grace in the world, but I need Your help. Empower me to abide in You always, so that Your LOVE flows through me. Amen!’ 

Oh my people, if we could ever truly live that prayer then our world would certainly be heaven on earth! Can we ever learn to focus on similarities and respect differences? That would be awesome because it’s exactly what is causing all the upheaval in our world today, the total opposite; that of dwelling on differences and lack of focus on similarities. We’re all alike, made in God’s image, with hands, feet, arms, legs, mouth, ears, etc. etc. The only variations being in the colours of our skin and some facial differences. However those two differences plus the differences in culture and creed have made our world a fertile killing ground down through the ages. 

The differences have been over emphasized in every age, and caused more hate, resentment, anger and wars than we can ever count. The similarities, on the other hand, seem to be non-existent from the way we ignore them. The fact that Almighty God LOVES us all is irrelevant, since many of us do not worship the same God. But until we somehow or the other learn to focus on the similarities and not the differences, our world will be in a state of continual turmoil. And that’s where Christians come in. We’re expected, through the Great Commission to carry the all-encompassing LOVE of Jehovah God to ALL the world, so that the good news of Christ’s salvation can be heard and accepted by all and sundry! 

And just in case we’ve forgotten what the Great Commission is, let’s review it right now nuh. (smile) Amongst Jesus’ last remarks to the disciples were these commanding words. ‘All power (authority) is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach (make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.’ (Matt. 28:18-20) 

Yes my fellow believers, that’s what our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ expects each and everyone of His followers to do; spread the good news of his gospel both in their own neighbourhoods and to all the nations of the earth! But strangely enough, in this time of almost instant communication with technology in its many forms, the spreading of the gospel has not been ramped up as much as it needs to be, else we wouldn’t be having all the wars and rumours of wars that we’re having. In fact, that same increase in technology and information might just be causing the incessant wars that are troubling our world, and the gospel needs to be spread even more now than ever before. 

In times gone by, it would take days, weeks, even months for supposed offences and detractions to reach the offended and the world at large. But now, that news is flashed around the world almost the instant it happens, and the angry rebuttal is flashed back just as fast. Thus there’s very little time, if any, for cooler heads to prevail. And that’s a big reason why there’s so much anger and resentment, quarrelling and antagonism existing, both internally and externally, between governments and people today. And the only way for those negative emotions to be lessened, note I didn’t say removed, because I doubt they ever will be completely suffocated until Jesus returns, is for believers, Christ’s church to ramp up our evangelism of the world. 

And the scholars give us an interesting note on the Great Commission. They say: ‘Christ’s promise of His presence, I am with you always, guarantees the success of the church’s mission because it is really His mission carried out by His called-out disciples. The phrase unto the end of the world means until the end of the “age.” Therefore Christ’s empowerment of the church to evangelize the world is available in every age, even unto the end of the church age. In comparing the Great Commission with Jesus’ promise to continually build His church (chap. 18), we must conclude that He intended His church always to be spiritually militant and evangelistically aggressive as we take His claims of lordship to the entire world of our generation.’ 

Now that’s how Christ’s church is supposed to be; spiritually militant and evangelically aggressive! For that’s the only way we can ever pull off the Great Commission! And there’s no doubt whatsoever that the church falls anywhere close in any of those two categories! Rather, we’re more in tune with the desires of the world than with those of God and our evangelizing is running a poor second to many of the other faiths of the world, and consequently too many people hold Satan in higher regard than Christ Jesus. 

Now that’s a situation we need to rectify as soon as possible. But we can only do that if we unify and declare (chuh!!!) one gospel, not several different versions, which will only make the heathen more confused than they already are. Thus my fellow believers, we are calling on all the denominations of Christ’s church to get serious and come together so that we can truly do Christ’s bidding and take the Great Commission to all the world! Now let’s go home declaring (steups!!!) our Wednesday Wail, letting the whole world know of our marvellous position in Christ Jesus. 

As one strong and sincere voice: ‘Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: I’m so glad to be alive on this Wednesday! Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: Thank God the breath of life is still flowing through me on this Wednesday! I am halfway home. My hands are fixed securely on the plough, and I’m not turning back. I’m not looking back at the past, not focusing on what has gone before. But my eyes are fixed straight ahead; straight ahead to a glorious future with Jesus. Glory Hallelujah!’ 

And then there’s this codicil, this side agreement that assures that if we stick with Jesus right down to the very end, then the future will be even more glorious that we can ask or imagine. And since Jesus doesn’t make empty promises, let’s vow to meet down at the end times with Him nuh! Wow! What a future that will be! Much LOVE!

…we cannot call ourselves true disciples of Christ…if we aren’t sincerely and seriously spreading His gospel… 

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZ           

Today’s Scrip-Bit 5 June 2021 Matthew 28:19.

05 Jun 2021 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 28:19.     ‘Go ye therefore, and teach (make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

It’s a bright but cool Saturday morning with a strong breeze blowing through my area, however the weather people have issued a heat warning for today and the next few ahead. Temps are supposed to get up into the thirties. Bubba! Like the heatwave has begun…and so has the lively human activity on the streets, despite the lockdown is still mostly in place. 

People are walking without much on, cars and motorbikes are constantly revving up with their loud mufflers, unnecessarily disturbing the peace of the neighbourhood. At one stage in the early morning hours, I could swear that I heard car noises that indicated road racing not too far away from my house. But I guess that is all a part of the summertime activity. (smile) 

Anyway, let’s get down to our Saturday business, that of checking out the quotes our friend Anselm sent us this past week, as he aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. And the first one says: ‘I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better.’ And that is the gospel truth my people, because things are so terrible now that if they don’t change, and change for the better, then God help us all yes! 

I don’t know if our world has ever been in such a controversial and strife filled state, even with all the supposed enlightened advancements we’ve made in our day. And unless it improves soon, implosion will be the obvious result, since we already have explosion with all the active volcanoes around. (smile) That brings us to this next quote: ‘Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.’ 

Ah mih people, so many of us have big dreams, desires and plans to change the world, but it’s not an easy task, and though our motivation is admirable, sometimes we just have to wise up and realize that the more important cause is to change our life. And ofttimes the sequence is changing ourselves before we try changing the world, because so many of us need changes in our lives before we can think about changing anyone else. 

And that’s where the following quote becomes important. ‘Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.’ Now that is wisdom in spades my brethren! And the most important change we can ever need or have in our lives is receiving Christ Jesus as our Lord and Saviour! And if you haven’t done that yet, then you better had hurry up and do it today, right now, because Christ can come back any time, even today, and if you don’t have Him as the light of your life then you are going to end up in eternal damnation with Satan and all his wicked minions! 

Now is that the life you want to live after your physical bodies dies? I don’t think so. That means you must make the biggest decision of your earthly life right now, because it will affect where you spend eternity. Remember Jesus’ wise words: ‘No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and LOVE the other; or else he will hold (be loyal) to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.’ (Matt. 6:24) 

That’s the awesome truth friends: you cannot serve Almighty God and at the same time immerse yourself in accumulating the riches of the world. As the old people would say; is either one or the other. The beautiful fact is that you can get earthly wealth from God, if He so desires to bless you, but there’s no way to get God from earthly wealth! 

And so we come to this quote: ‘True life is lived when tiny changes occur.’ I don’t think that is completely true, because many of us need big changes in our lives if we are ever to get on the right track. But it is important that we make small adjustments over time, and that we do acknowledge their benefits in the betterment of our everyday circumstances. And I believe that’s one area in which a lot of believers are weak. We all look for the big miracles in our lives, which are usually few and far between, but we never pay attention to the many small miracles that the Lord performs in our lives each day that we are alive. 

Now that possibly derives from the fact that many of us don’t believe that the Lord is interested in the small, mundane things in our lives, and there is nothing further from the truth than that! Our God is actively interested in EVERY aspect of our lives, from the biggest to the smallest. He wants to get thoroughly involved in our business. 

And that’s exactly what many of us are afraid of. (smile) Some areas are okay, but not others. But friends, don’t you think that He knows the parts that we are trying to hide from Him? He certainly does, because He is omniscient, He knows everything. So trying to hide stuff from Him is pure foolishness. What He wants is for you to bring everything to Him in sincere prayer, be it good or bad. If you don’t take it to Him, then He can’t help you. 

And I believe that this last quote is the way to go. ‘I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.’ Yes friends, changing the world by ourselves is rather difficult, if not impossible, but spreading our diligent efforts across several areas, or even one area, can cause small, but important differences to be made. You’ll notice that’s how Jesus did it. He alone came down from heaven, and being in fashion as a man, He couldn’t go very far to spread His Word. So he got a few men together and taught them what He wanted them to teach others. 

Thus some of His last words to them. ‘Go ye therefore, and teach (make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.’ (Matt. 28:19-20) Then they did what he asked; went out and recruited others, and those others did the same, until now, two thousand years later, the Word of God has been spread over most of His universe, just like He desired. 

Strangely enough, speaking of it like that makes it resemble a pyramid scheme that’s become so prevalent and heartbreaking today, when used for evil purposes. But we all know that Jesus’ words were not designed for evil or heartbreak, but to give us a sincere hope and an eternal future with Him in heaven. 

And you know what, right here, we have two good examples of casting a stone across the waters to create many ripples. Yes, brother Anselm’s sending quotes to us, and then my sending them to others through the Bit, that’s certainly a method of casting a stone across the waters, hoping to create many ripples. And I do hope that we are successful in our small way, making a difference, by bringing hope and faith, as well as the peace and LOVE of Jesus to someone who needs it this Saturday morning! And it’s in Jesus’ name we pray! Much LOVE!

…changes…big or small…are of no use…unless Christ is involved in them…                                                            

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