Today’s Scrip-Bit 11 January 2018 John 15:13.

11 Jan 2018 Leave a comment

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

John 15:13.   Greater LOVE hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Oh precious people of Jehovah God, welcome to another wonderful day on His great earth! Oh I know some of us will complain and ask what’s so wonderful about the day when you are surrounded by numerous problems, adversity and calamity? But let me ask you this? Would you rather be asleep in the grave this morning? 

Most of you would readily answer a big ‘NO!’ That’s because you know that once you’re alive and in partnership with Almighty God there’s always hope for successfully handling your problems. And besides, regardless of how bad earthly life might be, most of us are just not ready for the heavenly one yet. (smile) 

That brings me to an interesting ad I saw on the television recently, it said: ‘Killing can be so complicated. Mary kills people.’ That’s an ad for a t.v show about Mary killing people. Hn! How much more macabre and insensitive can we get eh? When we advertise a show about killing people, what does that say about our society eh? What does it teach our children and those that come after us? 

But yuh know, if we had an ad that says: ‘LOVE is so simple. Jesus LOVES people!’ There’d be a big hue and cry over it. We might never ever get the ad to air in the first place, because the t.v. masters would consider it inappropriate. So killing is appropriate, but LOVE is not. 

Ah Lord eh! What a downward slide our society is on! I’m reminded of the quote I got from somewhere that tells us: ‘Two natures beat within my breast. The one is foul, the one is blessed. The one I LOVE, the one I hate. The one I feed will dominate.’ 

Obviously our society is feeding the foul nature, that of sin, darkness and carnality, because that’s the one that’s dominating our world right now. But friends, as we said earlier on, once we’re alive and in partnership with our Creator, there is hope to fix whatever is amiss or broken. 

And that’s exactly what we are planning to do in this Year of LOVE: fix the things that are broken in this broken world with the help of Almighty God! But friends, we can only do that if ALL believers in Jesus Christ come together and seriously work together to overthrow the evildoers in our world. 

If we stay divided and broken, as we are, we will be of little use, since the iniquity workers will just continue to divide and conquer us. We believers are supposed to be ambassadors of Christ, here on earth, but it’s obvious we’re not doing such a great job, if evil and hate and not LOVE and compassion are still ruling the world. 

And the sad part is that so many of us have this great talk and plan to do something about it, but unfortunately only a precious few are actually doing something about it. Talk’s cheap friends, but actions are expensive and involve sacrifice, which few of us really want to offer. 

But remember what Jesus did for us? He offered His sinless life as a sacrifice for our abominable sins! He didn’t have to do it, but He LOVED us so much, and wanted a better future for us that He gave the ultimate sacrifice; His godly life. 

As He said so passionately to His disciples in our Bit: ‘Greater LOVE hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ And what did He do? He went out and laid down His life for us, because He considered us His friends, and wanted us to become His adopted family. 

Hear How He continues after our Bit. ‘Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you.’ (John 15:14-15) 

That’s about the best description of friends you can get my brethren; sharing important stuff with others. Jesus told the disciples, and consequently us, all that the Father had told Him, which put them, and us, in a position to be His friends. But then what kind of friends are we, if we don’t do what our friend asks of us eh? 

Hear Jesus again. ‘Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained (appointed) you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give to you. These things I command you, that ye LOVE one another.’ (John 15:16-17) 

Oh fellow believers, we didn’t choose Jesus, He chose each one of us to go out and bear good fruit in His name. That means we have a serious responsibility here on earth, per doing what He commands. And one of the first and foremost, and basic commands is to LOVE one another. 

Oh my people, let’s concentrate on just doing that nuh: just LOVING each other as Jesus desires and letting go of all the resentment and negative emotions and activity that currently resides in Christ’s body, the church.  You’d be surprised at how life would change if we just did that. And why should that be so hard to do when Jesus has already been so generous to us in our Thursday Blessings? 

Let’s declare them in loud voice and sincere spirit. ‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline! I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! 

I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life! I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and everyday! Amen!’ 

Now, our bounden duty, as faithful believers, is to go out and share those blessings with others. Much LOVE!

…Christianity is not a society for hoarding…but of generously sharing the wealth and good news of Jesus…

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 26 July 2016 Matthew 28:19.

26 Jul 2016 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 all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Bless my soul; Tuesday has rolled around again! Brother! These weeks are flying by so quickly! Wasn’t it Tuesday just a few days ago? (smile) And don’t talk about the month of July; that’s almost finished…and it seems as though it just began! 

That means there’s no time to waste or loose my Christian brethren, we need to seriously get together and do Jesus’ work. Remember, we are His ambassadors here on earth, and as we go, so does His earthly kingdom. 

And believe me, right now, I don’t think that’s going as well as it can, or ought to. We’re not as serious, as diligent and faithful as we should be. We’re still allowing the enemy and the lusts of the world to control our thinking and our actions too much. 

We need to make changes, improve as soon as possible, because time is not waiting on us, and while we laze around, the enemy is making hay while the sun shines. And the best place to begin is in figuring out and believing who we are. So let’s declare our Tuesday Mantra, which does that, in a loud, proud and grateful manner. 

As one now: ‘I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with the world. Amen!’ 

Yes friends, that’s who we are; the beloved of God and friends of Jesus! It’s time we sincerely and truly believe that and stop allowing the world to dictate otherwise to us, for we are not defined by its parameters, but by those of Almighty God! 

And we definitely need to improve our attitude and efforts in sharing the LOVE of Jesus with the world, for that’s our basic duty. We should be getting into the heads of the unbelievers, making them want to be like us, not the other way around. 

And we can’t do that until we’re really serious about working and fighting for Jesus, going all out to make sure the world understands who He is and the wonderful things He stands for. 

Oh friends, our world badly, desperately needs to hear and learn about Jesus because it’s quickly sinking into a quagmire of sin, sloth and despair in its current direction. We have totally gone astray from the Word of God, and returning to His wonderful and comforting fold is the ONLY thing that will save us from total destruction. 

And the world can only learn and hear about Jesus from us, His followers and believers. As Bruh Paul says in Romans: ‘So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.’ (Rom.10:11) 

So if the unbeliever doesn’t hear the word from us, how are they ever going believe eh? That’s why we need to ramp up our efforts to spread the good news of Jesus’ kingdom to all and sundry as He directed in the Great Commission, our Bit for today. 

‘Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’ Yes my people, that’s our bounden duty as dictated by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! 

And He continues: ‘Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always(s), even unto the end of the world.’ (Matt.28:20) 

Oh my fellow believers, it’s all there in black and white; simple and straight to the point. The disciples took it seriously and ran with the baton that Jesus passed on to them, and eventually, through sincere work and dedication on the part of believers, the gospel of Jesus was prominent in the overthrow of the great Roman Empire. 

Ah friends, there’s such power in the Word! Now it’s time for us to accept the baton and run with it. And it so happens that in this era of modern technology, we have the parts to spread the gospel, easier, wider and further than any other generation before us. 

So let’s seriously, sincerely and diligently step up to the plate and perform our bounden duty nuh, because Jesus is depending on us to spread the good news of His glorious kingdom. And we certainly don’t want to drop the baton, or pass it haphazardly to the next generation. 

Now here is some interesting info from the scholars. ’28:18-20. The Great Commission brings the first Gospel to its grand finale. Christianity is not represented here as the mere reverential devotion of disappointed men who honour their martyred leader. 

Here is a far different scene. The triumphant, living Lord sends forth His ambassadors to proclaim His gospel throughout the world. The Great Commission is not just an order but a pronouncement of victory (mundus regium Christi) by the risen Saviour through His disciples. 

All power or authority  (Gr. exousia) is now in the hands of Christ, in heaven and on earth. On the basis of that authority and power the Christian disciple is to carry out the Great Commission of the church. 

Go ye, though a participle, conveys the force of a command: “Go.” In other words, the idea expressed is that you must go and make disciples. 

Teach all nations can be translated “disciple all nations.” Thus the converting influence of the gospel is indicated here. The “all nations” clearly indicates that the commission of the church is a worldwide one, encompassing the entire missionary effort. The church is not to be merely “missionary-minded.” The church is the vehicle of Christ’s mission to the world.’ 

And who is the church my brethren? We are! Therefore we are the ones who are expected to spread the gospel to all nations! Let’s do our job nuh! End of Story! Much LOVE!

…unless believers spread God’s Word…the world cannot be saved… 

P.S. Please excuse the lateness of the Bit, I woke up late, then had some problems with Outlook. Ah Lord eh! It’s just testing my patience! Much LOVE!