the Love Revolution | SCRIP-BITS

Acts 14:22. Confirming (strengthening) the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

So what’s happening this fine Thursday morning eh Friends? I do hope that we’re all prepared to receive the new blessings and mercies that our wonderful Lord has earmarked for distribution today to His faithful and obedient followers.

And all God’s people mouthed a most grateful, ‘Thank You Lord! We Love You and praise Your Holy Name!’

Now here is the second half of the I CAN DO statements, acclamations of faith to get us started on our journey of faith today.

Please affirm with me: ‘I CAN have victory in my life by dealing with the things that are keeping me from God’s best. I AM confronting my struggles head on so I CAN overcome them. God has given me the power to rise above.

He has given me the strength to focus on Him and push through. NOTHING will hold me back! This is my declaration of what I CAN do through Christ!’

Now my people, let’s take that seriously and get ourselves together and DO what we just affirmed that we CAN and WILL DO! It’s the only way to move forward successfully in this life!

That brings us to our Bit: ‘Confirming (strengthening) the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.’

Oh Friends, that’s exactly what we are endeavouring to do through the Bit; strengthen our souls so that we can continue strong in the faith, while keeping in mind the fact that we will suffer trials simply by being a follower of Jesus. So it’s all good stuff. (smile)

And though it can indeed be a struggle to live a good life, walking in Jesus’ footsteps, glorifying our heavenly Father, as faithful believers, we must do it, never giving up, persevering despite what ever comes against us, for in due time we will be well rewarded.

Now let’s continue where we left off yesterday, by looking at a couple of scripture passages that corroborate the second half of our Bit: ‘and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.’

I know it doesn’t cause much interest and excitement to think that we need to see troubles to enter God’s kingdom, but that’s what the Word says, and the Word doesn’t lie. However, it does promise great rewards if we stand strong in the testing of our faith.

Listen to Bruh Paul as he tells the church at Rome about living life in the Spirit. ‘So then they that be in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (give life to) your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Therefore brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit mortify (put to death) the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bchildren of god, heirs of god, beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us.’(Rom.8:8-18)

Yes my brethren, the only way to live this earthly life successfully is being led and guided by the Holy Spirit of God, and not by the fleshly lusts of our carnal bodies!

And as Bruh Paul says in the last verse there, the trials and tribulations we endure now, will be significantly outweighed by the rewards in glory later on.

And if you don’t believe Bruh Paul, then listen to Jesus, as He makes the same claim when talking to His disciples about who is great.

‘And there was also a strife (rivalry) among them, which of them should be accounted (considered) the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.

(Scholars’ note: Benefactors: The underlying Greek word appears nowhere else in the New Testament. Middle-Eastern kings liked to rule with an iron hand, and then take on a title that extolled their benevolence. Christians should crave neither such power nor such acclaim).

But ye shall not be so: but he that is the greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief (leader), as he that doth serve. For whether (who) is greater, he that sitteth at meat (at the table), or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at meat (at the table)?

But I am among you as he that serveth. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto (bestow upon) you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto (bestowed upon) me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’ (Luke 22:24-30)

Ah mih people, the world judges greatness by the material things and power we possess. But it is not so in the kingdom of God. Jesus came to earth to serve, to be a servant for His heavenly Father, to help and save those in need, and likewise, that’s what He expects of His followers.

Now that doesn’t mean we cannot amass great wealth and power, but we must use them wisely in doing God’s will and work here on earth, not just lay them up for our sole benefit and sit and consider how well off and wonderful we are, otherwise we’ll end up like the fool in Luke 12:16-21, who was called home the same night he decided to eat, drink and be merry over his great earthly possessions. And thus ends today’s message.

Oh Friends, we all know that faithfully serving Jesus in this evil, ungodly world isn’t easy, especially when He requires excellence of ALL His followers, and excellence only comes with paying a price.

But please remember that Jesus promises to reward all those who faithfully serve Him with rewards of excellence too, rewards like salvation and eternal life with Him and the Father. And believe me people, there is nothing on this planet Earth that’s worth more than those two things!

So please hang in there my brethren, and let’s faithfully spread the LOVE Revolution of Jesus all over the world, as he requires, and do it with joy and excellence! Much LOVE!

…all that’s required of us on this earthly pilgrimage…is to LOVE OUR GOD…LIVE OUR FAITH…AND SPREAD GOD’S WORD…

1 Corinthians 13:4: Charity (LOVE) suffereth long, and is kind; charity (LOVE) envieth not; charity (LOVE) vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.

Oh Friends, how good, right and pleasant it is for the followers of Jesus to live in unity with each other, continually singing the praises of our God, Creator, Provider and heavenly Father, the way the birds do all day long!

And they certainly were in fine and full voice when I arose this morning. Unfortunately though, instead of unity and harmony, we have more divisions and divisiveness in the body of Jesus Christ, the church.

Ah Lord eh mih breddren! How that must hurt and wound Jesus’ heart to see His people, the ones He so selflessly sacrificed His holy and sinless life for, not getting along, especially over petty, immaterial stuff.

We talk a lot about LOVE, but please read, note, mark, inwardly digest, remember and put into action these most memorable words of Bruh Paul to the Corinthians in the LOVE chapter of the Good Book.

‘Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity (LOVE), I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling (clanging) cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith; so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity (LOVE), I am NOTHING.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity (LOVE), it profiteth me NOTHING.’ (1 Cor.13:1-3)

And why is all that the gospel truth Friends? Because of our Bit. ‘Charity (LOVE) suffereth long, and is kind; charity (LOVE) envieth not; charity (LOVE) vaunteth not (does not brag on) itself, is not puffed up (arrogant).’

Yes my people, LOVE is the number one ingredient of life!

Why? It’s simple: ‘(LOVE) Doth not behave itself unseemly (rudely), seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil (keeps no accounts of evil); Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity (LOVE) never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail (cease); whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away (cease).’ (1 Cor.13:5-8)

Yes Friends, LOVE NEVER FAILS!

But everything else does at some time or another, be they the ability to prophecy, to speak in tongues, or be a fount of great knowledge. All of those will eventually pass away, but NOT LOVE, NEVER LOVE!

That’s why we talk about LOVE makes the world go round, because without it, our world is just one angry, evil, hateful warlike place.

And that’s another reason why we so desperately need the LOVE Revolution to pick up steam and bring not only unbelievers to Christ, but also His supposed people together unto themselves and unto Him, so that we can truly say that charity, LOVE isn’t failing, because right now in our troubled, confused and angry world, IT IS FAILING.

I ask us again Friends, how do we think Jesus feels when He looks down from heaven and sees us arguing and bickering amongst ourselves over foolishness, instead of truly taking His Word, His LOVE, and His Unity across the whole wide world to all mankind?

If the followers of Jesus would just stop fighting amongst themselves the world’s LOVE quotient would increase by at least 25 percent, because there is so much distrust and dissension amongst the body of Christ, in and around His church.

Oh my fellow believers, can’t we see that we’re doing Jesus a great disservice by not living the LOVE we talk so airily and carelessly about? It draws the name HYPOCRITE writ large on our backs, when we can’t get along in simple, everyday life, despite our petty differences.

And the basic foundation of our faith, of Christianity, is the getting along, the harmony and unity of one body, which, though it consists of several parts, none is more important than the other, but they all work together to bring about the success of the whole.

But sadly, as the world, with the prince of darkness at its helm, moves forward, Christ’s people are being lured by the enemy into more separation and division.

Oh my people, please see that the enemy’s focus, his ploy, is the age-old ruse of divide and conquer! It’s much easier to conquer us when we’re divided into small, warring groups, than when we live in harmony as ONE, in a great big, united body, with a powerful leader like Jesus at our helm.

Unfortunately though, we designate ourselves first by denomination; Catholic, Anglican, Pentecostal, Seven Day Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses, etc. instead of by our basic faith, Christians in the body of Christ, better known as Christianity. That alone causes untold dissension.

Oh my brethren, I don’t have all the answers to our problems, but this I know, that until and unless we all come together in one big, melting pot, as Christianity is meant to be, and stop fighting amongst ourselves for earthly supremacy, we’ll continue to fight a losing battle. The enemy will just sit by patiently and pick us off one by one, like a sniper on a rooftop, with his enemy nicely spread out in panic before him.

Oh Friends, Jesus told us that the two most important things in this life were to LOVE God and to LOVE ourselves. Is this how we LOVE ourselves; in resentment, anger and enmity? That’s surely a poor reflection on Jesus’ command.

And it follows logically, as John says; how can we LOVE God, whom we’ve never seen, if we can’t LOVE our fellow man, whom we have seen eh? (1 John 4:20) That’s an impossible task!

So today, all I can do is reiterate the need for the greatest revolution that has ever swept the earth, the LOVE Revolution, based on the sacrifice of Christ’s life given for us, without which, many of us will never see God’s face at the end of our earthly journey.

So please consider ourselves warned: no LOVE here on earth, means no seeing God in heaven! As Jesus so wisely warned too: ‘So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.’ (Matt.20:16)

And that’s unadulterated wisdom and truth that all of us should seriously consider, if we truly want to see God in the latter days. Much LOVE!

…he who hath ears to hear…let him hear NOW…else the price he’ll eventually pay…will be astronomical…that of eternal death…

SCRIP-BITS

Today’s Scrip-Bit 5 June 2014 Acts 14:22

Today’s Scrip-Bit 13 June 2013 1 Corinthians 13:4

Pages

Categories

Archives