Today’s Scrip-Bit 4 June 2014 Acts 14:22

04 Jun 2014 Leave a comment

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

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.

‘Morning Neighbuh, morning! May the great and wonderful God of our fathers be with you this new day, showering you with His ever-flowing mercy and abundant blessings, while keeping you and yours safe from harm.’
 
And all God’s people declared a loud and grateful ‘Praise the Lord! Amen.’
 
Oh Friends, I guess I’ll never be a good weather forecaster, because I said that yesterday was going to be a rainy day Tuesday. Hn! But which rain fell eh? None! For by the time the sun rose the rain abated, and it turned out to be a hot, windy day Tuesday instead. I even had to turn on the A/C. Note, just to see if it was working after the long, harsh winter it endured. (smile)
 
What a life eh! A couple weeks ago we badly wanted heat, but now that we’re getting some of the natural stuff, we’re already crying out for cooler weather. Chuh! I guess though that that’s the nature of the human animal – when we have one thing we want something else, and vice versa.
 
But my people, I’m here to tell us that this earthly life is not a bed of roses… or rather, it is a bed of roses! That’s because one of the most beautiful of all God’s creation, the rose, grows at the end of a long, thorn riddled stalk, and to get to one, you have to carefully navigate the thorns on its stem.
 
Life is just like that my brethren. To get to the top of the ladder, or to the most beautiful parts of life, you have to carefully navigate through thorny paths, covered with brambles and all sorts of other obstruction. There is no clear, unobstructed path to our glorious destination of heaven and eternal life with Jesus Christ.
 
As our Bit tells it, in the immortal words of Bruh Paul to his protégé Timothy: ‘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.’
 
And that’s no lie Friends, for all sorts of obstacles and stumbling blocks will crop up in a believer’s life, and it’s only with God’s help are we able to successfully navigate them. And we’re going to end this series of messages with a couple of scriptures pertaining to both the first and last parts of our Bit.
 
As to the first part; ‘Confirming (strengthening) the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith,’ let’s look at Acts 11, regarding the church in Antioch, where believers were first referred to as Christians.
 
After Stephen was stoned to death in Jerusalem, the disciples were scattered all over, teaching the gospel, but to Jews only. However, some of them, when they came to Antioch, began preaching the Lord Jesus also to the Gentiles.
 
The Good Book tells us: ‘And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. Then tidings (news) of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch.
 
Who, when he came and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted (encouraged) them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto (continue with) the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.’ (Acts 11:21-24)
 
Yeh Friends, we all need help and encouragement to keep on keeping on in our walk of faith, because it is not an easy row to hoe. And that fact is borne out later on when Barnabas brings Bruh Paul back to Antioch, where envious Jews did not want the gospel taught to the Gentiles.
 
‘And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought (begged) that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes (Gentile converts to Judaism) followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.’ (Acts 13:42-42)
 
But the opposition never ceased. ‘And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against (opposed) those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
 
Then Paul and Barnabas waxed (grew) bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you (reject it), and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.
 
And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.
 
But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable (prominent) women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts (region). But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.’(Acts 13:44-52)
 
Glory be! Ah mih people, what a beautiful example of when opposition comes against us, that we nonetheless stand strong in preaching the Word, and we will be strengthened and filled with the joy of the Lord and His Holy Spirit! That’s because the Word contains power, the greatest power on earth!
 
But jealousy and envy can move us to do evil, if we’re not very careful. The Jews at first didn’t want to hear about Jesus, and then they didn’t want the Gentiles to hear about Him either, so they stirred up false info to the powers that be, and had them run Barnabas and Bruh Paul out of town.
 
And unfortunately many Christians are behaving the same way, though not through jealousy, but through apathy, fear and simply not caring enough to share the good news of the gospel with others. Remember though my people, that that’s our Great Commission; to spread the good news of Jesus all over the globe. (Matt.28:19-20)
 
But it wasn’t easy back in those first days, and it certainly isn’t easy either in these last days. But with perseverance, strong faith, trust and surrender to our helpful and ever-LOVING God, we CAN, and we WILL proselytize the ENTIRE WORLD, just as Jesus commanded.
 
Oh Friends, I got so caught up in the first part of our Bit, (smile) that I went on longer than I expected. So like we’ll just have to leave the other stuff till tomorrow, God in favour.
 
Till then, please stand strong in the faith, and fearlessly and unashamedly spread the good news of Jesus to all and sundry, because that is indeed wisdom of the highest order! Much LOVE!
 
…in the world ye shall have tribulation…but be of good cheer…I have overcome the world…  (John 16:33)

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 31 August 2013 Isaiah 54:17

31 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

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

Isaiah 54:17.    No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of (from) me, saith the Lord.
 
Oh Friends, I won’t venture to say what kind of weather we can expect today, but I will say that yesterday’s contradictory forecasts turned out that the day time was hot and sunny, while the evening hours had some rain. So to some extent there was truth in both forecasts. (smile) I wouldn’t want a weather forecaster’s job now for all the tea in China! Aye mih old time West Indian breddren, you remember that one?
 
Anyway, today is Independence Day in the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago, better known as T&T, the home of sweet pan, kaiso, roti, doubles and limbo. Wouldn’t mind checking out some of all of them right now. (smile)
 
To tell the truth though, I was in the middle of my teenaged years, in High School, when the country received Independence from Great Britain in 1962, and I cannot remember what I did over that holiday period of great excitement and enthusiasm, but I do know that the festivities were plentiful.

There was also much talk about freedom from Colonial powers in the air, as the mother countries were beginning to relinquish their strangle holds on their former colonies. But everyone in T&T saw it as a day of freedom, freedom to assert ourselves as we saw fit.
 
However Friends, unfortunately, 51 years later, T&T, and for that matter most of the other countries who gained independence around that time, have all made a mess of the freedom they were granted back then. It seems that no one thought about the immense responsibility that freedom to govern oneself, or any kind of freedom confers on a freed man or nation. We were all apparently too concerned with severing the umbilical cord that bound us to our colonial masters.
 
And sadly now, T&T, despite its oil wealth is tottering economically, its crime and violence are world renowned, so too is its corruption, with inept governments ruling the roost for some time now, with too many people who don’t seem to care about what’s happening, once things are okay with them, and the Carnival mentality is just as strong as it’s always been.
 
But by the same token Friends, most of the world’s countries are being plagued by the same negative things, so T&T is not alone in its shortcomings. And say what yuh want, it is still one of the most beautiful countries in the world, with a mixture of beautiful women you won’t find anywhere else on God’s great earth, as well as festivals celebrating races, creeds and cultures from all over.
 
So All Hail T&T! You might be a bit down for the count right now, but you’re definitely not out. And I know for sure that we’re a very resilient people, a nation that can bounce back from adversity like no one else. So have a Happy 51st Independence Celebrations T&T!
 
And please do like the Wack 90.1 morning show theme song says; sincerely and reverently ask the Lord to stay His hand on T&T, if He has any further disasters to bring upon the country. And my people we all know that’s a very probable outcome if we’d only turn back to Almighty God and be obedient to His will, because He’s promised that in His Word, as evidenced by our Bit:
 
‘No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of (from) me, saith the Lord.’
 
Yes my fellow believers, that’s one of the many promises that our ever-faithful God has given us. But the problem is that we need to show Him some faithfulness too. Many of His promises are conditional on our behaviour towards Him and His edicts. And that’s what we can’t seem to get through our thick skulls, so mesmerized and hypnotized as we are by Lucifer and the material and flimsy things of this evil, ungodly world.
 
And we have a good example of that in Isaiah 17, where Damascus and all those aligned with it, are prophesied to be destroyed because of their turning away from their God. Listen to the Good Book tell it. ‘At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made either the groves (incense altars) or the (wooden) images (of Asherah, a Canaanite god).
 
In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength (stronghold), therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips (set out foreign seedlings): In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.’ (Is.17:7-11) 
 
Oh Friends, that’s a universal promise! And according to the scholars the prophecy was fulfilled when Damascus was destroyed by the Assyrians in 732 B.C and there was a big famine followed by the devastation of the land and deportation of the northern tribes by Sargon of Assyria in 722 B.C.
 
So isn’t it time we pay serious attention to the Lord’s promises, whether they’re for good or for evil? And coincidentally, Damascus and its allies are right now in a serious fight for survival. Shouldn’t that tell us something?
 
But then again our God is so marvellous and wonderful to those who worship Him in sincerity and truth. Here’s what he says at the end of the chapter. ‘Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
 
The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not (no more). This is the portion of them that spoil (plunder) us, and the lot of them that rob us.’ (Is.17:12-14)
 
So Friends, the moral of the story is that it does pay to serve and worship the omnipotent and ONLY true God of the universe, He of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Please, let’s try our best to get our fellow man to follow that eternal wisdom nuh. It would do so much for our calamitous world right now. Much LOVE!
 
…if you don’t hear…you most certainly will feel…