The Overwhelming Importance of Believers Being Prepared for Jesus’ Sudden Return!

30 Jun 2025 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 25:13.        ‘Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.’

One more time on the merry-go round called our work week my beauties! We cannot get away from Monday, no matter how hard we try, so it’s best we stop trying and rather embrace it like a good and stalworth friend. (smile) Otherwise it will just frustrate us for all of our working lives. And what a waste of a good life that would be! So all God’s people said a loud and frustrated ‘Amen!’ Yes, it’s best we just grab the bull by the horns and get on with it, or the bull will action us with his horns instead. And we all know that’s a very negative situation, which we want to avoid at all costs.

But all of what we just said there doesn’t come easily, no, it requires a few things of us. The first is a good work ethic, simply knowing that we must work to earn a living, so we just make up our minds to do it without complaining, because complaining will make no real difference, except to make us miserable. But then that calls for self-discipline and self-control, two things that are very difficult to come by in this age of avarice and entitlement.

We must learn to prepare for Monday, just like we do for the other days of the week, not just party or laze the weekend away. And in all of that there’s a call for some decent physical rest, as well as spiritual renewal, meaning church and fellowship time with other believers, for we cannot handle Monday properly unless we’re filled with new vim and vitality.

And right now, let’s be thankful that it’s summer time and many people are on vacation, so the traffic jams are not as deadly, neither do we have to be wading through the snow and sludge to get to work. That is also something we cannot avoid if we live in the northern climes, but we have a few months of reprieve still to go. But let’s also note that this is the 30th day of June, meaning that it’s now done like dinner, (smile) and the summer months will pass quicker than we realize, so please, let’s grab the baton and run with it like crazy! End of sermon!

And I guess all of that leads us to the topic of preparedness. And what do the scriptures have to say about that? They offer various teachings in both spiritual readiness and practical foresight. Let’s check out a few nuh. And this first one deals with practical foresight. It tells of when Bruh David wanted to build a temple for God, but God nixed the idea because of the great amount of blood he’d shed and said that his son Cousin Sol would build the temple.

However the Bible tells us that Bruh David began collecting supplies for the building of the temple. ‘And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical, of fame, and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.’ (1 Chr. 22:5) Yes friends, that’s how we ought to prepare for Mondays! (smile)  

And here’s another interesting scripture highlighting practical foresight; this from Cousin Sol in Proverbs. He writes: ‘A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.’ (Prov. 22:3) In other words: ‘A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.’ 

Then there are scriptures on spiritual preparedness, like this poignant warning from Christ where He’s talking about no one knowing the day nor the hour when He returns, except the Father. ‘Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord will come. But know this, that if the goodman (master) of the house had known in what watch (hour) the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered (allowed) his house to be broken up (into). Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.’ (Matt. 24:42-44)

Yes my brethren, we need to always be prepared and watching for whenever Jesus returns, for if He catches us with our pants down around our knees, then crapaud smoke we pipe! And He considered our readiness so important that He repeated it later on in the parable of the Ten Virgins: ‘Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.’ (Matt. 25:13)Oh friends, there’s no more important preparedness for us believers than that!

And I like how Luke writes it. ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged (be weighed down) with surfeiting (carousing), and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.’ (Luke 21:33-36)

Now those are powerful words of warning my people, so please let’s pay close heed to them. And to help us do that, let’s go to the throne of grace through our Monday Morning Battle Hymn seeking divine aid for all that ails us. Altogether: ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You this Monday morning for life and strong faith in Christ, despite the mass confusion in our world. Heavenly Father, You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems.

Yes, we have all sinned and seriously disobeyed Your Word, but You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, who has faithfully promised to hear and answer our prayers when we humble ourselves, pray, and sincerely seek Your face. So, we come to You now, with sincere repentance in our hearts, pleading for wise guidance and direction to alleviate our problems.

Oh Father, please ease the pain of the many suffering from negative situations, show them Your awesome grace and mercy. And faithfully keep Your promise to prosper us if we turn from our evil ways. Show this evil world that You are indeed Jehovah Rapha; the God who heals! We pray this in the holy and blessed name of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen! And again, we say: Amen!’ 

Now, please note what our prayer says we need to do to receive divine aid; turn from our evil ways, humble ourselves, pray and sincerely seek God face.  The ball is now in our court! Much LOVE!

…a word to the wise is sufficient…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit   1 June 2024 Philippians 4:5b.

01 Jun 2024 Leave a comment

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

Philippians 4:5b.       The Lord is at hand.

And this first day of June 2024, a lazy-day Saturday, has opened bright, sunshiny and warm! All thanks be to God for letting us see another day on this earth with the wondrous help of His Son Jesus Christ looking out for us in heaven, and His Holy Spirit dwelling within us down here to lead, guide and comfort us in all our troubles! What a wonderful God we worship my brethren! And am I ever so sorry and heart-broken for those who don’t feel the same way, because His is the only real truth, LOVE and peace we’ll ever experience in this currently ungodly and evil world. 

Now, let’s show our heavenly Father how much we LOVE and need Him by offering up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer with all sincerity of heart. As one voice: ‘Lord, I want to be with You now. Please slow my thoughts and quiet my soul. Let my muscles relax, my breath deepen. You are here with me – Your peace and LOVE are present. I marvel to think You can’t be contained, that Your LOVE both surrounds and fills me. Thank You for this tenderness, Lord. I praise You for Your unceasing nearness. Increase my awareness of You today, that I may know You all the more. Amen!’ 

And as always, if our hearts were sincere, then we know that He heard us and will respond positively to our prayer. For as John says in his first epistle. ‘And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we desired (asked) of him.’ (1 John 5:14-15) Again I say, what a wonderful God we serve! For we know that there is no prayer He likes to hear more than that we LOVE and need Him and desire to spend time with Him. So, by now, if our prayer was sincere, it was answered, and we should be all feeling a sense of peace, rest and joy in the Lord’s LOVING presence. (smile) 

Now yesterday we dealt with the first part of Philippians 4:5 – ‘Let your moderation (gentleness) be known unto all men.’ Today we’ll look at the second half of that verse: ‘The Lord is at hand.’ (Phil. 4:5b) And we all wonder what that means to us in these turbulent times. Well, the scholars, after telling us that Moderation means “graciousness” or “sweet reasonableness.” And that the believer who is at peace with his fellow Christian (vs. 2) and who rejoices always (vs. 4) is indeed a gracious, reasonable person. 

They go on to tell us that  ‘The Lord is at hand means two things. First, His (Jesus’) return to earth is near. His imminent coming as judge encourages the Christian to be “gracious” unto all men, for He will judge the believer for all of his actions toward all people, and will avenge all wrongs committed by others against Him. Second the “Lord is at hand” spiritually. The Lord, being presently near should free the Christian from fear and anxiety. Hence the command of verse 6: ‘Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.’ (Phil. 4:6) 

So friends, with the Lord’s coming to judge the earth being imminent, and His powerful presence spiritually abiding with us, we should not be afraid or worried about whatever circumstances we encounter. And as we said in an earlier session, that’s not always easy to do when your whole world seems to be tumbling down around you, but if you constantly pray and give thanks, and study the Word, while saving it deep in your hearts for those troublesome times, then it will help you to find that ‘Peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep (guard) your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.’ (Phil. 4:7) 

And God’s peace is what gets us through those tough times. We probably won’t understand it, but if we are sincere in our devotions and discipleship, we will feel it. Now, I can vouch for that from personal experience, for I felt it very powerfully some years ago when I was vacationing in California. That morning I was in the process of writing the Bit, when they told me I had a phone call from my mother’s helper back in Canada. It was an unexpected call, but deep down I knew that something disastrous had happened. And when she told me that my mother had died, like all the air just went out of my body, and I was like a deflated balloon. 

But shortly thereafter, don’t ask me how, I was suddenly filled with a sense of peace and calm and went on about my business. My friends and family were concerned that I wasn’t crying and grieving, and so was I. And it’s not that I wasn’t sad and disappointed, but that peace that emanates from our good God, had put me in a different space, helping me to understand that there was nothing I could do about it, and therefore should keep my wits about me. But I did grieve and mourn and cry later on. (smile) So, it’s not always easy to put the Lord’s words into action, but if we’re serious about it, with His awesome help it is very possible. 

And I’m chuckling here because I had not intended to go down that path. What I had planned on doing was to share a couple of other scriptures re the ‘Lord is at hand.’ Like this one from James’ epistle. ‘Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman (farmer) waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish (establish) your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh (is near). Grudge (grumble) not one against another brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold the judge standeth before the door.’ (James 5:7-9)  

Those are excellent words of warning my people, especially for these unruly and lawless times, when everybody’s doing their own thing, and godliness is sadly lacking in the land. And what better note to close on than these words of Jesus to John in the Book of Revelation. ‘Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.’ (Rev. 22:7) Ah friends, I plead with us to heed Jesus’ warning, for we know not when He comes, but He can come at any time, like a thief in the night, and if we’re not ready, if we’re found wanting, then crapaud smoke we pipe! Much LOVE!

…a wise believer is always ready…

Hear our podcast at  https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit 25 July 2017 James 1:19.

25 Jul 2017 Leave a comment

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

James 1:19.   Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.

Aye friends, the aches and pains really taking a toll on the ole body this morning yes! Imagine waking up more pained than when you went to bed nuh. 

But yuh know what? I’m still everlastingly grateful for being alive on this cloudy Tuesday morning, despite all the aches and pains! Glory to God my fellow believers! 

And I did give Him plenty thanks and praise for causing me to see another day, in spite of it being somewhat difficult to navigate my territory. (smile) And why is that you ask? 

Because I’m simply happy to be alive, plus I know that after I move around a bit, have my cup of rejuvenating java, I’ll feel much better. 

And even better than that, I also know that He is such a great and powerful Deity, that if and when He so chooses, He can heal me completely with a mere snap of His fingers! What an awesome God we serve my brethren! 

I sincerely hope that you also gave Him much thanks and praise as you awakened to another day, because that is the only wise and sensible way to begin a new day on this crazy and convoluted planet Earth! 

Now here is an interesting excerpt from our One Year Book of Bible Promises with writings by Ruth Harms Calkin, that many of us need to come to terms with. It’s called ‘A Quiet Tongue.’  

Please pray with me. ‘Lord, a revealing fact Began to surface today: I talk more than I listen. I seem to be thoroughly convinced That my ideas My inspiring experiences My bits of wisdom Are exactly what all my friends need. 

Too often I break into conversations Confident that my enlightened insight will solve the predicament – Whatever it is. Obviously I feel more comfortable When I’m expounding. 

But this morning at a Bible Study I cringed when I read Your command In the first chapter of James: “Don’t ever forget That it is best to listen much Speak little, and not become angry.” 

At first I wanted to run. But as the words kept battering away At my guilty heart I finally circled them with red ink. Now, Lord, please help me to obey them. Remind me daily, hourly That listening is a discipline And a discipline always costs. 

I know I must pay a price. The price for me Is a listening ear And a quiet tongue.’  

Ah fellow Christians, those words are so true of so many of us that it’s not funny! I know that I’m a major culprit. But I’m better than I was. I remember a couple years ago going to Holy Thursday night vigil at church and getting the zeppo in the empty church loud and clear: ‘LISTEN!’ And did I? Well to some extent yes. But certainly not enough. 

And I know that a lot of us have the same problem; we always feel that our two cents worth will clarify the problems, and if we don’t get them in there as soon as possible, cutting off everybody else, everything will just get muddled and go to the dogs. But the truth is friends, that that is only true occasionally. 

And the point of the matter is that we can’t give a sincere and sensible response to anything unless we listen to what others have to say. Our time will come to expound, but we can’t expound wisely until we know what we’re expounding about. 

And quite appropriately, our Bit for today is the verse the Bible Promise highlights, the awesome words of James. ‘Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.’ 

Now the sad part is that in this modern age of almost instant communication, we need to obey that command more than ever, because everybody is simply spouting off at the mouth, or at the fingers (smile) because we can, without giving the necessary thought to our communication. 

Just look at the large amount of people who are getting themselves foolishly into trouble with all the social media nonsense! It’s simply causing more strife, bitterness and anger since we use social media like a free for all. 

And unfortunately, as easy and cheap communication spreads further and wider, instead of it getting better, it seems to be getting worse. Ah my fellow believers, that might be okay for the great unwashed, but it has no part in our lives. 

Just listen to these wise words of warning from Cousin Sol nuh. ‘In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth (restrains) his lips is wise.’ (Prov.10:19) 

That’s plain and straightforward friends. No rocket science to it. The less you talk, the less sin you’ll commit. But just in case you didn’t get it (smile), then listen to Cousin Sol again. 

‘He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of excellent (calm) spirit. Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace (keeps silent), is counted (considered) wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.’ (Prov.17:27-28) 

What more can I say eh mih people? It is of the utmost importance that believers become good listeners and only talk when it’s absolutely necessary. Any other behaviour is liable to drive potential believers away from Jesus. And we definitely don’t want to do that. 

Now let’s go home declaring our Tuesday Mantra in all sincerity and truth, and hopefully it will help us with our mouth problems (smile). 

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!’ 

Yeh friends, we need to share Jesus’ LOVE, but to do so, we don’t have to kill them with talk! Much LOVE!

…it’s best to keep your mouth shut…and let people think you are wise…instead of opening it…and letting them know you are foolish…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 18 September 2016 Galatians 5:16.

18 Sep 2016 Leave a comment

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

Galatians 5:16.    This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Oh friends, let’s begin this Sunday morning, the last of summer 2016, with some very appropriate praise and worship for these difficult times. 

Please sing with me: ‘Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross; Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory His army shall He lead, Till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed. 

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the solemn watchword hear; If while ye sleep He suffers, away with shame and fear; Where’er ye meet with evil, within you or without, Charge for the God of battles, and put the foe to rout. 

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the trumpet call obey; Forth to the mighty conflict, in this His glorious day. Ye that are brave now serve Him against unnumbered foes; Let courage rise with danger, and strength to strength oppose. 

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in His strength alone; The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own. Put on the Gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer; Where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there. 

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, each soldier to his post, Close up the broken column, and shout through all the host: Make good the loss so heavy, in those that still remain, And prove to all around you that death itself is gain. 

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strife will not be long; This day the noise of battle, the next the victor’s song. To those who vanquish evil a crown of life shall be; They with the King of Glory shall reign eternally.’ 

Ah mih people, in these evil days, Christians are more than ever needed to stand strong and steadfast in Jesus, if we truly want to wear that victor’s crown! Unfortunately, as individuals, as well as the body of Christ, the church, we are not doing as good a job as we should. 

And why is that eh? Who knows? I figure we are still too enthralled by the wealth and material possessions of the world, and a lot of us don’t take Jesus and his Word as seriously as we should. To many of us, He is still some ephemeral character out there in the wild blue yonder, and not the true living force that’s supposed to dwell within us. 

But whatever the reason(s) friends, the fact remains that we are definitely not fighting as sincerely, diligently and purposefully as we ought to. We are allowing the enemy to take the Lord out of our society with impunity. Then the disharmony, disunity, strife, jealousy and all the other negative things which are currently found in the church, does nothing to help the situation. 

Look at the amount of denominations we have, all supposedly preaching the same Jesus Christ, yet all going in different directions, and not ever seeming to meet. Are there denominations in heaven? I doubt it. So why are we splitting up, allowing the enemy to divide and conquer us with nary a whimper eh? 

I don’t know. But I know for sure that if we don’t pick up the intensity and desire to truly LOVE Jesus and fight for our faith, we will not be the victors in this ongoing war with the evil one and his powerful and predominant evil minions.

Friends, this is no joking matter, it is a serious one, one of life and death! And not only the physical, but more so the spiritual aspect. 

Remember the words of Bruh Paul to the Ephesians. ‘For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world (age), against spiritual (hosts of) wickedness in high places.

Wherefore take unto you (put on) the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.’ (Eph.6:12-13) 

Yes friends, that’s how serious the fight is. And even when we have on the armour of God, we still need to walk carefully, and do as our Bit dictates. ‘This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.’ 

Oh my people, the Holy Spirit was sent to dwell within us, so that it could lead and guide us in a godly direction. But something is obviously wrong somewhere because we’re not fighting the good fight of faith, as we ought to. The works of the flesh are still too rampant within the supposed community of faith. And what are those works of the flesh? 

Hear Bruh Paul. ‘Now the works of the flesh are manifest (evident), which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness (sexual impurity), lasciviousness (licentiousness), Idolatry, witchcraft (sorcery), hatred, variance (contentions, discord), emulations (jealousies), wrath, strife (selfish ambitions), seditions (dissensions), heresies (divisions, cliques), 

Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings (excessive eating, gluttony, carousing) and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.’ (Gal.5:19-21) 

Oh my brethren, if we look around our world, the unfortunate fact is that all those things are rampant throughout it – even in supposed Christian circles! 

And we’ll end with these words of warning from the scholars. ‘The person whose life is habitually characterized by the sins and vices of verses 19-21 shall not inherit the kingdom of God, that is, he will not be in heaven because he is not a Christian.’ It’s as simple as that my people. 

So please, I implore us to thoroughly check ourselves to see if any of those lusts of the flesh are habits of ours, and if so, pray sincerely to God to help us get rid of them, otherwise, crapaud smoke we pipe, we’ll be on the outside looking in, come the big day. Not only that, we also have to lessen the unchristian behaviour that’s happening within and between our churches. Nuff said! 

Now may the good Lord bless us and keep us safe from harm and help us to walk the straight and narrow righteous path that leads to Him and His heavenly sanctuary. Much LOVE!

…he who has ears to hear…let him hear…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 27 March 2016 1 Corinthians 15:22

27 Mar 2016 Leave a comment

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

1 Corinthians 15:22.    For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

HAPPY   EASTER!

Oh friends, oh friends, is Easter Sunday! Glory Hallelujah! It’s a time to sing and dance, praise, worship, magnify and glorify our wonderful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! For since the beginning of time there has never been a day like this one! A day of such joyful celebration and giving of heartfelt thanks and gratitude! 

And here too, since the original fall of man, are the three most important words ever spoken: ‘HE IS RISEN!’ 

Yes my fellow believers, Christ is risen indeed! All praise and glory be to our God, the Father of grace and mercy and forgiveness and LOVE, who so skillfully and wisely orchestrated and engineered the events that led up to this magnificent day some two thousand years ago, and by which, through hungry hope and expectant faith we still live these many years hence! 

And so we ought to, because it’s the greatest miracle that has ever been done; a man, the Son of God, being raised from the dead to eternal life! Mama Yo! No wonder we describe our heavenly Father as being omnipotent, omniscient and omni-present, for only such a mighty, all-seeing and all-knowing Deity could conceive of such a brilliant plan, and then successfully bring it to fruition! 

Yeh friends, I don’t know about you all nuh, but I am certainly ecstatic to be alive and able to celebrate this Easter Day! You know Christmas is big and wonderful and exciting and all that, but it’s Easter that makes the big difference in the disposition of our souls. 

Without Jesus’ death and resurrection we would have been forced to spend eternity separated from the Father, in the sordid, evil company of Beelzebub. Now who in their right mind would ever want to spend any time at all with him eh, much less all of eternity?  Steups! 

Sadly though, some foolish and evil men are consciously making that choice. However, with Jesus’ selfless sacrifice, offering His life on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven, we now have the wonderful option of spending eternity in heaven with the Holy Trinity! 

Now what can be more reassuring, exciting and momentous than that eh mih breddren? NOTHING AT ALL! 

Unfortunately, the unwise ones who are choosing Beelzebub over Jesus, will have a rude awakening come the Judgement day, when they are cast into the lake of fire with their leader for all eternity. 

And the trouble is that no one but the Father knows the day and time of that monumental event, so it’s necessary, in fact essential that we come to faith, place our sincere trust and belief in Jesus asap, and for sure before we depart this earthly life, for once our hearts are still, so too our options are dead, finito! 

That’s why I keep encouraging us to sincerely turn to Jesus Christ and follow Him, for He is indeed the WAY, the LIGHT, the LIFE and the TRUTH of this world! No one comes to Jehovah God but through Him! 

Oh my people, Christ died on Good Friday and all our sins died with Him. He rose on Easter Sunday clean as a whistle, having defeated hell, death and the grave! 

Wow! That means all of mankind has a new chance to be reconciled to their Creator, through Jesus. And how are we assured of that? Listen to Bruh Paul’s words on the subject to the Corinthians. 

‘But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept (have fallen asleep, have died). For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.’ (1 Cor.15:20-22)  

Ah friends, through Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden, we were all committed to a life of sin, born with a sinful nature, but through the LOVE and grace and forgiveness of our magnificent and magnanimous God, Jesus Christ paid the enormous price for our sins. 

Since the price of sin is death, it meant that only a sinless soul could reprieve us from a death sentence. And since Jesus was the only sinless soul besides the Father in existence, the awful but extremely liberating task fell to Him. And like the stalwart giant that He is, He carried out His task with a steadfast sense of purpose. Oh precious people, if we could only be so steadfast and purposeful in following Him eh! 

And I purposely chose not to get into all the descriptions of the Easter Morn in the Good Book because we all know the story of how Jesus’ followers came to the tomb and found the stone rolled back and the tomb empty, and the two angels who asked them why they were seeking the living amongst the dead and reminded them of His warning: ‘The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ (Luke 24:7) 

Also how Mary Magdalene in her sorrow mistook Jesus for the gardener and almost died from an overdose of joy when she realized it was her Lord and Master. (John 20:11-18) 

Simply regurgitating it didn’t appeal to me, and this is where the Holy Spirit led me, and I do hope you all enjoy this slightly different offering. (smile) 

And I want to end this Easter morning with some rather appropriate words of warning from Jesus, re the Son’s relationship with the Father. ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. 

For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgement also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation (condemnation).’ (John 5:25-29) 

Oh my fellow believers, please, please, today let’s pay special attention to those warning words of Jesus nuh, for our very destiny depends on our actions down here on earth. And as we go out and celebrate this wonderful Easter season, please let’s also remember Granny’s wise advice. ‘Drunk or sober, please mind your business.’ 

For it is in these times of great joy and celebration that we tend to let our hair down a little too much and allow Lucifer to get a toehold in our souls. Let’s be wise not do that this weekend nuh. Much LOVE!

…death could not conquer Him…the grave could not hold Him…for as the Son of man…He was the giver of life…eternal life…