COLOSSIANS 4

⁵ Make the most of your chances to tell others the Good News. Be wise in all your contacts with them. ⁶ Let your conversation be gracious as well as sensible, for then you will have the right answer for everyone.

DRAWING PEOPLE TO JESUS OR DRIVING THEM AWAY FROM HIM

Life is short.. very short.

We have a very limited time on earth, and we are to take every single opportunity we have to reach as many people as we can.

We have numerous opportunities to share our faith.. some are with people; we will probably never come into contact with again.. they are fleeting.

So many times, I go out without literature in my pocket, now being an Englishman in China, means I can’t converse in depth with the Chinese, but I can Say YESUAINI.. JESUS LOVES YOU.. and offer them a piece of literature. The probable reason I don’t take literature.. apart from being very forgetful, is that I don’t expect God to work and bring anyone across my path.

Paul in his final words to Timothy and Peter also to the churches said these things

2 Timothy 4

2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.

1 Peter 3

15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

These verses tell us that in all our contacts with people, we can even put people off by how we approach them and certainly by our mannerisms and attitude.

But especially by our speech, we want so much to share the gospel, that we forget that the hearer has legitimate questions, they want to hear of that hope that lies within you.

We seek to virtually throw it down people’s throats.. without listening to them.. that’s why we have two ears and one mouth.

How many people have been put off by our attitude, but especially by our speech, we speak over them, we push our literature in their face.? we even run after them begging them to take a tract.

Did Jesus ever do that?.

Did the apostle Paul or Peter or Stephen?

They spoke firmly and truthfully, but they spoke with graciousness and sensitivity.

Our job when we witness is to draw people to Jesus not drive people away from Him

Which are you doing?

God bless you

Keith

ANOINTED NOT ANXIOUS

“And when they bring you before the synagogues and the magistrates and the authorities, do not be anxious [beforehand] how you shall reply in defense or what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour and [b]moment what [you] ought to say…Luke 12:11-12

Jesus warned us that we would have to put up with persecution. But every time, we face persecution, we have this precious promise, made by our Savior himself. The precious Holy Spirit, which lives in the heart of the true believer, will teach you what to say.

When you look forward to the book of Acts, you think of Peter and John in chapter 4, Stephen in chapter 7 and Paul in chapters 25-26. All of them were taught and anointed by the Spirit of God. They had no Bible at their disposal. All they had was the Word of God hiding in their hearts.

The next time, you come under persecution, remember: Do not be anxious or worried. The Holy Spirit will give you words from God to testify to the hope within you.

God bless you

2 Samuel 22:2-4

2 And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
3 The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my Saviour; thou saves me from violence.
4 I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

POWERFUL PRAISE
What comes out of your mouth is really important.

Sometimes I get very down and depressed, all the focus is on me and my problems, it’s all about me.

The great thing about praise is that it shifts our focus from ourselves to God, can you see David saying anything about himself here?

Sure he uses the words: my, mine and I:
But who is his rock, deliverer, strong tower and Saviour?

It is not himself or anyone else for that matter, praise is giving God his rightful place, the place he deserves, it is taking yourself out of the equation and saying, everything that I have been through, all that has happened in my life is because of God’s care, love, protection and providence.

We need to constantly follow the words of Psalm 34:
I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

Praise completely shifts our mindset and puts all the focus on God.
Praise also gives God what he deserves… ALL THE GLORY.
Amen

MARK 13

9 “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them.

10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.

11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

DIVINE SPEECH THERAPY

Jesus is speaking in his Olivet discourse, he is giving many warnings to his disciples about what will happen to them.

What he said to the disciples actually happened, I think Peter and John, would remember these words, when they stood before the council in Acts 4, that Stephen would remember them as he shared in Acts 7. They did not have a bible in front of them.

Paul did not have his bible with him, when he proclaimed the gospel In Acts 17 and 26. The holy spirit, who is our helper, brings all things to our remembrance John 14:26.

Have you ever been out on the street and had an opportunity to share the gospel? I have, I remember several times, having no bible, but the holy spirit brought verse after verse to my attention.

This promise is true to us today in the 20th Century.

Two questions, although the holy spirit, brings things to our remembrance, we have to memorise and learn scripture, someone said our veins have to BIB LINED.. LINED WITH THE TRUTHS OF SCRIPTURE.

Have you ever shared the gospel, out on the street?

Have you ever been open air witnessing? Now I know this isn’t for everyone, but this is how I learnt.

It is scary, but the blessing is beyond words.

Ray Comfort said:

I go witnessing hanging my head, I come back clicking my heels.

Listen to what an atheist says about Christians who don’t share the gospel:

I do not believe that you Christians believe your own creed — for if you were persuaded that things really are as your Bibles teach, and that we poor lost people were really going to such a dreadful place as you say Hell is — then you would act more humanely toward us.

If you saw our houses on fire — you would run and help us to put the fire out; or if you saw us in danger of death — you would try to do something to save us. But you pretend to believe that we are going to Hell, and that Hell burns with fire and brimstone forever, and that once there we can never get out — and yet you talk to us about all sorts of things — but never say one word to us about saving our souls from this terrible doom!

So I have reasoned thus: either you Christians don’t believe what you say — or else you must be the most hardened and unfeeling wretches in the universe! Now, as I don’t believe that you are such cruel, hardened, and unfeeling people as this supposes — then I must conclude that, with all your talk — you Christians don’t really believe what your Bibles teach!

For if you really believe what you say about sin, and Hell, and our danger — then you would act differently; and if you have a spark of kindness in your hearts — you would try to save us from such a dreadful doom. And, on the other hand, if you do not believe what you profess — then you Christians cannot be honest; and to say the least, there must be a great deal of hypocrisy among you.

Now, I honestly tell you that these are the things which have stumbled me more than anything, and until I can see you Christians act differently — I will not be persuaded to believe what your sort of folks say.

Taken from https://gracegems.org/2011/07/unsaved.html

Jesus promises that you will be given the words to say.

It’s time to speak.. amen

God bless you

KK

Matthew 21

12 And Jesus went into the temple and drove out all who bought and sold in the sacred place, and He turned over the four-footed tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who sold doves.

13 He said to them, The Scripture says, my house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers.

BOOTING OUT THE RUBBISH

Should Christians get angry?

Well, it says not to be angry.. but Jesus certainly was.. this shows us that we can be angry, but angry at what God is angry about.

There is such a thing as righteous anger, remember Jesus was sinless., this was not wrong what Jesus was doing.

This was taking place in the court of the gentiles, this was an area that was supposed to be set aside for worship, but had been turned into a place of commercial activity, and not one of high repute either, these merchants were fleecing the worshippers.

How many churches today have commercial activity going on within their walls.. bookstores, their pastors write books that are sold for many dollars?

What do you think Jesus would do if he came to your church?

Would he have to drive out the merchants from your place of prayer?

When churches become more like a business then they stop fulfilling their calling.

We sure need to clean house church and to remember that church is for reaching out to a lost world.. it is not a commercial operation.. it’s God’s operation to reach a needy and sin sick world.

The church in Ephesus was full of activity.. Jesus said that was good.. but they had missed the point.. it’s not about activity.. it’s about communion with God.. amen

Revelation 2

1To the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him Who holds the seven stars [which are the messengers of the seven churches] in His right hand, Who goes about among the seven golden lampstands [which are the seven churches 

2 I know your industry and activities, laborious toil and trouble, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot tolerate wicked [men] and have tested and critically appraised those who call [themselves] apostles (special messengers of Christ) and yet are not, and have found them to be impostors and liars.

3 I know you are enduring patiently and are bearing up for My name’s sake, and you have not fainted or become exhausted or grown weary.

4 But I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your first love].

5 Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God’s will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], or else I will visit you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you change your mind and repent.

Two final questions…

How angry would Jesus be if he came to your church?

What would Jesus get rid of in your church?

We need to get rid of the things that hinder us.. Amen.

Jesus was angry because the place of prayer was being misused in the temple. How angry do you think the Father is when he sees the prayer meeting side-lined in the church?

TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE AND TO MAKE THE PLACE OF PRAYER THE MAIN PLACE

WALKING WORTHY OF THE GOSPEL

Philippians 1

27 Only be sure as citizens so to conduct yourselves [that] your manner of life [will be] worthy of the good news (the Gospel) of Christ, so that whether I [do] come and see you or am absent, I may hear this of you: that you are standing firm in united spirit and purpose, striving side by side and contending with a single mind for the faith of the glad tidings (the Gospel).

We are citizens of heaven who are living here in enemy territory.  So how we behave is important, we are representatives of our Heavenly Father.  People cannot see God…  except through us.

It is no good sharing the gospel with someone, if your life doesn’t back up what you say.  Let me give you an example.

You witness to a friend at work and tell him/her about Jesus, and then you are dishonest in your dealings with people at work or you swear at work…  this is not conducting yourself in a manner that is worthy of the gospel.  You are bringing the gospel into disrepute.

Paul had great trust in these believers, that whether he was there or whether he wasn’t, they were behaving in a godly and gracious manner.

Are you just living in a godly manner, whilst you are being watched by your pastor or your fellow believers?  Your life should be the same whether Paul (your pastor) is present or not?

So how can we walk worthy of the Lord?  One of the main things is to be unified.  The song goes…  that they will know we are Christians by our love.  This along with our unity sets us apart from the world.

Why is unity with likeminded believers so important, because the gospel is pre-eminent?  We are not in competition with other bible believing Christians; we are to work together, to transform the world through the power of the gospel.

Let us walk worthy of the gospel… in love, unity, and power.

God Bless You, 

COLOSSIANS 2

2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ

3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

FULL AND PRECIOUS RICHES

As Christians we don’t really understand how rich we are… amen. So often we go around feeling and looking like paupers, when we have JESUS.. isn’t that enough

In Jesus is all treasure and all knowledge, they are hid in Him, he is the source of everything we need.. Amen.

Paul was writing to a church that was being told that they needed Jesus plus something else to be totally free and saved.

Let me tell you this, as a Christian you need Just Jesus. You need to dive into Christ, you need to soak in his presence, all you need is found in Him.

Full assurance and understanding comes to the Christian when they are linked closely to Christ, they are comforted and to them is revealed the will of God.

We need to realise that we are one of the richest people in the world.. rich beyond measure, we have Christ.

WHAT MORE CAN YOU POSSIBLY WANT?

God bless you

Keith

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HEBREWS 12

Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

29 For our God is a consuming fire.

SERVING GOD PROPERLY

Next to being a child of God through the redemptive power of the precious blood of Jesus, serving God comes a pretty close second, it is a tremendous joy and privilege.

I often refer to this, I have the great privilege of writing and now preaching and there isn’t one time that I either write or preach, that the awesome responsibility of doing this lays heavily on my heart.

Whatever we do, whether it is cleaning the toilet or preaching the gospel, we do it as if God was watching.

We do not serve some vague being, who does not care about how we do things, Jesus is perfect in all his acts, our Saviour Jesus was the perfect Son, perfect carpenter, he was perfect in every way.

We should serve God in reverence and in godly fear, but what is godly fear?

It is the fear of letting God down or of hurting his heart. We want to serve Him excellently in all we do, we must have the standards he has.

For me and here’s a confession.. I am not good at washing up.. I sometimes have to do the dishes twice.. but I seek to do them as if Jesus was going to eat out of them, we should clean house as if Jesus was coming to our home, we should make the bed as if Jesus was going to sleep in it and we should serve Him as if He was sat there watching us, which of course he is!!!!!

Why because Our God is a consuming fire

Everything we do in our lives, some of it will be stubble and some will be rubies and gold, some will remain and some will be burnt off.

Let’s make sure all our service for God is of the ruby type and acceptable to God our precious Saviour and Lord.

God bless you

 2 Corinthians 5

9 So, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 





PLEASING GOD

What is your aim in your Christian life?

Some people use Christianity to get to Heaven.

Some people use Christianity to receive healing.

Some people use Christianity to get money and popularity.

Some people use Christianity to receive blessings.




Paul was interested in one thing and that is outlined in this verse. In every single situation, Paul wanted to please God. In every decision he made, he made that decision on the basis of whether that decision would please God.




We have a well-known initial called WWJD,  which means What Would Jesus Do? We what would He do, what was the aim of Jesus?

It was to do the will of the Father or to put it another way; His aim was to please the Father. If it was Jesus’s aim to please the Father, how much more should it be our aim.

So, what does please God?

God’s will is for our sanctification, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-6 and for us to grow in grace, 2 Peter 3:18. If we are growing in grace, then that pleases God.

To please God, you also need to be continually growing. Stagnation or backsliding does not please God. The five bad churches in Revelation thought they were pleasing God, but they were stagnating and backsliding.

Let me finish with the main way you can please God, from 2 Corinthians 7:1:

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.



God would be very pleased if you did what it says in this verse: Get rid of the things that displease Him. See Galatians 5:15-20 and replace those things with Galatians 5:22-23.

Are you pleasing God or pleasing yourself?

God bless you,







2 CORINTHIANS 4

17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.


IN THE LIGHT OF ETERNITY

Some of us are going through very difficult times; persecution is happening to us, illness surrounds us or maybe it is the loss of a close family member of friend.

God understands the pain of what we are going through. He knows our pain and our suffering. He knew the suffering and pain the apostle Paul went through and he knows yours… amen.

In Chapter 1:8, Paul states that the burden on him almost drove him to complete despair. So what is it that kept him from despairing of his very life in 1:8?

Surely we have the answer in these verses in chapter 4. He, like us, is looking forward to heaven which will be beyond all comparison. Compared to heaven and the glory that is going to be revealed, these small inconveniences of suffering are nothing.

Everything that hurts us down here on earth is not going to be in heaven: pain, despair, illness, all will be banished. This is why Paul can look at his sufferings and say in Romans 8:

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

To do this, we need to have the eternal perspective and look at the unseen things and not the things that we can see. Remember everything we see here here on earth will pass away; it is not going to last.




We need to focus on where we are going and that is to glory. We need to focus on heaven and the glory that we will be revealed in us. We will have new perfect bodies, we will see Jesus as He is and we will serve Him.

Every piece of suffering for Jesus is worth it, because it pales in comparison to the glory of heaven, which one day we will see… Amen. I once heard my former pastor, Richard, who was dying of cancer say this:

It’s worth it church.

Jesus is worth it.

It’s worth going through anything.

Even through cancer.

He died shortly afterwards; I echo his words… IT IS WORTH IT

Have you got an eternal perspective?

Are you focusing on things seen or unseen?

Can you say like Paul, the words of Romans 8:18?

God bless you,

KK

JOB 27

4 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.

5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.

6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

BITE YOUR TONGUE!!!

咬住舌头！！！

To most people the book of Job is only about the first two chapters and the last five, but in between we have some of the most glorious passages of scripture in the bible.

Job has to defend himself against his three so called friends, who constantly tell him, why everything has gone wrong.

You will probably recognise these people in your church, they have an answer for everything.

Job maintains his integrity throughout and although God does tell him off at the end, I reckon it’s more about reminding Job, who God is and that he has every right to do what he has done to Job, he owes Job and us no explanation for his actions.

We often have to bite our tongue, we really want to say something, to reply to an insult. but we need to be like Job and keep in mind verse 4, that we will never speak wickedness or that deceit would flow from our tongue.

I imagine James, must have been thinking of these thoughts when he wrote in his wonderful epistle, these words in chapter 3

5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:

8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

Job was in complete control of his tongue, now this didn’t mean that he didn’t speak, but that the things coming out of his mouth truly were words of love and grace, just look at verses 5-6, his three friends want him to justify their accusations, he wouldn’t do that. He will hold onto his integrity before God. Note that his heart will not reproach him for anything he says, you know it says in proverbs, that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Job’s heart was full and overflowing with abundant thoughts of love, that why love and truth came out of his mouth?

What is coming out of your mouth believer? Make verse 4 a prayer Christian that no words of wickedness and deceit would flow from your mouth…to do this make sure your heart is guarded from all thoughts of wickedness. Proverbs 4:23-27

God bless you

KK

1 JOHN 4

11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
12. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

SHOWING TRUE LOVE

The previous verse has shown us that God has showed his love to us, by sending Jesus to die on the Cross for us.

Yeah, so what!

Because we have been loved by God so much, we have to love others, especially the Brethren.

No one has seen God in all his fullness.. although Jesus has shown us the Father.

So how can God be seen?

One of the ways is that his people love each other deeply and with fervency.

One of the main ways the world sees God is through the love we have for our brothers and sisters.

One of the ways we have the assurance of Salvation that God is dwelling within us.
We know that we are growing in faith… why? Because our love for the brethren is growing and growing.

The Christian and the Church are unique.. individually and corporately, it is filled with love.

God bless you

Keith

2 PETER 3:18

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.

CLOSING WORDS
If you are to say some final words to family or close friends, what would you think of to say?

Would it be words of encouragement, words of comfort, words of love?

All these three things are summed up in this glorious verse, I suppose this is our dearest wish for any of our brothers and sisters. This is our dearest and deepest wish for our families, our wives and our children.

In Chapter 1 vs 5-7, Peter tells us to add grace upon grace, now in closing, he tells us to grow in the full knowledge of those graces. Only by growing in grace, can we avoid being dragged back into the world and into error.

We also have to come to know Christ more and more, some of us stop growing at a certain age, this is never the case for the believer, he/she is constantly growing, he is always pushing the boundaries, he is saying like Caleb is Joshua 14:12, give me this mountain, I want to do the hardest work for God.

There is no early retirement in the Christian life, you cannot sit back and relax and say “that’s me done”, life is on a continual upward focus, Paul wanted to know Christ in a deeper way than ever as he got older. See Philippians 3:7-14. Why do we do this?

For his glory and his honor, all our service, all our growth is to bring him glory, praise and worship.

May our constant focus be this verse, lets keep on growing spiritually.
Amen

2 KINGS 6

15 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, alas, my master! how shall we do?

16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

17 And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

PRAYER PICTURES

Are you in a situation like Elisha and Gehazi? Do you feel overwhelmed? Like there is no way out?

In this passage, Elisha looked through the eyes of faith; Gehazi looked through the eyes of fear.

Note some things here:  Elisha rose early. Early morning prayer and communion with God is the best time to experience Gods presence, and if you are looking to have a good day, start it off with a time of worship and fellowship with almighty God.

Elisha encouraged Gehazi with the words, “Fear Not.” Gehazi viewed the situation through the lens of fear, something that most of us tend to do when confronted with a problem that appears to be too great for us to overcome.  Gehazi uses the word Alas, when we say that in English it’s like, Oh! What’s going to become of us? We are doomed! He was very discouraged and thought that there was no hope in this situation.  When the coronavirus hit, a lot of people were saying, “alas!”  But we know that God is greater than any foe, and when we trust Him, we move from fear to faith.

It says that Elisha prayed.  And his prayer is a lesson for you and I to consider when facing our own trials. Elisha prayed,

‘Lord, I pray thee, open his (Gehazi) eyes, that he may see.’

So often when we encounter believers who are overwhelmed, counsel may not be effective because they are paralyzed by fear. The best thing to do in that case is not to argue or become frustrated, but to pray and ask God to open their eyes. This is a prayer that God is pleased to answer. Not only will He open their eyes, He will open up a way for them to escape and overcome every trial.

When in trouble…pray like Elisha… ‘Lord, open my eyes that I may see’.

God bless you

DANIEL 6

8 Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.

9 Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.

10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

WILL YOU BE A DANIEL?

Imagine the scenario: a letter arrives on your doormat, sealed with the seal of the president of your country and it is binding on all people. You are not allowed to worship on Sunday, to gather for prayer, or to share the Gospel.

Sounds totally unrealistic doesn’t it! It is happening all over the world and in many many countries! They were forbidden for doing the things that we have the opportunity of doing. We have the great blessing of sharing the gospel in freedom, but we take it for granted and we don’t use the blessed opportunity.

So what would you do in response to the letter?

You say this is far fetched! It happened to Daniel. How did he react?

He could have gone to the king and complained, as he was in a position of influence, but he didn’t.

He did one thing; he went to his house, opened the windows and prayed to God. He knew the consequences of doing this, but he did it anyway.

We have to obey the government and respect their orders, except when their decisions infringe upon God’s word.

Peter and John in Acts 4, after being told to stop preaching about Christ, told the Jewish rulers, “We can only speak of the things we have seen and heard.”

Not only did Daniel pray to God, but his prayers were full of thankfulness. What was he thanking God for? I wonder if he was thanking God for the persecution he was experiencing?

What did you think he spent his time doing? Exactly the same thing he was doing right now… praying and giving thanks.

Remember, he was placed in the lions den! 

Daniel prayed anyway; he respected Darius, but his love for God exceeded his love for his earthly king.

Are you prepared to be a Daniel and do it anyway?

God bless you

kk

READ

JUDGES 8:22-35

GIDEON’S FALL

Gideon had done well. He had been used of God to get rid of Israel’s enemy. But then after all the good he did, he let Israel off the hook.

Instead of teaching them to fully turn from their sin unto the Lord, he built an altar with an Ephod, and all Israel went after it in sin. Not only that, but also he set a bad example in his personal conduct.

He was sexually immoral, had many wives, and then he had a son by his concubine who stirred up a real hornets nest in Chapter 9.

We have to keep on serving God throughout our lives. Paul in 2 timothy 4 said:

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Gideon did a lot of good for Israel, but ultimately he left them in the same position as he found them: in idolatry and sin.

We need to be able to say the words like Paul, and not act like Gideon.

Like the generations before, it says as soon as the judge died, the children of Israel went off after other god’s. The land had peace in a physical sense, but they had no spiritual peace.

Gideon was used by God, but his life ended badly. We need to make sure that we don’t end up like Gideon; that we finish well and don’t lead our children into idolatry by leaving behind the wrong type of things and the wrong type of example for the next generation.

What was Gideon remembered for? Maybe as a judge, but also maybe for leading the people into sin and idolatry.

Let’s make sure we can say like Paul!

I HAVE FINISHED THE RACE AND KEPT THE FAITH!

God bless you 

kk

DANIEL 6

8 Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.

9 Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.

10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

KNOWING AND KNEELING

Let me give you the scenario here, the writing of the King had come into effect, you couldn’t pray for thirty days and if you do, you will put in a den of lions and not just any den of lions, these are the Kings lions.

Surely Daniel could have stopped praying in his house, it’s only thirty days after all. He could have prayed quietly in his heart, surely, he didn’t have to make a big deal out of this.

But No, Daniel’s reaction in knowing what was going to happen was to kneel before God. What he knew didn’t stop him from kneeling before God in prayer, indeed it made him more passionate in prayer.

I wonder what yours and my reaction would have been, probably it wouldn’t have been the reaction of Daniel. He knew the consequences, but like Peter and John in Acts 4, he and they had to obey God rather than man.

Would it make any difference to your prayer life believer if they were a command from your government to stop all prayer?

What if they said you had to stop going to go to church on Sunday or if you were stopped from sharing the gospel?

Would it make any difference?

It wouldn’t in millions of Christians lives because they don’t pray, don’t go to church or share the gospel?

If you knew what Daniel knew, what would you do?

It’s not how much we know, it’s how much we kneel that matters.

God bless you

KK

DEUT 2

7 For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

WALKING THROUGH THE WILDERNESS

To journey from Egypt to the Promised Land takes less than a year, but for the children of Israel it took more than 40 years as a result of their disobedience.  In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses is careful to remind them of the high price of their disobedience and to call them to remember the commandments and statues of the Lord as they go in to possess the land of Canaan.  The lesson for us is clear:  Disobedience is expensive, and most of us cannot afford to pay its price.   As some of us have had to walk through our own personal wilderness, we can testify that God was with us the whole time.  And it is through our “wilderness experiences” that we learn about the need to remain steadfast in our faith and conduct as believers.  

Although God punished Israel by causing them to go through the wilderness for 40 years, He also performed many great miracles among them during their journey.  And just like God led Israel through the wilderness, He is there to lead us as well.  Going through the wilderness is not abandonment by God, it is His way of training our hearts to be true to Him, so that we can be fit to inherit the blessing He has in store for us.  It can also be a time of great communion in which you draw nearer to God than ever before.  

Finally, our wilderness experience can be a time of God’s greatest provision. The children of Israel lacked nothing; God provided for nearly 2 million people every day.  And He will provide for you.  

Please study Hebrews 12 and Psalm 78

God bless you

Keith

GALATIANS 3
10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”

CURSED AND CONDEMNED

Are you relying on your works and the works of the law?

Then you are under a curse, if you dont obey all of it, James says in chapter 2:

10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

Listen, you cannot obey the whole law. No one can; if you fail in only one point, you have failed to keep the whole law and stand condemned.

The law takes us to court. Imagine if you break the law: Let’s say you break the speeding law, you go 55 in a school zone, you come before the judge and you will have to take your punishment.

The defence of so many people, is well, “Judge, I have kept every other road rule and I have done many good things to help people.”

Just because we have kept some of the law does not mean we can rely on it for protection from it.

Likewise, when we come before the Judge of the universe, we cannot say, “I have kept virtually every part of the law. Yes, I have failed in a couple of points.” This won’t cut it.

A Christian or righteous one lives by faith. He is not obsessed in keeping the law, but lives through the power of Christ, as Paul said in Galatians 2:20, that he is crucified with Christ. He is living life through Christ and not in adherence to the law.

The law brings us to court and condemns us; we are under its curse, the weight of sin on us. We cannot remove this curse; the curse is stuck on us and however hard we try; we cannot remove it.

So, stop trying to be justified through observance of the law! The justified shall live by faith.

What is that faith? It is faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. That allows us to be imputed with His righteousness and able to do the works that are pleasing to Him.

20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Romans 3:9-18 state that no one ever seeks God. Yes, we seek after religion and our self-importance. When I was an unbeliever, I went to church, I glanced at the Bible, but I couldn’t say that I ever sought God.

9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;

10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeks after God.

12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

13 Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:

16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:

17 And the way of peace have they not known:

18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

The curse of the law cannot and will not be removed by serving the law, because none of us can keep the law perfectly.

It needs someone who can keep that law perfectly and therefore can remove the curse of the law. He stands in our place, but more on that in the next devotion.

Praise be to God, that He has provided a way that we can have peace with God.

God bless you

KK

1 SAMUEL 2

22 Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

23 And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.

24 Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the Lord’s people to transgress.

A SLAP ON THE WRIST

Eli was the High priest, his sons were priests also, but they where a disgrace to their calling. Not only were they thieves, but they were fornicators.

These women came to worship God, but these two evil men used and abused their power.

The Lord eventually dealt with them and rightly so, but why did it have to come to that?

I have heard it enough times, some Christian is living in sin and I hear this:

You can’t judge him/her

You should look at your own life first.

You should show them love

They have been members of the church a long time, we can’t drive them away.

Eli knew that what they were doing was sinful, he was the stereotypical bad parent or even pastor, whatever their child or church member do, they tolerate, they don’t want to rock the boat, they can’t correct their children/church members, that is too harsh by far.

Now I realise that God hardened their hearts, because of their indifference, but Eli was at fault here, he should have dealt firmly, in banning these evil men from the priest’s office, the things they were doing, were worthy of severe punishment or even death.

Virtually the same scenario happened in Numbers 25, what happened these two were pierced through by Phinehas. So why didn’t this happen with these two evil men?

I hear this all the time, something happens in a church, some Christian is in sexual sin and after multiple rebukes refuses to change his/her behaviour. We need to deal with sin in the house of God, not wait and say, let’s wait and pray and let God handle it. He has given us pastors and deacons with authority to deal with this, but how often do they act like Eli and give a slap on the wrist, when they need to deal with the sin like Phinehas did and kill it, that is to disallow fellowship to that person.

Time to clean house Church, judgement begins at the house of God.

God wants a pure church.

God bless you

KK

1 TIMOTHY 1

18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightiest war a good warfare;

19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck

HOLDING ONTO YOUR FAITH

Hey Christian, YOU are in a WAR!!

Timothy had to do certain things and we must do these things also.

We need to war a good warfare, we need to realise that our enemy, although he is defeated, is still dangerous.

To wage a good warfare, we have to hold onto our faith tightly. In one verse it says that we have to “cling tightly” to it.  We can do this because God first clings tightly to us! 

Also, we need to have a clear conscience. That is to have short accounts with God, to confess our sins to Him, knowing that we will receive forgiveness.

Some Christians or some so-called Christians, have not done these things.

Look at what has happened to them. Their lives are a wreck!

I hope your life is not a shipwreck。

God bless you,

Keith

GALATIANS 3

13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hanged on a tree:

14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

COMMENDED AND NOT CONDEMNED

The law curses us and condemns us; we stand no chance if we are matched against the law, and we are found guilty and have no answer to its requirements.

We have violated God’s law and deserve the full force of God’s judgement and condemnation. We stand in the dock, condemned by the law, the judge is ready to pass just sentence, but instead of condemning us, in Christ He forgives us, because the curse has been taken by someone else.

The full curse has been taken by his sinless Son, who has taken the curse for us.

We have a wonderful picture of what the Bible calls imputation in Zechariah 3:

And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.

2 And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?

3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.

4 And he answered and spoke unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.

We are brands plucked out of the fire, literally we have been plucked from the very edge of hell, by God’s grace.

Now we stand before God, righteous, because the curse has been removed; it has been taken and destroyed by One who is perfect. He fulfilled the law in every point and so we are now justified.

Look at what Paul says in Romans 3 and 5:

3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

In verse 20, no one is justified by the works of the law, no one.

But in Chapter 5, if we trust Christ and him alone for salvation, we are justified, we have access to God, we have peace with Him. We stand in this grace; we can stand before God, clothed in the righteousness of CHRIST.

As Paul again says in 2 Corinthians 5

21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The curse removed! We no longer stand condemned, but stand commended to God. There is no condemnation for us! What an amazing truth; this should make us shout HALLELUJAH!!

Romans 8

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

Look at verse 2, we are now FREE! The curse has been removed by Christ.

Look at verse 3; what the law couldn’t do, God did through His Son.

Now that too should make you shout HALLELUJAH!!

IT DOES ME

KK