OUR MISSION ON EARTH!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY OCTOBER 30,2022.

SUBJECT : OUR MISSION ON EARTH! 

Memory verse: "Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation." (Second Corinthians 5 vs 18.)

READ: Matthew 28 vs 19 - 20; Mark 16 vs 15:

Matthew 28:19: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 

28:20: teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Mark 16:15: Go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

INTIMATION:

You were made and called for a mission. The earth is an extension of God's kingdom. From creation God has been at work in the world. He created the angels and other heavenly beings to join Him in His work in heaven, and for special missions on earth. He created us to join Him in His work on earth. The aspect of the work He has employed you to join Him to do is called your mission. God wants you to have both a ministry in the Body of Christ and a mission in the world. Your ministry is your service to believers, and your mission is your service to the rest of the world.

The english word 'mission' comes from the Latin word for 'sending.' Being a Christian includes being sent into the world as a representative of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "As the Father has sent Me, I also send you. (John 20 vs 21.) Your life mission is both shared and specific. One part of it a responsibility you share with every other Christian, and the other part is an assignment that is unique to you. The mission that Christ called us to is called “The Great Commission,” which was given to all followers of Christ, not just pastors and missionaries alone. This mission given to us by Jesus is mandatory, and to ignore it is disobedience.

Jesus clearly understood His life mission on earth. At age twelve He said, "I must be about My Father's business." (Luke 2 vs 49), and twenty-one years later, dying on the cross, He said, "It is finished." John 19 vs 30.) Like the bookends these two statements frame a well-lived, and purposeful life. Jesus completed the mission the Father gave Him. The mission Jesus had while on earth is now our mission because we are the Body of Christ. What He did in His physical body we are to continue as His spiritual body—the church. 

Our mission, therefore, is introducing people to God! Christ changed us from enemies into His friends and gave us the task of making others His friends also. Because we have been reconciled to God, we have the privilege of encouraging others to do the same. God wants to redeem human beings from Satan and reconcile them to Himself so we can fulfill the five purposes He created us for: to love Him, to be part of His family, to become like Him, to serve Him, and to tell others about Him. 

Once we are His, God uses us to reach others. He saves us and then sends us out. The Bible says, "We are ambassadors of Christ." (Second Corinthians 5 vs 20.) We are the messengers of God's love and purposes to the world, and imploring others on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled to God. All believers are the ambassadors of Christ. We are messengers and agents of Christ mandated to continue the work He started. Jesus did two things with us; He called us to Himself, and commissioned us to go for Him. This mission given to us by Christ is so significant that He repeated it five times; in five different ways, and in five different books of the Bible. The emphasis connotes how important and demanding of us it is to Christ. 

You may have been unaware that God holds you responsible for the unbelievers who live around you. The Bible, in Ezekiel 3 vs 18, says, "When I say to a wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand." We are responsible to tell others about God's judgement and His message of salvation, although we are not held responsible for how they respond. But if we refuse to tell others what we know, God will judge us. Therefore, remember God's words to Ezekiel when you are tempted to remain silent among those who don't believe.

The pertinent questions you should ask, and the answers to them are; (1) When do you go? Now! (2) Where do you go? To the world beginning with where you are now. (3) Why do you go? Because it is mandatory to tell others about Christ, sharing your own experience and knowledge of Him, and (4) How do you do the work? Witnessing for Christ, preaching the gospel of repentance and remission of sins, ensuring that those who believed are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to do everything Jesus said we should do.

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for the privilege of calling me to the mission of reconciling others to You. Give me the grace to be committed to this mission with great zeal, preaching the Good News to all, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Sin, Satan, Sickness, or Sabotage

 

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:8–9)

Is the suffering that comes to the Christian because of persecution the same as the suffering that comes from cancer? Do the promises given to one apply to the other? My answer is yes. All of life, if it is lived earnestly by faith in the pursuit of God’s glory and the salvation of others, will meet with some kind of obstacle and suffering. The suffering that comes to the obedient Christian is part of the price of living where you are in obedience to the call of God.

In choosing to follow Christ in the way he directs, we choose all that this path includes under his sovereign providence. Thus, all suffering that comes in the path of obedience is suffering with Christ and for Christ — whether it is cancer at home or persecution far away.

And it is “chosen” — that is, we willingly take the path of obedience where the suffering befalls us, and we do not murmur against God. We may pray — as Paul did — that the suffering be removed (2 Corinthians 12:8); but if God wills, we embrace it as part of the cost of discipleship in the path of obedience on the way to heaven.

All experiences of suffering in the path of Christian obedience, whether from persecution or sickness or accident, have this in common: They all threaten our faith in the goodness of God, and tempt us to leave the path of obedience.

Therefore, every triumph of faith, and all perseverance in obedience, are testimonies to the goodness of God and the preciousness of Christ — whether the enemy is sickness, Satan, sin, or sabotage. Therefore, all suffering, of every kind, that we endure in the path of our Christian calling is a suffering “with Christ” and “for Christ.”

With him in the sense that the suffering comes to us as we are walking with him by faith, and in the sense that it is endured in the strength he supplies through his sympathizing high-priestly ministry to us (Hebrews 4:15).

And for him in the sense that the suffering tests and proves our allegiance to his goodness and power, and in the sense that it reveals his worth as an all-sufficient compensation and prize.

THE GIVING INVESTMENT!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY OCTOBER 29, 2022.

SUBJECT : THE GIVING INVESTMENT!

Memory verse: "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal." (Matthew 6 vs 20.)

READ: Second Corinthians 9 vs 6 - 11; :

9:6: But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

9:7: So let each one give as He purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

9:8: And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

9:9: As It is written; “He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.”

9:10: Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,

9:11: while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.

INTIMATION:

Giving is an investment into your future. It’s a seed if sowed now, may ensure bountiful harvest, continuous flow of resources your way, and above all, crowned with eternal life with Christ. God loves you when you delight in giving. When He sees your delight in abounding in generosity, He can pour out the blessings in astonishing ways to you so that you are ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. 

Clearly, there are seasons for everything as the Scripture says, ‘Times For sowing and reaping’ (Ecclesiastes 3 vs 4). When God sees your delight in giving, that is, investing in your future, building an everlasting treasury with your resources, He will also provide and multiply your resources for giving, and increase the fruits of your rightful accomplishments that manifests itself in active goodness, kindness, and charity. 

Those habitual givers, who throw caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon, abounding in their right-living, and right-giving ways, God ensures they never run out or wear out. Hence the saying, “Givers never lack.” God, Elshadai—the Giver, is extravagant with them. When their giving have grown in them as full-formed lives, robust in God, He ensures that they always have something to give away, they will be wealthy in riches, so that they can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God. 

Habitual givers have no boundaries. Their giving is not restricted to helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians; they give out to all needy people, and for any acts of relief to the society. In so doing, they ‘Bear the burden of others, and so fulfill the law of Christ’ (See Galatians 6 vs 2). This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ; “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

You show your gratitude to God through generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone. The beauty of such generosity is that the receivers, when they have seen the extravagance of giving in your life, they’ll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need, and God will provide! 

In the passage we read today, the Scripture, in verse 10 - 11, says; "And [God] Who provides seed for the sower and bread for eating will also provide and multiply your [resources for] sowing and increase the fruits of your righteousness ["which manifests itself in active goodness, kindness, and charity]. Thus you will be enriched in all things and in every way, so that you can be generous, and [your generosity as it is] administered by us will bring forth thanksgiving to God." (Amplified Version.)

This verse isn't really about farming; it's an illustration of a spiritual principle. A single kernel of corn planted in the ground will sprout up a plant that bears thousands of kernels of corn. When you give money, it's like planting a seed. In the same way that planting a seed gives rise to a new plant that bears many more seeds, likewise, giving money away causes finances to grow in your life. 

God gives us resources to use and invest for Him. The resources God gives us are not to be hidden in selfishness, foolishly devoured, or thrown away. Instead they should be cultivated in order to produce more. When we invest what God has given us wisely, especially in His work, He will provide us with even more to give in His service. When you give money, it's like planting a seed. God gives money to people if they are givers.

Some people will say "Let God give me first, and I will give." It's a pity. That is not trusting God and His promises. That is purely unbelief—lack of faith, and "without faith it is impossible to please God." If you are coming to God, you will come with the believe that He is who He says He is, and a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him for who He is. (See Hebrews 11 vs 6.)

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the spirit of boundless generosity, that I may bear the burden of others in fulfillment of Your law, and that I will be blessed sufficiently with more resources from You to continue abounding in my generosity, increasing in my fruit of righteousness, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

THE HINDRANCE OF UNBELIEF!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY OCTOBER 28, 2022.

SUBJECT: THE HINDRANCE OF UNBELIEF!

Memory verse: "Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” (Matthew 13 vs 58.)

READ: Hebrews 4 vs 2 - 3: 

4:2: For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

4:3: For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 

INTIMATION:

The most common hindrance to receiving God’s blessings is unbelief. The unbelievers are guilty of not believing that God will do what He says He will do; they hardly confess in faith what God says, and that He will do what He has promised He will do. When you continue to confess positively, your spirit will be influenced by that confession. 

Unbelief is the root cause of why God's Word bless some people and not bless others. In the passage we read today, the Scripture says that, when people hear God's Word but do not believe it, then the word preached will profit them nothing. This is because it’s not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Unbelief blinds people to the truth and robs them of hope. 

Christ has done everything that needs to be done about our sins, and obtained a clean bill of health for us. Our own work is to believe in Him and His finished work in redemption for us. Jesus said that the work of God we have to do is to believe in Him whom God sent (John 6 vs 29). And those who have believed enter into God’s rest. 

So many Christians turn back from their promised rest in Christ because of the difficulties of the present moments which overshadow the reality of God’s promise, and their doubts that God will fulfill His promises. Consequently, they try doing things on their efforts. When we trust on our efforts instead of Christ’s power, we are in danger of turning back. Our own efforts are never adequate; only Christ can see us through.

Many Christians know a great deal about Christ, but they do not know Him personally—they don’t combine their knowledge with faith. The Good News about Christ they hear benefits them nothing in their lives because it’s not mixed with faith. Believe in Him and then act on what you believe. Trust in Christ and do what He says.

It’s in believing that the glory of God is made manifest to us. Our faith triggers the grace—power of God to help us in our times of need. Jesus said to Martha at the tomb of Lazarus; “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (John 6 vs 40.) God’s glory is the backing of His Word. Not believing God and His Word is regarded as disobedience (Hebrews 4 vs 6). 

Jesus said that “all things are possible to him who believes,” because “for He is faithful that promised” (Hebrews 10 vs 23). With faith in Him, we can have everything we need to serve Him. It’s the attitude of trust and confidence that the Bible calls “belief” or “faith,” and it is not something we can obtain without help. Faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2 vs 8 - 9). Jesus said, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” (Mark 11 vs 23 - 24.)

“Faith” or “belief” is the first sure step to receiving from God. Not believing in God leads to disobedience. And disobedience is regarded as rebellion and stubbornness against God, tantamount to witchcraft, and it is regarded as the most serious of all sins because as long as a person rebels, he or she closes the door of forgiveness and restoration with God. (First Samuel 15 vs 23.)

Prayer: Abba Father, my absolute trust is in You. Sieve of any form of unbelief in You and Your Word, that I may have all things possible with me, and live a triumphant life as Your child, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Radical Recompense

 

Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Mark 10:29–30)

What Jesus means here is that he himself makes up for every sacrifice.

If you give up a mother’s nearby affection and concern, you get back one hundred times the affection and concern from the ever-present Christ.

If you give up the warm comradeship of a brother, you get back one hundred times the warmth and comradeship of Christ.

If you give up the sense of at-homeness you had in your house, you get back one hundred times the comfort and security of knowing that your Lord owns every house.

To prospective missionaries, Jesus says, “I promise to work for you, and be for you, so much that you will not be able to speak of having sacrificed anything.”

What was Jesus’s attitude to Peter’s “sacrificial” spirit? Peter said, “We have left everything and followed you” (Mark 10:28). Is this the spirit of “self-denial” commended by Jesus? No, it is rebuked.

Jesus said to Peter, “No one ever sacrifices anything for me that I do not pay back a hundredfold — yes, in one sense even in this life, not to mention eternal life in the age to come.”

Possible with God

 

I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.” (John 10:16)

God has a people in every people group in the world. He will call them through the gospel with Creator power. And they will believe! What a power is in these words for overcoming discouragement in the hard places of the frontiers!

The story of Peter Cameron Scott is a good illustration. Born in Glasgow in 1867, Scott became the founder of the Africa Inland Mission. But his beginnings in Africa were anything but auspicious.

His first trip to Africa ended in a severe attack of malaria that sent him home. He resolved to return after he recuperated. This return was especially gratifying to him because this time his brother John joined him. But before long, John was struck down by fever.

All alone, Peter buried his brother in African soil, and in the agony of those days recommitted himself to preach the gospel in Africa. Yet his health gave way again, and he had to return to England.

How would he ever pull out of the desolation and depression of those days? He had pledged himself to God. But where could he find the strength to go back to Africa? With man it was impossible!

He found strength in Westminster Abbey. David Livingstone’s tomb is still there. Scott entered quietly, found the tomb, and knelt in front of it to pray. The inscription reads:

OTHER SHEEP I HAVE WHICH ARE NOT OF THIS FOLD; THEM ALSO I MUST BRING.

He rose from his knees with a new hope. He returned to Africa. And today, over a hundred years later, the mission he founded is a vibrant, growing force for the gospel in Africa.

If your greatest joy is to experience the infilling grace of God overflowing from you for the good of others, then the best news in all the world is that God will do the impossible through you for the salvation of the unreached peoples.

THE SPIRIT-LED LIFE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY OCTOBER 27, 2022.

SUBJECT:  THE SPIRIT-LED LIFE!

Memory verse:  "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8 vs 6.) 

READ:  Romans 8 verse 5 - 8:

8:5: For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

8:6: For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

8:7: Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

8:8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

INTIMATION:

We observe from our memory verse that we relate with two minds in us. These are the mind of the flesh, and the mind of the spirit. That does not mean you and I have two brains, it simply means that we receive information from our natural mind (which operates without the Holy Spirit), and we get information from our spirit (through which the Holy Spirit communicates directly to us).

According to the Scriptures, to be a child of God, we are not to be led by our carnal mind, but by the Holy Spirit: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8 vs 14). The evidence of our sonship is being led by the Spirit of God. The Spirit-led life is a life of victory, and conquest of the devil, because it manifests the fruit of the Spirit that has no law against it, therefore, the accuser of brethren has nothing to accuse you of: “For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (Galatians 5 vs 22 - 23.)

The fruit of the Spirit is the spontaneous work of the Holy Spirit in us. The Holy Spirit is the only One who knows the mind of God, and is the revealer of the truth. (John 16 vs 13). Therefore, the Spirit produces these character traits that are found in the nature of Christ. They are the by-products of Christ control—we cannot obtain by trying to get them without His help. This Scripture tells us that “we have the mind of Christ.” This is because the Spirit of Christ—Holy Spirit lives in us. The problem is that although we have the mind of Christ and know the Word of God, we don't listen to our spirit which is being enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Instead, we listen to our natural mind, which relies strictly on sense and reason without the Holy Spirit. And this mind “is in enmity against God, hence cannot please Him.”

In every situation of life, our head will be trying to give us information. It will be yelling at us so loudly, and if we don't turn our attention to our spirit we will never hear what the Lord is saying to us in that situation, nor know that which is pleasing to Him. That is why we must learn to live out of our spirit and not of our head; being led by the Spirit. Incidentally, evil spirits constantly bombard us with negative thoughts. If we receive them and dwell on them, they become ours because, according to the Scripture, as we think in our heart, so are we. (Proverbs 23 vs 7.) If we accept the lies of the devil as reality, then they will become reality to us because of our "faith," that is, our believe in them.

That is why in moments of worry, stress and turmoil we have to simply take the time to turn to our inner man, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, and say, "Lord, what do You have to say about this?" If we listen in faith, He will speak to us and reveal to us the truth of that situation, and what we will do to please Him. You and I have two huge vats of information within us. One is carnal information that comes off the top of our head. The other is spiritual information which wells up out of our heart. One is muddy. polluted water, and the other is clean drinking water. It is up to us to decide which source we are going to drink from.

Some people try to drink from both sources. That's what the Bible calls being double-minded. (James 1 vs 8.) Do you know what it means to be double-minded? It means that your mind is trying to tell you one thing, and the your spirit is trying to tell you just the opposite. Instead of saying, "I'm not going to believe that of the mind because it's a lie," you get in a cross-fire, going back and forth between the two thoughts.

If you are ever going to live the happy, victorious and successful Christian life the Lord wills for us, you are going to have to decide which fountain of information you are going to drink from. You are going to have to learn to live out of our spirit and not out of our head—you must be led by the Spirit.

Prayer: Abba Father, You have adopted me as Your son, and has graciously given me Your Spirit. Help me to always listen, and take counsel from Your Holy Spirit indwelling me that I may lead a victorious and conqueror’s life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!