

GRACE360

EDEM LIGHT
Copyright © 2017 Edem Light Kumah

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

without the express written permission of the publisher

except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN: 9781370022021

Title: GRACE360

Author: Edem Light

Smashwords, Inc. edition

Email: edemlight@outlook.com

Phone: +233 505 645 584
DEDICATION

To all peoples of the world in search of rest.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My sincere gratitude goes to the numerous people who have spent several hours with me on this work. Kafui, I promise not to put you under too much pressure next time and I will take more of your literary advice for my next publication. Kwame Mantey, I hope you are happy now, for successfully pestering me into making a print edition of this book. Bill Bakomora, and the rest of The Unified Group, your keen interest in the success of this work, is much more appreciated than you'll ever know. To the many others who were not even aware that, by critiquing my annoyingly long posts, they were contributing immensely to what I hope would be a life changing book for peoples all over the world, I say a big thank you. Now you all realise that there was method to the madness, lol. Above all, I thank God that, of all the overwhelmingly qualified people he could pick, it was to me that he granted the privilege and inspiration to write down these particular words of grace. Kindly note that any minor or major errors you may find are wholly of my making and I sincerely regret any such inconvenience.

PREFACE

For a book that has been three years in writing, I could begin by telling you a story about the sorry state of confusion and desperation that I was in, before the major shift I had in my understanding that, the GRACE of Jesus Christ is the gospel.

Or I could begin by trying to summon all the religious verve that I could, to try to get you into proceeding from a preferable disposition.

Maybe I could put on my political hat and bring to bare on you, the full force of the art of persuasion. Believe me, if there's anyone who can play artfully with words to the ends of manipulating emotions, under the guise of reason, their gift could not be further than mine. But to what end? It profits nothing.

I believe that everyone must carry their cross, everyone must find their way to truth or rather truth will find whom it will find. Manipulating people therefore is a fruitless venture, after all, just like false religion wore off from me a few years ago, so will any message that is based on anything other than the power of the Holy Spirit. So will any message that is not the truth. So will any message that is not based on Christ Jesus.

I'm therefore not at all worried about the capacity of this message about the grace of Christ Jesus to achieve the purpose for which it was written. Which purpose is to bring liberty to a world held in captivity by lies and empty religious zeal that is based on human philosophy rather than divine knowledge. To bring light to a world that has become locked in the darkness of human traditions and ignorance and fear of the unknown. To bring healing to a world that has been broken for years by depression and pain, induced by having to live through life by false teachings that have not survived the vagaries of time, because they are not based on the one truth which is the person Christ Jesus.

Such a message, no matter how one may try, can never be as a result of the mere creative imaginings of people, whether their objectives be noble or otherwise. It must run on its own legs, fly on its own wings, stand on its own feet and its truth be self-evident.

Such is the message of the Grace of Christ Jesus. The person Jesus liberates, heals and brings light. It is him that this books seeks to introduce in all his goodness and mercy. Its hope, is to reveal to its reader, the UNCONDITIONAL love that he has, for all humanity. To reveal a relationship that is based on his loving kindness alone, which demands absolutely nothing as payment in return.

A revelation that takes away, man and what empty religion says man must do, from the centre of Christian doctrine; a revelation that points to the person whom the scriptures show as the beginning, the centre and the end of creation's relationship with God. That person is Jesus.

Prepare therefore to unlearn the false yet popular theology of much of the church today, which passes off a mixture of self-help philosophy and the law of Moses as the gospel. Once upon a time, honest people believed that the earth was flat and the centre of the universe. Indeed the whole world believed this to be the truth. The preponderance of the same opinion does not necessarily make something true or false. Now just imagine how far scientific research would have advanced for instance, if men knew and believed the truth much earlier than it was. See what impact ordinary men had on human scientific and material progress, when a few got to know and spread the truth. Now imagine how great the church of Christ Jesus on earth would be and the exploits it would make if men knew the gospel for what it is.

I say the above because I do not wish it be lost on you, that the message that this book carries, may be unlike anything you have come across. A friend whom I asked to take a look at the unedited manuscripts said something that I recognise as true. he said "It is a hard message to carry" and I agree with him. It is hard, not at all because it is difficult to comprehend, but because it raises its standard against the tide of popular theology. It points 100% to the finished work of Christ Jesus without any "ifs" or "buts" or caveats that are born out of fear rather than knowledge.

But like I said before, truth can only stand on its own legs, with or without intervention. I'm only a messenger with a message according to the leading of the Holy Spirit that Christ promised(I believe). I kindly implore you therefore to take a seat aboard this boat of rest with me, as we sail through the pages of this book, to see and understand GRACE, the gospel of Christ Jesus that Paul Preached.

NB: Italics are used only for the purposes of emphasis and not necessarily for scriptural references, hence the differences in the formatting of some biblical references.

CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1: Before And After The Cross

Chapter 2: The Reason For The Season

Chapter 3: A Covenant Keeping God

Chapter 4: You Are Like Christ Jesus

Chapter 5: Have The Christ Perspective

Chapter 6: Grace Doesn't Depend on You

Chapter 7: You Are Not Abandoned

Chapter 8: On The Road To Salvation

Chapter 9: Why God Is Not A Chauvinist

##### 1

# Before And After The Cross

■ A NEW WAY, A BETTER WAY ■ GRACE EVERLASTING ■ THE DIFFERENCE IT MADE ■TOTAL DEPENDENCE

Before the cross of Jesus, Jews had the law, the rest of us had no relationship or agreement with God.

Before the cross of Jesus, Jews had a way of covering their sins from God by sacrificing animals once a year by the law, the rest of us had no way of pardon even for a day because we are not Jews.

Before the cross of Jesus, Jews had to pay tithe which was given to widows and priests according to the law that God had given them in order to be blessed. The rest us had no agreement between us and God concerning tithes or being blessed.

Before the cross of Jesus, Jews had to fulfill every single bit of the law to be blessed and if they failed even one, it was equal to failing ALL. Deut. 28

Before the cross of Jesus, Jews had to earn their own righteousness by living by the law of Moses. The rest of us had no law by which we could EARN our righteousness.

Then God decided to make something radically different from what was in existence.

he decided to fulfill his original intentions which he had before he created the world.

he decided to CREATE a completely new creation. A completely NEW kind of man from what was in existence. And he decided that he wanted to create this new kind of human being in Christ Jesus.

God did NOT send Christ Jesus to come and make Jews into people who are better or more capable of obeying the law than they were before he came.

God did NOT send Christ Jesus to come and turn the rest of us who are NOT Jews into Jews so that we can obey some of the law or all of the law.

That is why your bible says that "Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a NEW CREATURE..." 2Corinth. 5:17

Because you are a new creature, applying the law does not matter to you in any way. Because you are a new creature going to adopt the law of the Jews does not matter to you in anyway. That is why your bible says in Gal 6:15

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature."

Before the cross of Jesus, the law of sin and death existed for everyone whether Jew or not, because of Adam's sin. So sin is not present because you disobey the ten commandments, sin is present even in little children because all human beings inherited the sinful nature from Adam.

And we know from the bible that "the wages of sin is death"; that, is the law of sin and death which came into force when Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden.

Now Christ Jesus, through his death at the cross, became for the Jews, once for all, an eternal sacrifice by which their sins are purged.

Christ Jesus, through his death at the cross became for the rest of us who are not Jews also, once for all, an eternal sacrifice by which our sins are purged.

Jesus did this by satisfying the requirement of the law of sin and death. The bible teaches us that the wages of sin is death, that is why Christ Jesus DIED on the cross.

Because the wages of sin is death, we had to die. The Jews had a special dispensation with God so instead of they dying, they were allowed to use animals according to the law of Moses, which gave them a covering that only lasted for one year.

The rest of us who are not Jews had no hope of ever being redeemed from the wages of sin(a nature which all people inherited from Adam) which is death.

Now that Christ Jesus has suffered the penalty of death for our sin once for all, we now have eternal life both Jew and non-Jew. Christ Jesus himself said this in John 3: 15-18

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. he that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. "

After the Cross of Christ Jesus, there is no longer the distinction of Jew or Gentile, we are all children of God in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:28

So from now on, stop trying to judge your righteousness by your performance of the law of Moses, which doesn't even apply to Jews any longer.

You are free from condemnation for ever and ever once you are in Christ Jesus. This is the wonderful work that Christ did you and I, his work for us is finished. "IT IS FINISHED".

You have a wonderful Life free from legalism in Christ Jesus.

## ■ A New Way, A Better Way

The way people worshiped and related with God before the cross was not 'bad', 'wrong', or 'evil'. That system was called the old covenant, which was everything that Moses thought them to do.

But the same God sent Jesus to introduce A BETTER way. The cross therefore was the means by which Jesus put an end to the old system and begun the new system.

The old system caused people to have a servant-master relationship with God. Example, the parable of the talent.

The new and BETTER system causes people to have a father-daughter(son) relationship with God. Example, the parable of the prodigal son.

This is why the apostle Paul, calls this new system of relationship, "A BETTER" covenant. When a servant smashes a car, he may lose his relationship with his master. When a daughter smashes a car, her father does not cease to relate with her as a father.

Galatians 4:6-7

6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

7 Wherefore thou art NO MORE a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Do you see the difference... this is the GRACE (unmerited favour) that Christ Jesus brought to Jews who had the servant-master relationship, and to gentiles who were not even qualified to be servants under the old system.

This is why it is called the Gospel(good news) of the GRACE of Christ Jesus. That is why it seems so confusing, every time preachers mix up the old system with the new way that Christ Jesus has introduced .

But the apostle Paul teaches us clearly that "GRACE is of NO effect to whosoever is under law(old covenant)". But because many preachers are not clear in their understanding of the difference in relationship, they say many wrong things.

Example, we hear things like "a sister has fallen from grace, because she had sex with a lecturer for grades". But that is simply not true, and yet they say it, thus mixing up the benefits of the new system of GRACE which is for daughters(sons), with the obligations that the old system of the LAW placed on servants, which the cross brought to an end. The apostle Paul clearly states that "whosoever is justified by the LAW has FALLEN from GRACE", Gal 5:4. The reason being that, a father's love for his child is not dictated by what she does or does not do.

This is the flood of everlasting grace, that Christ unleashed at the cross for you and I, when blood and water poured out of his ruptured heart.

## ■ Grace Everlasting

Do you know what goes through the mind of Christ Jesus, anytime someone wants to judge you?

He simply thinks something like 'who does he think he is to judge me, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords'.

When Saul(Paul) encountered Jesus, Jesus didn't ask him why he was persecuting Stephen or the disciples. he said in Acts 9:4 ISV

"......."Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting ME?" "

You see, as far as Christ is concerned, anything that happens to you is happening to him, full stop!!.

When an accusation is leveled against you, it is HIM that it is against. When sickness or trauma of any kind comes against you, it is him that it has come against.

In the same way, when someone shows any kindness to you, it is to HIM that it has been shown.

But make no mistake, he did NOT say that to Paul because Stephen or the disciples or the believers were(humanly speaking), perfect and without fault.

In fact they had disobeyed the full command to go into all the world and preach the gospel. They were all in Jerusalem, preaching to nobody but Jews.

So why would Christ Jesus therefore consider any actions against 'flawed' beings as personally against him;

It is because he is literally one and inseparable from you. In fact, he specifically made that request to his father, when he was praying for believers in the book of John chapter 17 verse 22

JMNT "And I Myself have given to them (or: in them), and they now possess, the glory (the notion; the opinion; the imagination; the reputation; the manifestation which calls forth praise) which You have given to Me, and which I now possess, to the end that they may continuously exist being one correspondingly as (just as; according as; on the same level as; in the same sphere as) We [are] one:"

That's why the apostle John who wrote this down later said to believers in 1Jn 4:17

KJV "...as he is, so are we in THIS world".

The apostle Paul confirms this reality when he says in Gal 3:27 KJV

"For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ"

So walk in the full assurance that you are Christ Jesus. The apostle Paul says in another place "I live, yet not I but Christ that lives through me".

So no matter how hard you or anyone tries, you can never level an accusation against Christ. So stop calling him sick, stop calling him weak, stop calling him broke, stop calling him ugly, stop calling him poor, stop calling him a sinner, stop calling him dumb, stop calling him shy, stop calling him fearful, stop calling him timid, stop calling him arrogant, stop calling him wicked, stop calling him shameful, stop calling him rubbish, stop calling him a failure, stop saying all these and other negative things about him because they are simply not true. They will not stand a chance in any court in the entire universe.

You'll say, "when have I said such things about Christ?"; anytime you believe or say such things about your self, you are saying that, that is who Christ Jesus is.

And have you noticed that anytime you stopped yourself in a moment of negative thoughts and got remind of God's word relating to the matter, another thought almost immediately comes to your mind like "aaaah... you see that you doubted God". My friend, that thought of condemnation is a lie that is not from God, it is the Holy Spirit whom Christ Jesus promised will "remind you of all truth" in John 14:26, who is doing his 'job'.

It's literally Christ Jesus speaking to you the truth of the matter in that very moment. In that instance, you have two options before you, to either acknowledge and believe a lie about Christ Jesus(Yourself) or to acknowledge and believe the truth about Christ Jesus(Yourself).

Agree with Christ Jesus, he is your life. This is the guarantee that you have through his finished work at the cross for all who believe on him.

## ■ The Difference The Cross Made

The same Jesus who said in Mat 10:33 KJV "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.", specifically asked Mary through the Angel to inform "his disciples and PETER" about his resurrection.

Not everything Jesus said was for the believer and until you come to realise the DIFFERENCE that the finished work of Jesus at the cross makes for a believer, you will live in uncertainty, fear and the life of hypocrisy that legalism breeds in many 'honest' but ignorant people.

And Jesus knew how the cross will change people's relationship with God. So in spite of what he had said about those who will deny him, he said to Peter concerning his coming denial;

Luk 22:32 KJV "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and WHEN thou art CONVERTED, strengthen thy brethren".

And CONVERSION is only possible because of the Cross where there is remission of sin, including the sin of Peter's denial.

So you see, you cannot understand what sin is outside of the cross. Did he deny Jesus? Yes. Jesus went to his father as he told Mary Magdalene, did he deny Peter before his father? No, if he had, he would not have told Peter to "feed my sheep". But why? Because he took up all of humanity's sin upon himself and died for it upon the cross, including Peter's denial.

So when Jesus said "my God, my God why has thou forsaken me", he wasn't just asking a rhetorical question like some preachers claim. he was actually saying the truth because he was in our place. We deserved to be forsaken because sin had made us incompatible with God in much the same way that sin made it impossible for Adam to be fit to dwell in commune with the tree of life in the garden of Eden.

Jesus was forsaken because he carried our sin, so that like Peter, we could be accepted in the presence of the father, once and for all.

So am I saying that, all the things that Jesus said are sinful, are no longer sinful? No, what I am saying is that, ALL those sins have been paid for fully by Jesus Christ on the cross. That is what John the Baptist pointed to when he prophesied upon seeing Jesus, when he said "behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" Joh 1:29.

So I will tell it to you straight, whenever you sin, or are accused of sin, remember that you have FULLY paid for it through Jesus already.

## ■ Total Dependence

You either labour and carry your burden alone... the world's system celebrates it as 'hard work', 'independence', etc. It works for some with amazing results or so they claim.

Or you can share your labour and burdens with God... Religion calls it balance and it brings wonderful results to many good people or so they claim.

Or you can come with your labour and burdens and let Jesus give you rest from work that he has already finished through the cross. Jesus calls it "Rest" and it works completely.

But here is the thing, God promised Abraham a son, he and his wife devised a way out and it worked, but God did not recognize that.

Moses brought water out of a rock in a manner different from what God had instructed him, it worked.

Is it not rather curious that in both instances, they got the results but it brought them pain; conflict in Abraham's home and Moses had his destiny truncated?

It's not an issue of "the end justifies the means", it's not just about whether it works or not, it's about God achieving his outcome in his own way. Now is the age of the Lord's GRACE. Come and receive his rest.

##### 

##### 2

# The Reason For The Season

■ THE COMMANDMENTS LEAD TO BONDAGE ■ LIBERTY FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW ■ LET THE VEIL FALL ■ MANY 'BIG' PREACHERS DO NOT KNOW GOD

The cross put an end to the law(including the ten commandments) as the standard by which our righteousness is measured and birthed forth a new and a much more superior arrangement that is founded on the GRACE of Christ Jesus. In Isaiah 54:10 God calls it the "covenant of my peace".

Under the old arrangement of the Law, a Jewish person's righteousness was determined by how perfectly he kept All of the Law. Non-Jews did not have any part to play in the keeping of the law so they were(and are) incapable of ever becoming righteous.

Jesus through the cross, put an end to the law and introduced a much more superior arrangement called GRACE.

Under this new arrangement which is superior to the law, both Jews and non-Jews now have a means of becoming and remaining righteous.

This new arrangement is called GRACE. This is the reason why a certain baby was born in a manger to a certain virgin woman called Mary whose husband was called Joseph.

This is the reason why the whole world celebrates this miracle baby, who grew into a young man called Jesus. Whose death by the cross at a place called Golgotha and subsequent resurrection from the dead, birthed this new and much more superior arrangement called GRACE.

This is the reason why the whole world celebrates this child's birth in a season called CHRISTMAS.

It is true that there is no factual record that he was born at the time of the year called Christmas. It is also true that this season was originally a season for the celebration of some other pagan god. It is also true that early Christians, some of whom celebrated that pagan god at this time of the year, decided to celebrate the birth of Christ Jesus in its stead. Hence the name CHRISTMAS.

This is why we celebrate the birth of the person who made a way unto righteousness for Jews, where there was no way unto righteousness by the LAW because it was simply impossible for anyone to keep ALL of the law perfectly as was mandated.

This is why we celebrate the birth of the person who made a way unto righteousness for non-Jews as well, where there was no way(not even the law) unto righteousness.

This new way is called GRACE. It is NOT an upgraded version of the law. It is a completely new arrangement which is nothing like the Law.

Jer 31:31-32 ISV

31 "Look, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

32 It won't be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.

Under this new system, we are simply like a branch that is connected to a vine. our life is completely dependent on the vine, we bear fruit only because of the vine, we have life only because of the vine. Apart from the vine, we cannot be fruitful, or have the nourishment required to live a fruitful life. Jesus is the vine, we are the branches. he is the source of power, life, health, peace, joy, holiness, wealth and every conceivable good in us. There's absolutely nothing outside or inside of our union(oneness) with the vine that can separate us from the vine who is Christ Jesus.

A branch can only die if the vine stops supplying it with nourishment. But Jesus has said that he will not lose anyone that the father gives to him. In other words, Jesus who is the vine personally guarantees our life, that is, the life and fruitfulness of the branch.

This is why this new arrangement is called GRACE. The message about this new arrangement is called the GOSPEL. And this message that is called the GOSPEL, about this new and superior arrangement called GRACE, emanates or is born out of this person who is called Jesus Christ. Hence the GOSPEL of the GRACE of Christ Jesus.

Why is this new arrangement called GRACE? grace means favour that is not earned or not merited or not deserved. From the analogy of the vine and the branch, there's absolutely not a single claim that can be made by the branch, that anything about its life is as a result of something that it did or does or can do, independent of or apart from or separate from the vine. Indeed the apostle Paul says of this matter that (paraphrasing) "we are saved by GRACE and not of ourselves lest anyone should boast".

Why is the message about GRACE called the GOSPEL? Gospel simply means good news. In that the non-Jews who had no hope of ever becoming righteous, of ever becoming servants of God, of ever becoming children of God because they had no arrangement with God, have by the hearing of the good news(GOSPEL) of the new arrangement of unearned, undeserved and unmerited favour(GRACE), now obtained a new way to become righteous sons and daughters of God. And to the Jews who could not attain righteousness as servants through a perfect application of the old and inferior arrangement called the Law that Moses gave to them, have also by the hearing of the good news(GOSPEL) of the new arrangement of unearned, undeserved and unmerited favour(GRACE), now obtained a new way to become righteous sons and daughters of God.

Why is the GOSPEL of the GRACE of Christ Jesus? The GOSPEL is of the GRACE of Christ Jesus, because he is the one who put an end to the old arrangement called the Law, took away the sin of the world that came about as a result of the fall of Adam in the garden and sealed(entered into or agreed to) a new and a much more superior arrangement(covenant) of GRACE with the shedding of his own blood. And he did ALL that by laying down his life in our stead on the cross.

Thereby translating or transferring us from the old state where sin ruled over our lives as a master, into a new state where he Christ Jesus rules in our lives, not with the same old wages of sin which is death, but with GRACE that we might have SHALOM. That is why the prophet Isaiah calls him "the Prince of SHALOM".

Thus the GOSPEL of the GRACE of Christ JESUS.

To us a child is born in a manger, unto us a son is given from God our father. It is the birth of this child that the whole world celebrates in the season of Christmas. The celebration is about this man. His name is JESUS the anointed one(CHRIST).

he, is the reason for the season.

## ■ The Commandments Lead to BONDAGE

I know someone's jaw must be dropping. You must be thinking to yourselves "Is Edem Light going crazy...", "has he lost his mind...", "heresy...", "blasphemy....." bla, bla, bla.... Dear beloved of God, kindly take a deep breath and please in the name of God indulge me only for a few seconds. Before we go on I want to assure every reader, wherever you are on the planet that, our lord Jesus Christ loves you dearly. And because he so cares for you his spirit will lead you into all truth as it is written in John 16:13. So do not be afraid, for if my words are mere words and not the truth of the gospel(good news) of our lord and God Jesus Christ, then the holy spirit will protect your hearts AMEN!

I will state it again, the ten commandments can only lead you into bondage. Indeed living by... and judging yourself by... and condemning yourself on the basis of YOUR inability to keep... or deriving your assurance of being Righteous/Holy/Just in God's sight on the basis of YOUR ability to keep the WHOLE of the old covenant, which was given through Moses at mount Sinai can only lead you into bondage. Bondage to sin, bondage to poverty and bondage to disease.

First of all, how is it that the law leads to bondage. The law leads to bondage because YOU have to fulfill ALL of the terms of the law. NOT just the ten commandments like some preachers claim but ALL of the law before you can qualify for God's blessings as God himself said in the book of Leviticus 26:14. The apostle James in his book also makes it clear in James 2:10 "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking ALL of it". So to begin with, we see from Leviticus and James that those who live by the law must satisfy ALL and that even if ONE law is broken, it is equal to breaking ALL of the law. So all those well meaning preachers, and brothers and sisters in Christ who insist that even after a person is saved by Christ Jesus, she/he must now live by the ten commandments because the law is still valid, are all leading people into breaking the same law which they claim to be valid. For the Law as was given through Moses by God was not only made up of the ten commandments, it included the sacrifice of animals, sin offerings, burnt offerings, gift offerings, stoning of adulterers, cutting off the hands of thieves, appointing high priests from the house of Aaron, pilgrimages to the temple in Jerusalem, etc. So my friends do not be deceived, no one according to the same law can pick and choose as they want.

So we see that the law, that some well intentioned people claim that we should turn to after having been saved by Christ, does not make room for any partial application. Hence if they were right, they would have then led all of who accept their message right back into sin again because they also preach that burnt offerings and sin offerings and grain offerings and annual pilgrimages to the temple in Jerusalem bla bla bla are no longer valid to be observed. This is simply an impossible situation and here we see a classic example of bondage to sin unfolding. This is what a certain honest JEW whose mother and father were both Jews once said "Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?". Now this man who was born a Jew unlike many reading this book, said this boldly before his peers when this matter came up. Do you notice that he also calls it 'a yoke' which the 21st century dictionary also defines as "something oppressive; a great burden e.g. the yoke of slavery" also "a wooden frame placed over the necks of oxen to hold them together when they are pulling a plough, cart, etc". Not only does this man admit that they the original Jews were not able to bear the law, he goes ahead to warn those preaching that kind of message in that same statement saying "why tempt ye God"... If you are one of those perverting the finished work of Christ Jesus with the burden of the law, this Jew born and bread in Israel warns you "why tempt ye God". He who has an ear, let him hear for the scriptures say in Act 17:30 ESV "30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent(change of the mind)". For this statement about the law being a yoke, was made by a Jewish man named Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ who wined and dinned with him. He said it in the book of ACTS 15:10.

Some people also went preaching a partial keeping of the law i.e. circumcision and this is what the apostle Paul, a Pharisee, a legal expert at the law who was once killing Christians for not keeping the law, this is what he said about people who preach the Law

Gal 1:8 - 9

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God's curse!"

"As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God's curse!"

I do not know about you, but if an apostle who was with Christ warns me and another who used to be opposed to the gospel of Jesus, warn and curse respectively concerning the same matter, all I can do is run as far away from the law as I can.

The law depends completely on YOUR performance. The new covenant depends completely on JESUS. In the law it says you YOU SHALL... YOU SHALL... YOU SHALL.. In the new covenant as is written in Hebrews 8:10-12 "This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more". GOD ALMIGHTY says I WILL.. I WILL... I WILL.. I WILL... It depends completely on God to perform it for you and I. Isn't God a loving father... like Peter said, the law was "a yoke". If the law was a yoke so much so that Peter could even see it, do you think that God could not see that?. God saw it, that i why he made the new covenant for all mankind, saying I WILL.. I WILL.. I WILL... do you now see why John said in chapter 1 "...and the word was GOD... and the word became flesh(human) and dwelt among us... full of Grace and truth"? God had to come in the form of man(Jesus Christ) to fulfill the old covenant for us, in other to release us from the law which which Peter admitted was a yoke.

A covenant which God also found fault with, as it is written in Hebrews 8:7 "For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another." So since God is the one who instituted the law why did God find fault with the covenant? The answer is found in the immediate verse 8 of that same chapter in Hebrews "But God found fault with the people and said: "The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah".

Beloved the problem with the covenant was not the law, it was the PEOPLE. The people who had to play their part where God said in the old covenant YOU SHALL... YOU SHALL.... they simply couldn't. There was no way they could keep the covenant. Man is incapable being perfect, in and of himself. But when the elders of Israel angered God at mount Sinai by telling Moses to go and tell God that whatsoever he speaks, they will do All(Exodus 19:8). They stopped looking to God who had brought them out of bondage in Egypt and had started looking to their own strength and ability to perform. God got angry with them and instituted the covenant different from what he had with them from that time. Because they were equating their ability to God.

That is the same thing many preachers are doing today in asking people to live by the law which depends on human strength and performance. Within days of the law being introduced 3,000 perished at Mount Sinai for failing at it. My dearest friend, "God found fault with the people", don't let any preacher deceive you despite his/her honest intentions. You cannot not be wiser than God, because he found fault with the people, he decided to make a new covenant which depends on his performance alone.

Anything that depends on human performance is faulty because Adam who was in the likeness of God, fell and was cursed. All of us who who proceed are born in this imperfection. Even Abraham whom God calls his friend was not capable of perfect performance. That is why after he had waited for a son and gotten tired of waiting, he took his wife's advice and slept with his slave Hagar to bear a son called Ishmael. Now remember that whenever we try to achieve with human effort, what God has said he will do for us or what God does for us, we sure fail. Ishmael never never never inherited what God had promised Abraham. It was Isaac the child produced by God's power not Abraham's carnal logic or action, who inherited God's promise to Abraham. It is the same thing that turning our eyes from the law which requires our effort and looking onto God's effort in the person of Jesus Christ and his institution of the new covenant of his Grace, that we will inherit the promises of God. That is why the scripture says "all the promises of God in Christ Jesus are yes and amen".

Lets go back to scripture to find some more exciting truths concerning the liberty we have inherited in Christ Jesus. So let us find out more about Christ Jesus and what he has done for us.... Galatians 4

4. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5. to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

Why are you then trying so hard, condemning yourself, praising yourself, judging yourself by the Law that Christ Jesus came to redeem you from. Please I didn't write the bible, check it out for yourselves. Are you saying that Christ wasted his time dying a horrible death for you to redeem you from the law? Have you not read the scripture which says where the spirit of the lord is there is liberty?

Galatians 4:21-25

21. Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22. For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.

23. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.

24. These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar

25. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.

Your bible says anyone who is under the law is a slave. The translation above is from the NIV. The King James translations says BONDAGE. So all those who are telling you to live by the law, are with honest faces and smiling eyes, without any intention of malice, telling you to go back into BONDAGE. It is there in your bible, by all means respect their opinion but listen to and choose what your bible says every time. Choose Christ Jesus and rest in his finished work for you.

Now in the second paragraph I said If you are under the law, you are in bondage to sin, bondage to poverty and bondage to diseases.

Now how does the law keep you in bondage to sin? Your bible says in Romans chapter 7:5 that... "For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death". In Romans 5:20 it is written "Moreover Law entered (rather, came in besides), that the trespass might abound....".

Let us look at another scripture in 1st Corinthians 15:56 "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law". So do you now see why the more you try very hard to live by the law, the more guilty, condemned, judgmental, and insecure you feel? YOUR bible says that sinful passions are aroused by the Law. This is completely understandable... The harder you try not to think about an elephant next to you with your national flag on its back, the more you think of that elephant. That is why your bible says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. The law makes you conscious of your failings.

How does the law keep you in bondage to poverty? In Galatians 3:14 Paul says "he redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit".

Your bible and mine also says in Romans 4:13 "It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith".

Your bible is screaming to you that the blessings of God do not come to us because we obey the law, let alone how well or how badly we do it. No the Law does not matter as to whether or not you are blessed by God.

How about the law keeping us in Bondage to diseases? The spirit of God boldly says in your bible, and mine in Galatians 3:10 "For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law". You can not be cursed and be healthy. For those who fail to do EVERYTHING, this is what your Bible says to them in relation to sickness;

Deu 28:61 ASV

61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will Jehovah bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

But you and I who are no longer under the law, rest in the grace(unmerited favour) of Jesus Christ as it is written in Romans 5:1-2 "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God".

So my dear friend, now that you know for sure that you are not bound by the old covenant, do you feel like jumping out and going on an immorality spree because you are justified by faith in Jesus and not by how well or how badly you keep the law? Absolutely not! I have such a relief because as the scriptures say in Heb 10:14 "by that one offering, he has perfected forever all those who are sanctified". I keep my attention on this finished work of Christ Jesus, knowing that Christ takes care of it all for me and not my good deeds or bad deeds. Because whereas under law I had to do good to be blessed, thanks to Jesus' finished work I know that "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work". Thus his grace is what will cause me to abound to every good work in every area of my life. It all depends on Jesus who said in Matt 11:28 "come unto ME all you who labour and are heavily burdened and I will give you rest". Amen.

#### ◆ Don't Confuse Sin With Sinning

A good tree produces good fruit.

A bad tree produces bad fruit.

A good tree cannot produce bad fruit.

A bad tree cannot produce good fruit.

Sin is the bad tree.

Your sins are the fruits of the bad tree.

Righteousness is the good tree.

Doing right things are the fruits.

Nothing can make a bad tree produce good fruit.

Nothing can make a good tree produce bad fruit.

It is not about the fruit.

It is not about the doings of right or wrong things.

It is about whether the tree is by nature a good tree or bad tree.

It is about whether a person is by nature Sin or Righteousness.

You can attempt to change the bad fruit of a bad tree all you like, it doesn't make the tree good.

You can attempt to change the good fruit of a good tree all you like, it doesn't make the tree bad.

You can attempt to change the sins of a sinful person all you like, it doesn't make the person Righteous.

You can attempt to change the right doings of a righteous person all you like, it doesn't make the person Sinful.

The problem is not the fruit, the problem is nature of the tree.

The problem is not the behaviour, the problem is the sinful nature/spirit of the person.

God is not an idiot, he didn't come to change the fruit of a bad tree.

The Law of Moses(including the 10 commandments) tried to do that and failed. Heb 10:1-8 says the whole law and its sacrifices didn't take away "SIN". The word translated there in the original Greek is "harmatia" it is a noun. Some bible translations use "sins" even the old KJV uses the noun "SIN" in verse 8. Compare it to "sins" in that same chapter verse 5, it is the same word "harmatia".

The Modern King James translation has changed ALL the verb form "sins" to the noun form "SIN". So why did the law fail? The same Heb 10:1 says because they "...are not able to make PERFECT... ", he IS interested in what will make you PERFECT once and for all.

God is not an idiot, he did NOT try to change the fruit of a bad tree through Jesus.

He removed the inherent bad nature of the tree and put in a new good nature.

He did not make Jesus engage in sinning i.e DO our bad things for us. No.

He didn't make a good tree(Jesus) produce our bad fruits for us the bad tree.

2Corinth 5: Darby Bible Translation

21a

"Him who knew not SIN he has MADE SIN for us... ".

The good tree was made a bad tree with the inherent badness of the bad tree i.e. SIN

21b

"... that WE might become God's RIGHTEOUSNESS in him".

The bad tree was in turn made a good tree with the inherent goodness of the good tree i.e. RIGHTEOUSNESS that comes from God.

Indeed for this singular verse, EVERY bible translation in the world uses the singular noun "SIN" and states that it is God's righteousness.

God didn't change the fruit of the bad tree, that is called behaviour modification. You don't need to become a christian to stop say sex or drug addiction.

He is interested in your PERFECTION once for all. So when Christ died on the cross, that is what took place. There was a divine exchange of your SIN (which was your inherent nature which produce fruits of sins via your doings) for the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God which was the inherent nature of Christ Jesus which produce fruits of right doings. It was a divine(spiritual) exchange.

So when Jesus cried out on the cross, " IT IS FINISHED", he was proclaiming that every work required for that divine exchange to take place had been done.

The work of Christ to make one qualified as a perfectly righteous being is finished. IT IS FINISHED, you are perfect once and for all. There is no more left, any requirement for you to do to be perfect. IT IS FINISHED. You are righteous with a righteousness that is from God and you got it through that divine exchange that happened at the cross.

That is why the holy spirit through apostle Paul boldly proclaims, in Hebrews 10:14 KJV

"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified".

My friend, I hope it is crystal clear now.

## ■ Liberty From The Curse Of The Law

"Whosoever is under the law is under a curse"..... that is what your bible says, stop living partially under the law and partially under grace. Jesus says in the book of Revelations that he hates those who blow hot and cold.

"Whosoever is under the law is under a curse"...... "the law is not of faith".... "whatever is not of faith is sin"..... "whosoever lives under the law has FALLEN from grace"... "the power of the sin is the law"... "by the law is no man justified before God"..... "by grace we have been saved"... "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us".... "he redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus"....

"We who are Jews by birth and 'not Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no-one will be justified."

It is all there in YOUR bible. Are you concerned about legalistic people condemning you who "do not set aside the grace(unmerited favour) of God"? Well... never mind, it is normal, for this is what Paul speaks to in saying "Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. IT IS THE SAME NOW." Gal 4: 28-29...

Who are the 'ordinary' people Paul speaks of; in Gal 4:25 We know that they are those born of Mount Sinai. Remember that Sinai represents the LAW. Paul says its because they are in SLAVERY. So be aware that your strongest critics may come from the fold of legalistic people who want you to go back under the law just like they.

But this is what Paul says to you my friend who accepts Christ's redemption from the law.. Gal 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a YOKE of SLAVERY"

Amen!

## ■ Let The Veil Fall

God doesn't love Jesus Christ, more than you.

Here are Jesus' own words concerning the believer in John 17:23

New Living Translation

I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.

Do you know why? The answer is in that same verse of scripture, "...I am in them...". So when your heavenly father sees you, he sees Jesus.

Not the person who did the abortion last week, nor the person struggling with their finances, nor the person suffering from depression, nor the person struggling to believe for healing etc.

he sees his perfect Son in you. he sees you healed and whole, he sees you righteous and perfect forever, he sees you clean, he sees you without lack, pain or distress of any kind.

Stop seeing according to your natural senses, see according to your eyes of faith. Come into agreement with Father and see what he sees. See Jesus in his glory. The more you see him, the Spirit who is Jesus, transforms you into the glorious image that you behold. 2Corintians 3:18

New International Version

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

So what is the "unveiled faces" all about, and how do we get a veil in our face that prevents us from seeing Jesus in his glory? The bible gives that answer in 2Cor 3:14 ISV

14 However, their minds were hardened, FOR TO THIS DAY THE SAME VEIL IS STILL THERE WHEN THEY READ THE OLD covenant. Only in union with the Messiah is that veil removed.

15 Yet even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil COVERS their hearts.

16 But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

So there you have your answer. The Law of Moses points to a list of 'dos' and 'donts' that you must perform. The new covenant that Jesus has brought into being, points to what God has done for us in Christ Jesus.

Your works therefore becomes a veil that blinds you to the finished work of Jesus because the Law is about your works that you must perform.

Now as an example, we will compare what it takes for a person under the old covenant to be above all nations on the earth versus a new covenant person.

Deu 28:1 KJV

And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do ALL his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

That is the first part of the many promises of the old covenant which is spelt out in Deuteronomy 28 if the people meet the condition of obeying, "ALL HIS COMMANDMENTS". Now let's check out the new testament believer.

Eph 2:5 KJV

5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Do you see the difference now... IF they did ALL that the old covenant commanded them, it only lifted them above other earthly nations.

For the person under the new covenant, he is not just elevated above earthly nations but is actually seated with Jesus in heavenly realms.

The old covenant guy has a big IF clause attached to what he or she must do all the time

For the NEW covenant guy, even when he or she has failed miserably as a sinner, it is not about his or her performance but rather, what Jesus has already done for him("Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,(by Grace ye are saved)").

You see the incredible difference between the two covenants... Now here is the veil that blinds you to this glory of Christ Jesus; You are still trying to achieve this heavenly dimension of life, through a Law based covenant that only promises an earthly elevation above other nations.

Now a person sitting in a town in Accra, or Alaska or Moscow or Beijing can neither see nor taste nor touch the heavenly realm(spiritual realm) with his natural senses. So the only option available is to accept and live in this reality by faith. But the Law on the contrary, is not by faith, it is a system of thou shall.... Thou shall..... Thou shall.... It is not based on faith but on your performance. It therefore takes your eyes to what you must do thereby blinding you to what Christ has already done for you.

It is like working for a million dollar cheque in back breaking work, when you have a trillion dollar cheque in your pocket. It is completely foolish for anyone to do that.

That is why Paul out of anger says something like "Oh you foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? ", when they started turning to the law after he had introduced them the good news of this wonderful GRACE of Christ Jesus towards all mankind.

So I entreat you my dear sister and brother in Christ Jesus, look to the glory of Jesus who by his heavenly power did cast out demons, raise the dead, heal the sick, feed multitudes from very little bread, walk on water, turned water into wine, whose ordinary presence at a corrupt man's house so touched the man that it brought double payment to all who had been cheated by him.... Behold this man's glory and let the Holy Spirit transform you into that same glorious image that dwells in you through Christ Jesus.

Remove the veil from your eyes.

#### ◆ What does it mean to "worship in spirit"?

Jesus told a woman at the Well in Samaria that the time has come when we will worship our Father God in spirit and in truth. What does it mean to worship in spirit.

John 4:23

23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

People have all kinds of explanations for what it means to worship in the spirit. the majority bother on praying in tongues, others include isolating yourself unto some forsaken mountain and starving yourself in a fast, others include studiously living by the ten commandment, others include being zealous, so zealous that they will judge you by how many inches your skirt is above your knees or the tattoo on your back and others still bother on the down right weird like wearing 'specially' anointed ornaments or drinking some specially anointed fluid.

I have to say this, in other not to be misunderstood. I do pray in tongues a lot and I do so almost every day. I do not have a problem with those who fast, even though I have personally ceased from fasting. Nonetheless the important matter at stake here is not what we do or do not do, but rather what the scriptures say concerning what it means to worship in spirit.

I learnt an important lesson some months ago concerning interpreting scriptures. And that is, to let the bible interpret the bible instead of subjective human analogies, even though I must admit that I often break this self imposed rule. So let's look at a couple of scriptures which speak of what it means to worship in spirit.

First, the scripture(not me or some pastor) tells us that worshiping by the spirit means that, we no longer worship our Father through how well or how badly we obey the ten commandment or any other law of the old testament. In other words, worshipping by the spirit means we do not have any business seeking righteousness through the law. Let's look at specific scriptures which say this unambiguously...

Gal 5:18 "But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.", I hope that is clear and simple enough.

Rom 7:6 "But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."

Rom 8:2 "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."

2Co 3:3 "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart."

2Co 3:6 "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."

Gal 3:3 "Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, do you now perfect yourself in the flesh?"

In scripture after scripture after scripture a clear distinction is made in the new testament, that worshiping in the spirit means making a clear departure from the old ways of depending on your fulfilment of the law. Indeed the apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 3, makes the same distinction in describing "we who worship in the spirit of God". He gives his former credentials that he is a Hebrew of the tribe of Benjamin, when it comes to the law he is a Pharisee (i.e. an expert at the law), when it comes to legalistic righteousness he is faultless, when it comes to zeal, he was so zealous that he was killing people 'for God' or so he thought. But in the end what did he say concerning all this....

Php 3:8-9 ISV "..... Indeed, I consider them rubbish in order to gain the Messiah and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but one that comes through the faithfulness of the Messiah, the righteousness that comes from God and that depends on faith."

There you have it, your bible says that those who worship in the spirit of God, receive Jesus Christ and are found in him through a righteousness that comes through the faithfulness of the Messiah. You are righteous because of your faith in what Jesus did on the cross for you and I. You are worshiping Father in spirit by having faith in the faithfulness of Christ Jesus but not by having faith in your performance of the law.

Now that you know this truth, do you feel relieved and even more thankful to God for his gift of Christ Jesus or you are jumping at the thought of being as lascivious as you can? I bet it is the former but there are those who believe that if you know and spread the good news of the total liberty that Christ Jesus gives without conditions, people will go out to sin. That is a lie that legalism uses to bind people under the burden of self righteousness which comes from the law. Worshiping God in spirit is about putting your faith in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.

## ■ Many 'Big' Preachers Do Not Know God

When I first received understanding of the gospel of the grace of Christ Jesus, something kept boggling my mind: How was it, that congregations of those who preach the old covenant mixed up with new covenant were so big and had such powerful manifestation of miracles?

Then the Holy Spirit showed me an example of Moses for an answer in Exodus 33:13

"Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight..."

This is a man who was lifted from a position of herding sheep and goats in the desert, this is the man at whose word, the most powerful nation on the face of the earth at the time, was so tormented by signs and wonders that, by many historical accounts, they let go between 1.5 to 3 million slaves who were the backbone of their infrastructure development. At the lifting of his hands and staff the sea parted. At his prayer unto God, fresh manna fell every morning, water flowed from rocks. This was the same man who literally had so much of God's glory on him that people couldn't look upon his face. This was the same man through whom the LAW had just been given.

And have you noticed something rather curious...? he was in absolutely no doubt, that the Law was not the WAY of God, that he did not KNOW God, and even though he had just given the law to the people, he was in search of GRACE.

This answers the question which boggled my mind. Simply because people have huge congregations, working miracles and all these happening in the midst of the Law that they preach, does not in anyway indicate that they know God.

My friend, the one who gave the law said by his own mouth that he didn't know God, or his way and thus was in search of GRACE.

Now look at God's response in verse 14 "And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest". Jesus says, "I am with you always"-Mat 28:20, " ...I will give you rest"-Mat 11:28. The gospel of the grace of our brother Jesus Christ can therefore not be a mixture of the law and the new covenant.

The one by whom the law came was in search of the way to Grace, why are you busily holding on to what he was looking away from. he had a larger following, performed bigger miracles than any 'big' preacher alive today so do not be moved by congregations and miracles.

Jesus Christ has ushered us into the era of grace. Come boldly unto the throne of GRACE.

Have a lovely life in Christ Jesus.

##### 

##### 3

# A Covenant Keeping God

■ HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR US ■ GOD IS FAITHFUL, EVEN WHEN YOU'RE NOT ■ THE LORD, MY SHEPHERD

Does God require anything from you as his child? Is there anything he says that you must do as his child other than receive his grace? If so, are there spiritual benefits that come through obeying these requirements and spiritual losses that come from ignoring them? ".

In the very first covenant with Adam, God required only one thing, which was that he should not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But he failed as God himself says in Hos 6:7 MKJV "But, like Adam, they have broken the covenant...". Nothing he could have ever done outside of that would have brought about the consequences of what is popularly referred to in Christian literature as 'the fall of man'.

In the second covenant, which God made with Noah in Gen 19:17, with regards to never flooding the whole earth with water again, in which neither Noah nor any man had a part to play, guess what, God has never flooded the whole earth with water again. And let no one kid himself, neither murder nor wars not strife nor any other evil, has or will ever cause God to break this covenant because it is God who instituted this covenant in which he asked no man to play a part. And so according to the terms of this covenant which God made for man's benefit via Noah, Neither Noah Nor Man has had or will ever have any part to play in it. (As to why God decided to make a covenant in which he demands of man to play a part and another to play no part, the bible answers that question where it is written in Romans 9:21 "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? ").

In the third covenant, which God made with Abraham in Gen 15, in fact, he put him to sleep while he(God) established the covenant, in another covenant with him in Gen 17 the ONLY part that Abraham and ONLY the men of his household NOT including women, had to play, was to be circumcised in order to be beneficiaries of the blessings in that covenant. No amount of abuse by any member stopped or could have stopped the terms of the covenant from being enforced by God. And it is evident that even though Sarah with the permission(or rather collusion) of Abraham, so abused Haggai that she attempted to flee, until God asked her to return, this deliberate abuse would be considered by any sane person to be utterly sinful and yet it did not alter God's covenant with Abraham and his household and so Sarah went on to become pregnant with the son she so longed for. Abraham despite his complicity went on to be blessed. So blessed that the bible says "...he became very rich...". Abraham's Nephew Lot sought to cheat his uncle Abraham via whose covenant he had been blessed and yet God saved him in Sodom and Gomorrah because he found him to be righteous. Indeed when the angels went to Sodom to get he and his family out, he offered to let the towns men rape his daughters instead of the angels. Now if this intention is not utterly disgusting and sinful, even though the towns men turned it down, then I don't know what sin is. BUT EVEN then, he was considered by GOD to be righteous and therefore saved. So the imputing of righteousness by God was neither lost by Sarah nor Lot nor Abraham. Because their righteousness was not judged, gained or LOST by any other means except for ONE requirement, which was that the men ought to be circumcised. I can go on and on about Judah who slept with his father's concubine, Jacob's sons who sold their brother into slavery and yet when famine came to Canaan, God saved ALL of them through Joseph in Egypt.

Lets come to the other covenant of the Law which was given to Moses. Now in all of the terms of that law -a part of which is popularly referred to as the ten commandments- God had a part to play only after a person was not afoul of ALL the terms of the covenant, constantly saying you shall not..... you shall not... you shall... you shall not... and I don't need to point out to anyone that during those 1,500 years before Christ came, they failed to keep ALL of the terms of that covenant which resulted in several consequences as God said will happen as stated in Leviticus 26:14.

Now Let us Examine the terms of the new covenant as spoken by the spirit through Jeremiah;

Jeremiah 31:31-34

"31 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,

32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.

33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Now, can you point out to me where in the terms of this new covenant, what the stipulated role of God's people is, in this new covenant? remember that, it is not the first time God has made a covenant in which he has not given the beneficiaries a role to play. Unless you do not accept this scripture as the terms of the new covenant, In which case I would be glad for you to show me the 'real new covenant'.

The cross made ALL the difference. Christ established an "eternal righteousness" according to the prophecy of Daniel in DAN 9:24. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Your belief in the person of Christ and what he has accomplished for you at the cross, is what qualifies you for everlasting life. Do not cheapen this wonderful Grace by trying to earn it by your deeds. In that you are saying, that you can earn by your right living what it took the DEATH of GOD's beloved son to achieve for you. You are eternally made righteous by Christ Jesus. Don't permit anyone to convince you that your righteousness is lost when you make a mistake, sin, error, or whatever adjective you choose. You are perfect in God's eyes because when he looks at you, he no longer sees your old self, he sees Christ Jesus, for your bible says in Col 3:3 "for ye have died, and your life is hid with the Christ in God".

## ■ His Grace Is Sufficient For Us

God is amazingly good to you and in all honesty you know that you try very hard to be the 'good' person that you think you are. And so you find it hard when people like me say that we are blessed by Grace alone and not by our 'good' works in addition to the Grace of Christ Jesus.

You see, here is the thing you haven't considered (maybe). We understand from the apostle Paul, that when God made a promise of an inheritance to the Seed of Abraham, he was referring to only one singular individual called Jesus Christ. Now we know that, that inheritance was placed in the authority of Jesus when he resurrected and was seated at the right hand of the father; It took the life of that person called Jesus to inherit the inheritance which was promised to the seed of Abraham. We (born again by the spirit of God), having believed in and having been baptised into the name i.e. the person, his authority, his ability, and having become one with Christ Jesus, have now become "joint heirs" with Christ Jesus.

Our inheritance, which manifests in peace, sound mind, good health, riches, faith, love, joy, etc, etc, are all a result of the sacrifice that Jesus alone made in laying down his life as a ransom for many, including you.

Now when you elevate your 'good' works to the same level as the sacrifice which is the body and life of the person called Jesus the Christ, you insult him, you insult God who sent him. That is what you do when you say or believe that your works contribute in addition to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, to make the inheritance be of effect in your life.

You insult him when you say or believe that the paper money in your pocket, has any ability to acquire for you, what it took the dying of Jesus to inherit. By your "sowing" of money, which I believe is just a psychologically more tolerable word than "buying" in the scheme of things, into some anointing for wealth from God, you are saying to God that your money can buy that inheritance which he ordained that you should come into, only via believing John 3:16.

Indeed, you may wonder to yourself that, if this were so and you have no evidence from scripture that it is not so, why are you so blessed? You are blessed because Jesus finished every work required for you to be blessed, nothing more, nothing less. Jesus said the birds of the air and the grass of the field neither sow nor reap yet YOUR father takes care of them all, and YOU are more valuable to him than they. Now tell me this, what manner of father will feed and clothe his pets and grass with the finest things in life for FREE and yet ask his own children, his own flesh and blood, to sow to HIM(buy from God) the things that they want or need?

That perspective about God is a lie that the church has held on to for far too long. he cares for birds who neither sow nor reap, in other words he provides for animals who can not justify before him, any effort or contribution towards their upkeep and he is so affectionate towards the cheapest bird specie in the world(the sparrow) so much so that Jesus says, not a single bird falls from the sky without him taking note. That is how emotionally attached your father is to his creatures. How much more you... can you imagine how he feels when his own children, turn to him and point to their money and say father take this money and give me the inheritance that Jesus died to freely qualify me for?

Today the Holy Spirit calls on you, to accept your inheritance as a free gift. Let it be of Grace and not your works or money or effort of any kind.

#### ◆ Unchangeable God

There's this issue that dances around quietly in the minds of people, when you introduce or rather remind them of the new covenant that Jesus sealed with his blood through the cross, and the error of mixing up the two covenants i.e the law of Moses and the new covenant by Christ Jesus.

They have this look in their eyes that screams something like 'has this heretic not read that GOD NEVER changes'. so how can the God of instant justice and brimstone and fire suddenly become this 'blind' lover who sees no evil, hears no evil and does no evil.

No, she never changes. BUT the difference in attitude stems from this one word "RELATIONSHIP". From the beginning, he has NEVER EVER dealt with his SON(DAUGHTER) Jesus Christ on the basis of the Law excerpt when he(Jesus Christ), took humanity's place as a servant on the cross.

Before the cross, there was not a single DAUGHTER(SON) of God on the face of the planet. And we know from the book of Corinthians chapter 6, that angels are judged and thus will be treated according to their deeds. And angels are servants not children of God. The Hebrews under the Law were servants. Those not under the Law before the cross were as the apostle Paul puts it, "by NATURE sons of wrath", in another place he calls them "enemies" of God.

Now my dear friend, not a single person you read about under the Law, was a DAUGHTER(SON) of God. Christ Jesus by his taking of your place through the cross as a sinful servant, gave you the right to become the son of God.

Now that you are a DAUGHTER(SON) of God, the God who never changes, will never never ever relate with you as a servant. Otherwise he would have changed and thus become a liar.

It is a mistake therefore for you to try so hard by your not doing of evil, to try and get God to bless you. My friend, you're engaged in a useless endeavour of trying to change an unchanging and unchangeable God who has now become your father.

The apostle Paul puts it nicely, "by one sacrifice, he has PERFECTED FOREVER them that are sanctified". You are trying hard to get an unchangeable God to change and treat or relate with PERFECT beings in the same manner that he deals with imperfect servants, when you judge yourself by the Law. Because you by that same measure of the law and your good deeds, expect God to look favourably on you.

My friend, that is the highway to frustration and depression because the new person that you are in this new covenant relationship, is trying to live by repealed rules that was made for your old self which no longer exists because it was put to death on the cross. You are trying to put old wine into a new wineskin, it will break.

God didn't change, he changed you through the finished work of Christ Jesus. The never changing God who cannot leave the sin of his servants and enemies unpunished, punished you by punishing Christ Jesus in your stead. Isaiah said of God,

Isa 53:10 MKJV

10. Yet it pleased Jehovah to crush Him; to grieve Him; that he should put forth His soul as a guilt-offering. he shall see His seed, he shall prolong His days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper in His hand.

The scriptures says that "the wages of sin is death" and you earned that death which your old self deserved when Christ Jesus died in your stead on the cross. he cried "it is finished".

## ■ God Is Faithful, Even When You're Not

Abraham believed God and it was credited unto him for righteousness. Gen 15:6

Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" Gen 17:17 NIV

Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Gen 21:2 NIV

I know that you may be surprised...

Did he believe God's word? Yes.

Did he come to doubt God's word? Yes. In fact, God's word seemed so funny to him, he fell down laughing at God.

Did God fulfill his promise? Yes.

My friend, like Abram you believed God for something. Like him you have changed your confession to agree with God's word. he started calling himself Abraham(father of many nations) in agreement with God.

But you see, the passage of time, and the 'reality' according to his natural senses, made him doubt God to the point of breaking up in laughter.

I will say this straight to your face, even though it goes against popular theology;

The doubts and unfaithfulness of any man or woman, whom God has declared righteous, can never, never, ever cease the word and the faithfulness of God concerning his life from being true. Because it is NOT about what she or he does, but that it is about the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD that God himself has FREELY credited to him or her.

The apostle Paul said it in very clear terms, even though many preachers pretend not to see it because it throws out of the window, their human logic ladened theology and doctrines.

Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:13 NIV;

"if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself."

The King James Bible says;

"If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself."

Once you become the righteousness of God, it ceases to be about you. HE CANNOT DENY HIMSELF.

When God was telling the prophet Isaiah in a prophecy about the church, that "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." God gave a reason and the reason was clear that it was because of HIS, not our, righteousness. Isaiah 54:17

"...This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness IS OF ME, saith the LORD".

Another translation says, " their RIGHTEOUSNESS IS FROM ME".

That is why Jesus was also very unambiguous about the kind of righteousness that we should seek.

he said "seek ye first the Kingdom of God and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS" Mat 6:33.

The NLT translation there, is not quite correct. Please check you phone's bible app for your self and see the original Greek translation. It doesn't speak of your righteousness, it says clearly "HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS". Jesus being fully God could not have contradicted what he himself had told Isaiah in the prophecy.

So my dear friend, the circumstances of this life are such that, when you look to the strength of yourself like Abraham did in the natural, it will breed doubt in your mind. At a point Paul was so down he says, from harassment, stress, external conflict and internal fear, it took God to lift them up. 2Corinth 7:5-6.

In his letter to the Philippians he contemplates if it will not be better for him to die because while he was in prison, some people were preaching with good intentions while others were preaching to simply stir up trouble for him because he was the one who had brought all this Christian thing to town which the authorities didn't like, for which reason he was in prison.

As for circumstances, if you are unfortunate to pay them much heed, they will bring you to moments of doubt. It does not in anyway cancel the faithfulness of God towards you. When he sees you, he sees his righteousness.

Has God made you righteous? Yes. Your bible says it in 2Co 5:21 KJV;

"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".

"...they which receive the abundance of Grace and the GIFT of RIGHTEOUSNESS, shall reign in life by one, Christ Jesus" Rom 5:17

Your righteousness is a GIFT. No one works for a gift, then it becomes a wage. God is obligated to keep every promise to you because he has declared you righteous, just like he declared Abraham. It is for his name sake.

## ■ The Lord, My Shepherd

Many times we tend to think that God needs our help in being the FATHER/shepherd of our lives. When he gets a good thing going for us, then we start to think and write and say things like it was because WE went to find green pastures, that WE strategically positioned our selves besides quiet waters, that WE refreshed our souls with OUR diligence and holiness, that WE applied wisdom in other to ensure that we remain in right paths and the good books of God for OUR successes sake.

We say and preach nonsense like, if WE stray into dark valleys of sickness, disease, drug addictions, prostitution, abortions, divorce etc, etc, etc, then GOD has abandoned us or abandons us until WE turn back to him.

We lie when we say to another that if she is struggling in life it is our FATHER correcting her because the apostle Paul has said that God disciplines his children. When the psalmist says of our father that "your rod and you staff, they COMFORT me". OUR heavenly Father never beats on his children like men do with their rods and staff, Instead he comforts us.

When our enemies surround us, like terrorists, EBOLA, ZEKA, SARS, famine, inflation, price hikes and so forth and so on, we look to OUR passports, OUR bank accounts, OUR salaries, OUR national armies, OUR police force, OUR parents' assets, OUR incompetent governments and so forth. Then when we see the scale of the problem versus OUR strengths, then we begin to worry and fret and make the same confession that people without a shepherd make. Forgetting Jesus who said to you, "I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD", of whom the psalmist has said "YOU prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies".

Today people's congregations overflow into mega auditoriums, the blind see, the def hear, they speak on political platforms with enchanting oratory, they design powerful software, in their work places their competence is celebrated, while others struggle to study they can stay awake for hours non-stop to study with ease. So they write books and all they say is that THEY did this and THEY did that and THEY did those to achieve all THEY have achieved. They see THEMSELVES and think that their cup of success overflows because of what THEY did, but they forget the words of the prophet which said "YOU anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows". Even the son who IS God himself proclaims "The spirit of the LORD is upon me and has ANOINTED me..."

Do YOU now see why their 13 principles for this, and their 12 laws for that, and their fasting and sowing and reaping rhetoric have failed to be of any benefit to you... Look to THE Lord who anoints and not the effects of the anointing.

For this reason shall we boast in THE LORD our shepherd and say like the psalmist says "Surely YOUR goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

For we know, and understand, and believe that;

"THE LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

HE makes me lie down in green pastures,

HE leads me beside quiet waters,

HE refreshes my soul.

HE guides me along the right paths for HIS name's sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for YOU are with me;

YOUR rod and your staff, they comfort me.

YOU prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

YOU anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely YOUR goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Psalm 23:1-6 NIV

#### ◆ Love Comes Calling

Joseph went through all that trouble, even at the hand of his own family, so that those same people could be saved. That includes the brother who slept with his father's wife and the one who tricked and murdered all the males of a whole town out of vengeance.

David won the fight against Goliath, but all Israel was saved, including it's prostitutes and homosexuals who didn't lift a finger.

Samson from birth had his life mapped out for him. His love betrayed him, his enemies gauged out his eyes. All so that all Israel could be saved, including the quarrelsome wives and abusive husbands who didn't lift a finger.

I don't know what you have been taught about God. But those prayers David prayed about God killing his enemies are not for you.

The disciples of Jesus Christ wanted to call down fire and burn a village. Jesus rebuked them and told them "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is NOT come to DESTROY men's lives BUT to SAVE"

I don't know what Jesus you have been introduced to. The one of the vain imaginations of honestly ignorant men, or the one who came to show the world what love is.

Stop wasting your time and see that stories of the old testament, are a shadow of the reality of the coming Grace of Christ Jesus. It is not about the vengeful deity you have been made to believe.

That boy who broke your heart and married your friend a week later, is doing well in business, his child is a great bubbly kid, and they probably moved into a bigger house, bought nicer cars, and is now a leader in church.

All the while, you had been praying that God should kill him. You could have spent that time praying for healing, instead of driving away all other guys away from you with your newly found disdain for men.

If you are like this hypothetical person, I'm glad to inform you that Jesus is not your private assassin. he saves. he justifies the ungodly, he heals the broken hearted, he raises the dead, he gives prosperity to the poor.

He is a God of Mercy. he wants to show you that side of him. His vengeance was wrought on Jesus at the cross. There's no vengeance left in him to execute against your perceived enemies. The only vengeance they will suffer will be IF they rejected the Grace that God made available to all mankind in Christ Jesus.

See God for who he really is. See the scriptures for what it really is. It All points to Jesus Christ.

##### 4

# You Are Like Christ Jesus

■ THE TRUTH OF YOUR REAL IDENTITY ■ YOU ARE PERFECT FOREVER ■ YE ARE GODS ■ YOU ARE INCREDIBLY SPECIAL

I am speaking of you the believer in Christ Jesus, you my dear friend are exactly like Jesus Christ. You do have the same relationship with the father that Jesus has with the father. The same glory that Jesus has at this very moment, you do have. People find it hard to believe this next one but it's true, you have the same faith that Jesus has at this very moment. Just like Jesus Christ, whomever's sin that you forgive will be forgiven him. I can imagine someone saying to himself that 'this guy going crazy' but relax, those are the very words of Christ Jesus. The same authority that Jesus has on earth, you have. Just like Jesus you are an heir of God. You are inseparable from God.

I remember when at church some time ago, the pastor said these words; "Whatever Jesus said about himself, you can say the same about yourself". I was hit in a special place inside my gut. I thought I knew or better still understood who I was in Christ Jesus but for the first time in a long while, here I was being confronted with an issue that fundamentally addressed my faith directly in all the things that I knew about my new life in Christ. The truth is that, I came home and played the audio of that sermon over and over and over again. The reason was not that I did not believe or agree with the veracity of that statement; it was that I had found out that I was in the odd place of having to admit to myself the uncomfortable truth that, I new very very well at an 'intellectual' level, who I was in Christ Jesus but that did not necessarily mean that I saw myself as that person alive and living the very life of Christ Jesus here on earth.

That is why I wrote the first paragraph in the direct manner in which I have. And I suspect that to some of you reading right now, it is completely at variance with all that you have been taught to believe all your lives. Religion has taught us that we are sinful creatures who must be constantly confessing our sins in other to qualify for heaven. Religion has taught us that, what we do, as in whether good or bad, determines whether we go to heaven or not. So religion has hoodwinked believers into a 'doing' religion. People are trying to become like God through what they 'do' instead of realising that we are already like God because we have been given birth to by God. And in much the same way that a goat cannot give birth to an ostrich, so can a righteous God not give birth to an unrighteous being. And we understand from John that "as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God... which were born NOT of blood, NOR of the will of the flesh, NOR of the will of man, BUT of God"-John 1:12-13

So you my dear friend, are just like the son of God, who is called Jesus Christ and it is God himself who made you that way, and that is what Paul says in Rom 8:29 "for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate (to be) conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren". The JMNT translates the words "conformed to the image" as is used in the original Greek context in which the apostle wrote as "joint-forms of the material likeness, portrait, mirrored image of his son". In other words, when God looks at you he doesn't see a dead sinful man, he sees Jesus.

The question therefore is how do you see yourself... do you see yourself the same way that God sees you... Do you see yourself righteous, holy and without sin or you see yourself weak and dirty and sinful. If that is so, then are you saying that the apostle John was telling lies when he said, "as he(Jesus) is, so are we in this world", or that the apostle Paul was engaged in deception when he said that "for by one sacrifice he has PERFECTED FOREVER, them that are sanctified", or that Jesus was untruthful in saying that "whoever believes in him is NOT condemned..."-John 3:18. Surely, even if Paul and John lied(for the sake of argument) what about Jesus?

You do have the same relationship with the father that Jesus has with the father. That is because of the prayer that Jesus himself prayed in John 17:18 "neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe... that they all may be one; as thou Father (art) in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us". Do you now see how the apostle John could say in absolute clarity without missing words that "herein is our love made perfect... AS HE IS SO ARE WE IN THIS WORLD " -1 john 4:17

The same glory that Jesus has at this very moment, you do have. Here is Jesus himself speaking of you and I who are believers, to our Father God in John 17:22 "And the GLORY which thou gavest me I have GIVEN them". He didn't say he will give it, he didn't say he shall give it according to what you do or not do, he didn't say he has given some or part of what he received, he said has already GIVEN it to you, the same glory that his father gave to him. So unless you have any reason to believe that Jesus lied to his own father, then I suggest that you believe him, over that powerful arch bishop who says that you have to go fast and sow some seed until it hurts, before you experience the glory of Christ Jesus in your finances, health, family etc.

People find it hard to believe this next one but it's true, you have the same faith that Jesus has at this very moment. The reason is that you are not just born into a spiritual being like him, he now lives in you, you have become completely one with him so his words are now your words, his thoughts are now your thoughts, and his faith is now your faith. That is why the apostle Paul says in Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I LIVE; yet not I but Christ liveth 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 up for me". So my dear friend, stop trying to get faith, that is a waste of your time. There can be no faith greater than the faith by which Christ Jesus lives through you. Stop doing to get and start believing in whom you are through Christ Jesus. In fact I dare say that, that is the fundamental truth about our entire walk as children of God. It is not about what we do but who we are, and who we are is what produces what we do. And faith is one of the fruits of the spirit of God in us, Gal 5:22. Before the cross, Christ was not living in any of the disciples, so if you see a scripture like "yee of little faith" or similar variants in the four gospels, understand it in it's proper context and don't apply it to you. Do not permit some bishop or apostle or deacon to foist their ignorance on you with faithless sermons like '12 reasons why you lack faith', '7 steps on how to get faith' etc. My friend YOU HAVE FAITH . It is the faith of Christ because he is alive and living through you.

Just like Jesus Christ, whoever's sin that you forgive will be forgiven him. Those are the very words of Christ Jesus in John 20:22 "...Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive ANYONE his SINS, they are forgiven; if you DO NOT forgive them, they are not forgiven". Mind you, one of the people among those to whom he was saying this was Peter who had just betrayed him 3 days ago. Do you now see how 'scary' powerful you are? Do you now see that it's about who you are in Christ Jesus? Not even Elijah or Moses or David or John the Baptist had this much authority like YOU do. My friend, Jesus came to make sure that you are one with him completely in every conceivable way.

The same authority that Jesus has on earth, you have. Jesus says "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. THEREFORE go and make disciples of all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son... And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" -28:18-20. It is on the basis of the authority of Jesus who lives in you, that you can execute any/every mandate in the name of Christ Jesus.

Just like Jesus you are an heir of God. This goes beyond inheriting what he has created to inheriting him. Thus you and I have inherited his attitude, his character, his nature, his ability, his righteousness, his perfection, indeed everything about God, we have inherited along with Christ Jesus. That is what Paul says in Rom 8:17 "And if children, then heirs; heirs of GOD and joint-heirs with Christ...".

It is for these and many more reasons such as these that I believe wholeheartedly with Paul that YOU are inseparable from God. Rom 8:29 " For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

See yourself in light of the truth of who YOU are IN Christ Jesus. The only difference that can exist between two people who have inherited infinite wealth(not limited to money), is the degree to which they each know about who they truly are.

## ■ The Truth of Your Real Identity

From Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Solomon, David, Ruth.... all the way to the last great person mentioned in the Bible, NOT a single one of them ever gave anything to God FIRST, before they got blessed in return. Not a single one of them. God himself dares anyone by his own lips in Job 41:11 ASV

11. Who hath first given unto me, that I should repay him? Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.

It has always been God giving first and then they, giving back out of what they have received in appreciation. In much the same way, Jesus took upon himself the punishment for our sins, stripes for our healing and chastisement for our shalom(peace, prosperity, completeness, soundness), while we were still sinners.

So having received from him his righteousness, his health, his shalom, we can boldly do as is written, Heb 4:16 ASV "Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need". It is in this knowledge of what Jesus has already given to us via his finished work on the cross, that we believe with our hearts and confess with our mouths, in thanks giving to God, that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, that we are healthy, that we are rich. Not because we gave some offering in church, nor is it because we did something to deserve it, but it is all because as it is written, "but that he FIRST loved us and he died for us". That is why John boldly declares that "as he(Jesus) is, so are we in this world".

So don't let anything rob you of your true identity which Jesus Christ has given to you. As he is, so are YOU. Is he rich or poor, he said "the silver and gold are mine", he said "all the beasts of the forest and the cattle on a thousand hills are mine", he said "the earth is MY footstool". As he is, so are you in this world. Is he sick or healthy, he said "I am... the life", remember, as he is, so are YOU in this world. Is he a sinful or righteous person, Your bible says that in him there is no sin. Remember, as he(Jesus) is, so are you in THIS world.

Jesus is so in love with you and I, he has given us all of himself. In fact, he said with his own mouth that "I will come and live in you". So YES, Jesus cannot lie, he is right there in YOU. he said with his own mouth that "the words that I speak, they are SPIRIT and they are LIFE". So since he now lives in You, and as it is also written that "as he is, so are we in THIS world", then the words that you also speak, they are SPIRIT and they are LIFE!!. That is why YOUR bible says that "life and death are in the power of the tongue". So don't waste time speaking lack, want, diseases and loneliness, for yourself because what you speak as a child of God is spirit and life. Instead, speak your spirit and life filled words in a manner that conforms with what Christ has GIVEN to you, through his finished work on the cross for you, thus his gift of health, his gift of shalom(peace, prosperity, soundness, health, completeness) and his gift of righteousness.

When the rest of the people in this world speak what they see and hear and feel based on external circumstances, we who know of the wonderful things that Jesus has given to us, speak with assurance, words which conform to what we hope for even though it may be contrary to what we see presently because we know, that our words just as Jesus' words, are spirit and they are life. So we create with our word. That is FAITH! That is why Your bible says "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the substance of things not yet seen". We speak because we believe what Jesus has done for us.

That is why it sounds as foolishness unto the rest of the world who do not believe because they speak based on their five biological senses of taste, sight, touch, sound and smell, while we, speak on the basis of what we are in Christ Jesus, which may not necessarily be the same as what is happening on the outside. That is why your bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God. It doesn't mean that you don't believe, it means that those who don't believe in Jesus can't have the faith(the assurance of things hoped for, the substance of things not yet seen) because they do not believe in his finished work at the cross for all, so they do not know of what he has freely given the world, so Jesus cannot come and live in them because Jesus said light and darkness cannot live together, so they have no assurance outside what their five senses tell them and they have no spirit and life filled words because Jesus whose words are spirit and life, does not live in them.

However, you who are a child of God, have Christ in YOU. So you can be rest assured that you have faith. Let the words that you speak concerning yourself glorify God, knowing what you have received by the grace of our King and Lord Jesus Christ, who is so in love with you and I, that he allowed himself to be killed like a common criminal, as punishment for our sin, so that in return, we can enjoy his unmerited favour.

## ■ You Are Perfect Forever

The story of the adulterous woman is quite revealing of the nature of Christ Jesus. She was caught in an act of sin, her accusers wanted to stone her according to law which is from God himself. The woman didn't run to Jesus, it was fate that chanced upon her, her accusers were perfectly right in their interpretation of the law of Moses which was from God. If they had stoned her to death, they will have indeed been fulfilling the command of the law.

To this day, there is no record of what Jesus wrote on the ground when they brought her to him. And this is where it is difficult for people to accept the UNCONDITIONAL Grace of God... by the time he had finished writing whatever it is he was writing, all her accusers had dropped their stones and left. Yes ALL your accusers including your conscience and the law, and everything may bear witness that you are guilty. Not deserving of love, peace, joy, righteousness, prosperity. Yes... But Jesus Christ, the voice that matters does not find you guilty of any sin. I don't care, how many 'ifs' and 'buts' whether from the law or from your own mind or from the devil or from your accusers. Jesus is not accusing you. You are free and blameless in his eyes.

Until you accept what you really are in Christ Jesus, you can never ever live a life free of sin. If you believe that Jesus has taken away the chastisement for your peace forever and ever, then start thinking in your heart what you are in Christ Jesus. What are you in Christ Jesus? Your bible says "by that one offering, he has perfected forever all those who are being sanctified". He sees you as perfect forever, start seeing yourself that way too.

## ■ Ye Are gods

When Abraham was about 75 years old, his wife Sarah who was 10 years younger, thus about 65 years was so physically beautiful that the Pharaoh of Egypt had her taken into is harem to be had for his wife. Several years later when Abraham was 99 years old, his wife Sarah, who should be about 89 at this time, was so physically beautiful that Abimelech, took her into his house to have her for a wife. In fact, Abraham warned her on both occasions to tell people that she was his sister because he knew that Sarah was so physically beautiful that others might want to literally kill him to have her.

Who said beauty doesn't last... and who said God can't keep you looking stunning. It's common these days, to see young ladies developing worry lines on their faces and jumping into wrong relationships because they think they are growing old at 28, 29, 30, 31, 35.... you would think that David may have been speaking of Christians today when he said in Psa 82:6 KJV "...Ye are gods;... But ye shall die like men..."

How you perceive God in his glory and power, to influence your situation, makes a huge difference in how he manifests, in your life. Jesus told a parable as recorded in Luke chapter 19, concerning the kingdom of God. he spoke of a King who returned from a long journey. But before he left for the journey, he called ten of his servants and gave them, sums of money to invest for him while he was gone. There were others in the kingdom who did not want him as their King. On his return, two of the ten servants were rewarded by him for earning profit on their money. The third servant however had this to say(NLT), "I hid it and kept it safe. I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn't yours and harvesting crops you didn't plant". The king rebuked him and said "take the money from this servant, and give it to the one who earned the most". Concerning those who did not want him as their king, he declared them 'enemies' and ordered for them to be killed. Note carefully, that of the ten servants who received the money, only two reported profits. Of the other eight servants who did not report profits, only one lost what he had to the one who earned the most profit. Note also, that even though he held a very negative view of the king, which so angered the king that he actually called him "wicked servant" in verse 22, he was not killed, along with the other citizens who did not accept the king's kingship over them.

Even better, we are not servants but children of God but many Christians have been taught to falsely believe that our generous father, who so loved us that he gave his only begotten son Jesus to die for us, is a dangerous person towards those who believe in him and so ought to be literally feared. We allow false teachings and fear of failure, to put in our minds, false limitations on the generosity of God towards us who believe in him. God loves you, he is out to bless you and not destroy you. he has said by Isaiah, "my covenant of blessing will never be broken". God has sworn an oath in that same Isaiah 54 that "I will never again pour out my anger on you" because in Isaiah 53 God shows us that Jesus has borne all the punishment for our sins. That is why it is written, in the book of Hebrews that "by that one offering, he has perfected forever all those who are sanctified". That is why Jesus said those who believe in him will never be condemned. That is why it is written that, "the spirit bears witness with our spirit, that we are the sons of GOD". Do not limit the generosity of God in any area of your life. he loves you indefinitely, who believes in his son Jesus Christ.

#### ◆ Words Of Life

The words, "let there be light", "stretch forth your hand", "in the name of Jesus, rise up and walk" and "Tabitha kumi" were not requests, they are spirit and they are life which caused to be.

Whatever God's word to you is, it is not a request requiring your performance. It is life endued spirit being poured forth on you to cause a desired effect to be. That is why God says "I watch over my word to perform it" Jer 1:12.

What is God's word to you specifically, that is, what life endued spirit has he poured out on you... That is why Jesus says, "the words that I speak, they are spirit and they are life"

#### ◆ Not Obliged To Forgive

"And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" ...Jesus Christ.

Can you do that... aaaarrrree yoooouuu sure you haaaaaaaave... okay... answer me honestly... Let's assume for a moment that you were a rape victim, are you sure that the guy who raped you and doesn't even show any remorse for it, will get a drop of cold water from you to quench his test, or you will donate a kidney for him?

Because this is what Jesus says in Mar 11:26 KJV "But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."

My friend, we both know what the answer is... That was the standard for those under the Law.

Let me show you what Grace asks of you.

Eph 4:32 KJV "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for CHRIST's SAKE hath FORGIVEN you"

Col 3:13 KJV "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ FORGAVE you, so also do ye"

You see the difference, forgiving others is not a condition precedent to receiving forgiveness from God.

Sometimes people hurt us so badly, we would rather rot in hell than let them go without retribution. But now God is telling us that we have been forgiven, we are not now going to be forgiven, he doesn't hold anything to our heads as a condition required to receive forgiveness.

Now when you look at yourself, both your secret deeds, or public deeds and come to understand how impossible it was for anyone to qualify as righteous enough to stand before God, and when you consider that in spite of all that, he gave up Jesus for YOU, to die a shameful death for you, even though he was completely innocent:

When you consider that you have been forgiven for Christ's sake, forgiveness flows from your heart. It is not forced, it is not coerced, you don't force yourself to fake it because you have to, you just grant that person a favour. In fact, the word translated as forgiveness in the two verses of Ephesians and Colossians is not the traditional Greek word for "forgiveness", it means favour.

You're no longer the 'victim' being coerced into pardoning another out of obligation, you are the forgiven person free from any obligation to forgive another, yet forgiving out of your recognition or acknowledgment of the enormity of the favour that you yourself have received from Christ which when compared to the hurting done by another, is not worth the burden of vengeance that keeps robbing you of enjoying your favoured life.

You may heal quickly or it may even take years, but you have no doubts in your mind that you have favoured the 'sinner'.

And you are capable because you now have the same Holy Spirit inside you that was in Christ Jesus that enabled him to lay down his life in other to forgive the very people who were killing him.

Be mindful of this fact, you have been forgiven. Jesus was not teaching born again people how to pray when he taught that to the disciples. The son of man had not yet been nailed to the cross for all women(men). The law had not been fulfilled by him at that point in time through the cross.

But now the law has been fulfilled by Christ Jesus through the cross. Now you're no longer a sinner like those who were being taught that prayer at the time. Now you are born of incorruptible seed (the Spirit if God), now the Holy Spirit lives in you forever. Now you are, as is written in Hebrews, prefect forever. Now you no longer have any need for forgiveness. Now the devil can no longer whisper to you that you're only forgiving because you're afraid that if you don't do it, God will not forgive you.

Now you can no longer doubt the sincerity of your forgiveness. You have been forgiven.

## ■ You Are Incredibly Special

Jesus told religious experts, some of whom had memorised the 4 books of Moses (the Jews have it divided into 4 books), that they err because they did not KNOW the scriptures. What effrontery, when you think about it: that a carpenter's son will be telling the experts such a thing(at least, that is how they humanly perceived Christ Jesus).

Do not be deceived, knowledge is not acquired through books, it is a spirit. You are good at what you know and understand and apply in wisdom because of the nature of the spirit in you.

Exo 31:3 "And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship"

Exo 35:31 "And he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship;"

Isa 11:2 "And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD"

1Co 12:8 "For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;"

Eph 1:17 "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:"

Col 1:9 "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding."

YOU the believer, you do have the Holy Spirit, the same spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead, the same spirit that makes God, God, is living in and with and through you. he is not just existing in you, he is living through YOU.

The whole difference now is this, are you believing and speaking in tandem with this reality of who you are in truth or you are busy fighting your own spirit through believing and saying things like 'I'm not as smart as that guy', 'I don't have the head to get that degree', 'as for me, I can't understand the bible', 'I can't be as articulate enough to be president', 'I'm a nurse so I don't see myself running a hospital', 'I can't understand all this tax deductions because I'm not smart enough'.

STOP fighting yourself. It is time to believe right about yourself. You can write that book, you can build that business, you can get that degree, you can rise to the very top of your organisation, you can be president, you can run for public office, you can raise those kids, you can start that orphanage, you can do all things through Christ. The reason is because the source of all knowledge and wisdom and resources is LIVING in and with and through YOU.

### Christ And His 'Whoresome' Bride

How Glorious my lover is to me

How Precious I am to him

In foolishness I wandered into dark worlds

In hubris I whored my soul to strangers

Yet with an aching heart in terrifying anguish

You sought me out onto death

And sold yourself, a whore to strangers in my stead

To purchase a harlot, from Hades' cleft

O! how unsearchable the depth of spotless love

O! how magnificent the width of unrepentant mercy

And he even clothed me in royal garment

And willed his estate to me

Tell me my friends...

How could I ever repay...

##### 5

# Have The Christ Perspective

■ HIS SPIRIT OF WISDOM ■ GOD DOESN'T CONDEMN YOU

■ HE HAS MADE YOU HIS CHILD NOT HIS SERVANT ■ CHRIST-LIKE AUDACITY TO SPEAK

Proverbs 2:6 NLT "For the lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. " If you think you can learn to be wise from some book or from men then guess what, even Solomon recognises that it is God who gives wisdom.

Burdened indeed is the man who relies on his will power to achieve anything in his life, for he knows not when or where the next tsunami will hit. Nor does he know if his financiers of his heavily leveraged contract will suddenly go bankrupt, nor when he will suddenly be taken ill and not see his family again.

I'm not being fatalistic, there are simply too many unknowns for our fascinating mind to grasp. You cannot be too wise and all knowledgeable before the aggregate of all events and wisdom which give order to things that appear random to our mind, humanly speaking, we are like ants trying to comprehend the vastness of events which must BE necessarily controlled in order to execute things that we take for granted, let alone things that are important to us.

Should I therefore defer my reasoning capacity to some supreme deity simply because I can't understand it all, no. HOWEVER my reasoning mind, having comprehended its own limitation recognises that, it needs to be done for it, that which it cannot do for itself. And the one who can do for me everyday, that which I'm incapable of doing for myself is JESUS. My limited human mind cannot possibly qualify for the unlimited, for it is limited. My limited mind cannot attain by itself, the manifold wisdom of God, for then it would by itself have qualified to comprehend the unlimited wisdom of God.

O!! how retched man is, O!! how small we are in the face of the leviathan let alone God's majestic power that sustains all the universe. Oh!! how retched am I who thinks myself grand in capacity, when I am but a naked orphan in contention with forces I do not even understand or know of, but must necessarily control and overcome.

I will not arrogate unto my honour, the stealth of my will, for in the secrete closets of my mind my skeletons mock at me and at how easily they smashed that feeble gatekeeper called WILL to have their way. When men point to my honour, I know in my own heart that sheer cowardice and fear has built for me, this façade of a moral foundation on which the mirage of my so called honour stands.

To whom shall I turn when I'm of myself incapable of neither comprehending nor being, as a man ought to. I would turn to your Grace oh Lord my God. I would turn to your mercy my king, who chose to come here on earth "to serve and not to be served", I will turn to you Lord Jesus whose blood speaks for me "better things" and not vengeance for all my wrongs, like Abel's blood demands. While others seek to earn from you what they think they can merit by their right doings, grant me the humility to know and accept the eternal truth, that nothing your blood has purchased for me without reproach can be maintained by my feeble hands without your continuous Grace which I can never work to achieve. It is all you Lord Jesus, It is all you.

## ■ His Spirit Of Wisdom

Do you know anyone whom you have hardly ever heard say the words 'I am sorry'... do you envy how all their important relationships have turned out.... humility is not about being sheepish. It's a matter of inherent character.

It's what makes a person admit to herself that she needs Jesus more than Jesus needs her, even if it makes her come across as a pretentious christian who wears mini skirts, in the eyes of others. It is what makes a scientist, look at all the order in the universe and concludes that surely, all this could not have been by accident. Even if it makes him come across as superstitious. It is what makes a lover truly consider the merits of his or her partner's judgement and not the 'authority' or measure of importance that ought to be vested in the size of his or her, pay check or opinion in this age of gender equality or degrees earned from some college.

I do not however, believe that this can be learned or taught. For there are people who have been raised by the same parents, sat in the same classes, and yet have ended up on very different sides of the pole of 'enviable' character. That is why when Paul prayed for the Colossians he did NOT say 'I pray that you be filled with the full knowledge of the will of God through the LEARNING of the principles of wisdom and knowledge'. Instead he said " .... we always pray that God will show you everything he wants you to do and that you may have all the wisdom and understanding that HIS Spirit GIVES. Then you will live a life that honours the Lord,..." (Col 1:9-10 CEV)

If you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins, and you have personally asked him to come and live in you as Lord and saviour, then be rest assured that the Spirit of God lives in you. Stop trying hard to be of a pleasant attitude on your own strength, stop trying hard be a martyr for God thereby antagonising everyone around you with your over zealousness. Start living consciously of the presence of this mighty lover and King in your life. Start acknowledging with thanks giving, that he is the one who gives wisdom and understanding, which enables one to live with sound character. he said "come unto me all YOU who labour and are heavily burdened and, I will GIVE you rest" he didn't say I will help you get it if you change for the better. No, he rather says, bring your junk and take his rest. Wisdom and understanding, are his' to give NOT yours to take.

he(Jesus Christ) says "anyone who asks receives". How did he ask God to feed the five thousand people? your bible says he first gave thanks. How did he raise Lazarus from the dead? he first gave thanks. How did he give up his body and blood for us, he first gave thanks at the last supper before sending Judas away to begin the actual process that led to the giving up of himself at the cross. Why was Jesus giving thanks? because he knew that any manifestation in his life was because of the presence of God in him, as he himself said.... "...as thou, Father, art in me..." (John 17:21) Paul explains this in saying "For it pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should dwell" (Col. 1:19). In the same way, let us simply thank God who lives in us through his Spirit, for what we want to see manifested in our lives.

When we thank someone for something, It is usually because we believe that the fellow has already done or is willing to do what we have asked of them. Paul says "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen". So we see that, every time Christ gave thanks, he was declaring his faith in the father. Paul emphasises this when he says "But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh..."(Rom 10:6). Like Christ, let us give thanks to our heavenly father for what we want to see manifested in our lives and trust HIM that he has already given to us HIS rest, in Christ Jesus.

#### ◆ Into Our Lover's Arms; Just As We Are

A lonely widow receives her son back from the dead at his word, no questions asked. he touches a leper and then at his word, cleanses him, no 'if' and 'buts'... Against the law and at the potential peril of his own life, he calls forth a man with a withered hand and heals him, no 'if' and 'buts'... five thousand plus hungry men, women and children who would very likely faint in search of food; he feeds them ALL, no 'ifs' and 'buts'... A man born blind from birth, he puts mud in his eyes and heals him... A man possessed by demons and tormented in the cemetery is delivered from his afflictions, no 'ifs' and 'buts'... In all of Samaria, it is to a reclusive adulterer that he first reveals himself as the Messiah... A pagan army officer has his SERVANT healed from the verge death, even though he had not set eyes on any of them...

I don't know of the kind of Jesus you may have been introduced to. However I know the Jesus who called me and died for me and qualified me as a beloved son of the most high GOD.

Not in even ONE instance did Jesus ever ask anyone he ever showed kindness to, to be sinless or perfect or without fault or blemish, BEFORE he saved them from anything harmful. Yes, not even the adulterous woman who was caught in the act. That is how much Jesus is in love with you and I. Leave men alone to judge you as they may wish to, after all they are men and that may be their weakness too. But do NOT ever think or believe falsely that any undesirable situation you may be in today would be relieved off you by JESUS only after you have worked your emotions into feeling guilty enough, or sad enough, or remorseful enough. No! like in all the instances listed above and in scripture, he showed them kindness without conditions.

That is the Jesus spoken about in scripture. That is the loving Jesus who calls on you today and says, "come unto me all you who LABOUR are HEAVILY BURDENED and I will GIVE YOU REST". Just turn to him who is IN LOVE with you right now. No amounts of 17 principles.... 5 laws.... 13 daily wisdom keys...... bla bla bla that requires your LABOUR can help you deal with that BURDEN. I don't care what some bishop said.... I care about what JESUS said and he says if you "LABOUR" come to him. You can't do the work, no matter how hard you try. Does your honour depend on your 'LABOUR', does your business idea and investment inflows depend on you 'LABOUR', does your health depend on your 'LABOUR' does your relationship depend on your 'LABOUR'... Are you going to COME to JESUS or believe in lies like 'heaven helps those who help themselves'. Or believe in lies which require you to 'sow' every penny in your pocket in order to please God... have they worked... if your 'LABOUR' has worked for you, then you DON'T need Jesus.

But if you will be humble enough to realise that you are flesh after all, that you cannot 'LABOUR' nor carry that burden of pain or addiction or heaviness of unfulfilled dreams, then he says "COME UNTO ME". For it is he who says "my Grace(unearned, unmerited, undeserved favour) is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness".

Just ask Jesus. Jehoshaphat asked God to 'let the sun stand still' and God did it for him even though, scientifically speaking the prayer was wrong because it is the earth that moves about the sun and not the sun about the earth. BUT our God is not interested how accurately we verbalise our request like many preachers would have us believe.. just simply ask Jesus the best way you can like Jehoshaphat did and believe the truth that, Jesus is so so so in love with you and I that he will give you REST.

## ■ God Doesn't Condemn You

John 10:33 "they replied, "Not for any good work, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, have made yourself God." Since he walked the face of this earth some 2,000 plus years ago to this day, the enemy has opposed the knowledge of the deity of Jesus Christ. Solomon is right when he says "there is nothing new under the sun". Isaiah prophesied hundreds of years before he came 9:6-7 "For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end, ..." he himself said "Before Abraham was, I AM", he said also "The father is in me and I am in him". When Thomas beheld him in John 20:28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my GOD". So why does the enemy fight this truth at every turn? Because when you find out this truth, you will appreciate the extent of God's love and the unlimited power of the sacrifice. Of whom your bible says in Hebrews 10:14 "For by that one offering he has perfected forever all those who are being sanctified". God does not count your faults, you are perfect in his eyes and he is sanctifying you, so stop condemning yourself and start receiving his grace. Start seeing yourself as God sees you, for you are "perfected forever".

#### ◆ Don't Be Confused About God's Grace

If the parable of the talents, is how God deals with his children i.e. God blesses you based on how well you do with what you have, then how is it that the 'prodigal' son, who squandered what he was given, got treated with such honours...

Many Christians miss the point in the first parable. It was about a relationship between a King and his SERVANTS i.e. those under the law. While the story of the prodigal son, is about a father and his CHILDREN i.e. those under the new covenant.

Jesus said the first parable when his disciples were admiring the temple which epitomized the law, while he said the parable about the prodigal son when the religious leaders of the law were criticising him for hanging out with sinners, whom he came to purchase into 'sonship'.

So perish that thought, that your father God, who justifies the ungodly, at times, becomes schizophrenic and switches into a mode of justifying you according to your good works.

#### ◆ The Only Difference Between Success And...

I saw something incredible the other day when I was reading the Bible. One of those seemingly 'uneventful' narrations which we mostly ignore when we read scripture. It is from the book of Genesis 11 where we come across the rather 'boring' genealogy of Abraham, beginning from Noah's time.

That chapter ends by beginning with the story of Abraham's father Terah, who makes a decision to leave the land of Ur to go and live in the land of Canaan. The Bible says he only got them as far as the place called Haran and settled there until he died. (Genesis 11:31-32) In other words he failed at reaching his objective.

That verse actually says he took Abram, Lot and Sarai along with him. That is where the truth hit me like a bolt, Terah failed at reaching his objective. But Abram set out for the same land of Canaan with Lot and Sarai in his old age of 75, he also chose to go and settle in Egypt instead of his original objective but unlike his father he eventually came back to settle in the land of Canaan.

The truth I'm talking about is not necessarily about the failure of a father or the success of the son in the same objectives. Clearly they both set out with good intentions. There is no evidence that Terah committed some hideous crime for which reason he failed in his objective, and at some point they both gave up on their objectives. The truth was in the motivation behind their noble actions. From all accounts of scripture, Canaan was a prosperous place. In fact, one of the meanings of the name of the land 'Canaan' is 'merchant'. So clearly they both headed there for better opportunities.

It is not your good intentions or my good intentions or anyone's good intentions which determine the achievement of success in any endeavour. It is God's voice i.e. his purpose which made and makes all the difference between success and failure. In Genesis 12, God tells Abram that he will send him to Canaan, not only that, he will give it to his descendants and it all happened even though he gave up on the place at one point, just like his father.

Moses was a Jew, he was raised as an Egyptian prince, the bible actually says he was a good orator. One day he killed an Egyptian who was hurting a Jew badly. In his mind he was defending a helpless kin, only to find out that even those he thought he was helping, thought of him as a murderer. The bible says that out of fear he run away.

Many years later when he was an old man, no longer a great orator but had actually turned into a stammerer, a former prince with palace servants at his disposal who was now herding goats and sheep for his father-in-law in the desert, a voice from God came to him and it made all the difference between success and failure.

Acting on his own good intentions he became known as a murderer but acting on the voice of God made him a redeemer.

King David had good intentions for building a place of worship for God. he even consulted a prophet of God who told him that because it was a good thing he should go ahead and build it. And God got upset with him and stopped him from building a temple for him. It was his little boy Solomon, who built the temple. Why did he succeed where his father failed, it was because God's purpose must stand and it did stand.

No amount of good plans, good intentions, good strategies or motivations can give you the success you so badly desire. When Peter publicly declared that he would stick to Jesus even if all the other disciples abandoned him and actually chopped off an ear to prove his point, that same evening he was swearing that he didn't know Jesus even to a little girl. But when after Jesus had overcome death, and Peter had received word from Jesus' own mouth to "tend to my sheep", he did die for the cause of Jesus some years later. Today the single biggest religious denomination in the history of the world, with over 1 billion members, i.e. the Roman catholic church, claims to trace its roots to apostle Peter's ministry of tending "...to my sheep".

What ever you do now, will be a success, not because you conceived it or planned well or executed better than any other person, but because YOU are an heir of God's promise to Abraham, a promise to which God swore by himself. You have a choice to believe in God's voice or your own intellectual prowess or what the environment appears to be telling you. Who will you believe today? Only God's voice makes all the difference.

## ■ he Has Made You His Child Not His Servant

In many instances of the four gospels, which record the parables that Jesus spoke of, many an honest believer, finds it hard to reconcile what Christ states as his mandate which he himself quoted from Isaiah 61; The generosity and mercy of our heavenly father towards us, and the... if you like, 'karmic'(do good get good, do bad get bad) nature of relationships found in some of the parables like that of the famous parable of the talents(Mat 25) and in (Luk 19). This appears to be in sharp contrast to what the apostle Paul says concerning our life in the new covenant, where it is written that because Jesus has made a sacrifice for sins forever, God no longer remembers our sins (Heb 10).

This leaves many feeling that, even though they are saved by the blood of Jesus, even though they have everlasting(not transient) life (John 3:16), even though they are partakers of the new covenant in which God does not remember their sins any more (Heb 10:17), even though they have received everlasting(not temporary) righteousness (Dan 9:24) through Christ Jesus, parables like the parable of the talents paints a 'karmic' picture of God. So they believe that they have to work out their way into remaining saved. The parable is about a ruler of a place who went on a long journey. Before leaving on this journey, he puts his servants in charge of varied sums of money. Upon his return, he demands accountability; one of the servants who received the least amount, simply goes to hide his money because of his prejudices against his master and his fear of him. When the master returns, he rebukes him and takes away what he had and had him killed. While a servant who received the most money before the journey, was given what was taken away from the previous servant, much to the chagrin of the other servants who had also received lesser sums of money prior to the journey and yet had earned handsome returns.

Interestingly in the similar parable told by Jesus in Luke 19, the servant who went to hide his money was not killed, even though he had his money taken from him. In order to reveal the truth behind some of these parables, it is important to understand the context within which Christ Jesus said some of these things. A key concept to understand is the nature of relationships that God has had with people over different time frames throughout scripture. And we will soon see, that God has always dealt with his people as sons, friends or servants.

Throughout the old testament especially, we come across many instances where people refer to themselves as servants of God. God also speaks of many of the prophets of old as servants. Indeed, the very first time that the word servant was used in the context of a person's relationship to God was when Abraham referred to himself as "servant" when he saw God(Gen 18:3); The Hebrew word translated there as "My Lord" is the word 'adonay' which is used as a proper name of God only. God created man in his own image in the garden of Eden. At no time did he speak to or relate to man as a servant while in the garden of Eden. So why did Abraham see himself differently. I believe he did because he understood the magnitude of what man had lost when he fell in the Garden of Eden. We should understand that death is incapable of consuming our heavenly father. And because man was made in God's likeness, he was not subject to death as well. However after eating of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, man was now subject to death.

At the time of Abraham, the promised seed of the woman who would take away death's dominion over man, had not yet come. Therefore any relationship between man and God, could no longer be as it were; Thus one of a father and a son(daughter) relationship. So Abraham speaking to God as a servant, was thus giving recognition to the new state of the relationship between God and man, prior to the coming restoration by the promised seed.

That is why God asked Moses to take off the sandals from his feet when he(God) appeared to him in the burning bush (Exo 3:5-6). Where the presence of our holy father is, is holy grounds. Corruptible man cannot stand before God, toe to toe, as if he were entitled to do so. God in asking him to take off his sandals, was thus demanding a recognition of the new order. That is what the holy spirit confirms in the book of Hebrews that "And Moses truly was faithful in all his house, as a servant, ...." (Heb 3:5) and the original Greek word used there is 'therapon' which means "a menial servant". Now mind you, the original Hebrew word translated "servant" in Genesis 18:3 for instance is the word "ebed", which also means "bondage", "bondman", "bondwoman". If the relationship changed to one of servitude, after the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, does that still persist now? It is common to hear in modern day 'gospel' songs especially, a common reference to believers as servants of God but is that right? Are we who are heirs of the new covenant servants too? We hear preachers admonishing their congregation to be good servants of God like some of the prophets of old were; It is common to hear speakers at religious conferences referring to themselves and introducing fellow speakers(preachers in most cases) as "fellow servants..." of God. It makes me wonder if they truly appreciate the gravity of the word "servant" when it comes to dealing with our heavenly father. Now that we see from scripture, what the word "servant" implies in our relationship with God, let us go back and examine the parable of the talents from a proper perspective.

The reason for the parable of the talents (Mat 25:15) actually begins in Matthew 24. Jesus was telling his disciples about the coming destruction of the temple -which was built by king Solomon, destroyed by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar and later rebuilt during the reign of King Cyrus and later King Darius- while they(the disciples) were openly admiring its beauty. It is the place where all of God's people worshiped God at the time. Because Jesus knew that he was coming to establish a new superior covenant, to the one which established the temple worship at Jerusalem, he was foretelling his disciples of the coming destruction of the existing way of worship and all that the current temple represents. Remember that, Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that a time is coming when it will not matter whether or not people worshiped at Jerusalem. Later when they had left the temple's premises, they asked Jesus when the destruction will happen and for the signs of his return and signs of the end of the world.

Jesus told them of the signs of his return, destruction of the temple in Jerusalem which happened in AD70 and of the 'end' of the world. Remember Jesus said in Luke 17 and Matt 24 that a great destruction will happen, and so they inquired where this will take place at; Luk 17:37 KJV "...said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together." in some translations you see "vultures" in place of "Eagles"; the reason is that, the word for "eagle" in the original Greek texts is the same word for "Vulture". In AD 70, the Roman army surrounded Jerusalem to lay a siege on the city, the insignia on the shields of the Roman army is the EAGLE, and they eventually prevailed against it and according to some historians, they not only broke the Temple down, they also literally plowed the foundations of the temple in other to ensure that, not one stone would be left standing on the other. Recall that Jesus said in Mat 24:2 KJV "And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down". Today, on a section of the foundation where the temple used to be, is the where the al aqsah mosque stands in Palestine(or East Jerusalem, however your political bias goes, I will not waste my breadth on that).

He then goes on to tell a series of parables describing the kind of faithful and wise SERVANT(slave. Greek-'doulos') (Mat 24:45) who will be found ready. It is crucial to note here that Jesus, was speaking of servants(slaves) and not the sons(daughters) of God. Remember that the relationship with man had become one of master and servants. Indeed in all the time Jesus spoke about the parable of the talents, he specifically spoke of servants which actually meant 'slaves' in the original Greek word(doulos) for which the English word 'servant' is used in the translation. It is the same in the similar parable of Luk 19, when Jesus was heading to Jerusalem to lay his life down in order to bring an end to the old covenant which was symbolised by worship at the arch of the covenant in the temple at Jerusalem and to establish the new covenant.

We who believe in Jesus are no longer servants(slaves) of God but are sons(daughters) of God. That is why the holy spirit through John says in John 1:12-13 "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the SONS of GOD, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Moses served God as a servant (Heb 3:5). All those who served God according to the old covenant given through Moses, served according to the will of man, according to the strength of their own flesh. That is why the law of Moses in the first ten commandments for instance said "YOU SHALL NOT...", "YOU SHALL NOT....", "YOU SHALL NOT...." it ALL depends on human performance. That is why in all those parables concerning servants(slaves), judgement was based on their performance.

To further show you that Jesus Christ, in speaking of the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem and of 'servants' in the parables of Mat 24,25 and Luk 19, was referring to the old covenant and its adherents, lets look at the book of Galatians. (Gal 4:20-25 ISV)

"Indeed, I wish I were with you right now so that I could change the tone of my voice, because I am completely baffled by you! Tell me, those of you who want to live under the Law: Are you really listening to what the Law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. Now the slave woman's son was conceived through human means, while the free woman's son was conceived through divine promise. This is being said as an allegory, for these women represent two covenants. The one woman, Hagar, is from Mount Sinai, and her children are born into slavery. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery along with her children".

So we see clearly that Jesus was not speaking to us believers in those parables because we, are sons of God, how does God our heavenly father treat his sons(daughters) when we lose what he has blessed us with. By the way, if you are a woman reading this, the word translated as 'sons' in "sons of God" from John 1:12 is from the Greek word "teknon" which also means 'daughter' or 'child'. So don't listen to those lies by some preachers who claim that God sees us all as sons even if you are a woman. he doesn't deal with us according some sexual organ we carry about or some chromosome. he sees us all as his children.

Lets' go to another parable, famously called the parable of the prodigal son Luk 15. This time the Pharisees and scribes who worship according to the old covenant in the temple, were criticising Jesus for receiving sinners and eating with them. Remember that in Mat 25, the disciples were admiring the temple which represents the old order and Jesus prophesied its end and judgement of its 'servants' according to THEIR good works, in those series of parables. But now in Luk 15 it is the other way around. It is those who worshiped according to the old covenant in the temple, who were condemning, and not admiring, what they saw of the new order that Jesus represented.

Now what does Jesus say of this new order that he represented. Again he speaks a series of parables. This time he doesn't speak of judgement but mercy, of how heaven jubilates at the repentance of one sinner above ninety-nine other Just people, of how joy fills the presence of the angels of God like a woman celebrating with her friends over one precious silver. In fact now he doesn't speak any longer of servants(slaves). He speaks of a 'FATHER' who loves his son so much that, when he(son) asks for his inheritance, he gives it to him with no questions asked. After several years of squandering with harlots, this son does not even return part of the money. At least in the parable of the talents, the wicked "servant" returned all he was given. In fact, this SON did not return because he felt any remorse for wasting his father's money. Indeed the only reason why he made up a sob story of an apology was because he was broke and eating pig food and remembered how the 'servants' in his father's house ate better food. On his return to his father's house, the bible says that while he "was yet a great way off", his FATHER "SAW HIM".

You would think that the father of the old covenant who said to Moses that he will visit sins unto the third and fourth generation (EXO 20:5) would have been absolutely mad at this son. But my bible and your bible says "But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and HAD COMPASSION, and RAN, and FELL on his neck, and KISSED him". As if this was not enough, the SON begged to be made a hired servant but guess what the FATHER did, unlike Moses who was asked to remove the sandals from his feet when he appeared in presence of God, this FATHER ordered that his servants put shoes on his feet. In other words, he still recognised him as his SON. he ordered the FINEST robes be put on him. In other words, his filthy past had been replaced in just one stroke. he ordered that a RING be put on his finger. I used to think that it was just for fashion but it turns out that in the days of Jesus, the rings were used as a form of signature. In other words, he had just given him the power of attorney. That means he could spend and enter into contracts and give orders as he saw fit, all in his father's name. As if this was not more than abundantly above the hired servant status that he asked for, his FATHER ordered that the FATTEST COW be killed for him and a FEAST be thrown for him. In other words, it was party time, he was going to celebrate his son in grand style.

My friend, Jesus was not speaking of some perfect guy who had achieved some astounding business or legal or academic or scientific or political success. he was speaking of a broken, ashamed, dejected, hungry, broke, careless, unprofitable, insensitive, harlot chasing guy. he was speaking of the sinners whom the Pharisees and Scribes who clung to the old covenant, were accusing Jesus of hanging out with. he was speaking of you and I and our new relationship in him. Don't let anyone or anything stop you from going before our heavenly father. he is looking out for you even though you may think you are not qualified. Even though you may think your present dealings with drugs and sleeping with married men or women makes you unqualified. It is a lie from the pit of hell. Our father is looking to run to us and show us abundant unmerited, unearned, undeserved favour(Grace).

Others may say rubbish like "karma"... "you reap what you sow"... "what goes around, comes around"... and many more worldly nonsense like that, but never never accept that. YOU are a child of the most high FATHER. The relationship has changed forever. We are no longer under the old covenant, we are partakers of a better covenant of GRACE.

Don't behave like the other son who was angry because he thinks his father has NOT rewarded him for working for him all these years and "neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment". What was the father's response? "thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine". So all these years while he was thinking that he was trying to earn a reward by his good works i.e. hard work and not breaking a single command, in his own father's house, everything was at his disposal to use.

My friend, don't be like those Christians who are trying very hard to deserve our fathers blessings by their good works, even though they have read the scripture which says if it is by works then Christ died in vain. You will only see 'backsliders', 'latter day' Christians and many others blessed for no work done and it will only make you bitter and angry. We are not slaves, we are sons. Sons of the most high God who is depicted as the father in this parable. Start believing what you truly are with your heart and start speaking what you believe of the abundance of God's grace. God is desperately in love with us.

But hey wait a minute... Jesus talks about he who wants to be first, being a 'servant', Mar 9:35 and in John 12:26 Jesus says where he is, there shall his 'servant' be. Is that not a contradiction... My friend, check the word used there again. The word used there is from the original Greek word 'diakonos' which means 'attendant', 'minister', 'teacher' or 'pastor'. Paul several times refers to himself as a 'servant'(slave) of Christ, however he says it in the context of being an apostle of Christ and not in the sense of the old testament relationship with God (Rom 1:1). That is why when he was recommending Phebe as a 'servant' of God, he used the word 'diakonos' which means minister and not slave(Rom 16:1). By the way, don't listen to those pastors preaching the nonsense that women should not be allowed to preach because Paul said so, according to their interpretation. In Rom 16:1 we see Paul commending a fellow minister of the gospel Phebe who is a woman.

Beloved, you are in a new relationship with God. he is your father, he doesn't deal with you and I according to our sins or hard work, he deals with us according to his grace because of the finished work of Jesus at the cross for you and I. Amen!!

## ■ REWARD FOR WORK? WHAT DID JESUS MEAN?

Rev 22:12

King James Bible

And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

So what WORK is Jesus talking about?

Joh 6:29 KJV

Jesus answered and said unto them, This IS THE work of God, that ye BELIEVE on him whom he hath sent.

So when he talks about work, he Jesus, not some preacher, clearly states that, it is BELIEF in HIM.

How about "REWARD" then?

Mat 25:26

33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, INHERIT the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

So when Jesus speaks of "REWARD" we understand from his own words, that he is speaking of "INHERITANCE".

You love others, you care for others, you heal others, you feed the hungry, you clothe the naked, because you BELIEVE in Jesus and so he poured his love into your heart, that is, the Holy Spirit. That is why the people didn't even know, when they met Jesus naked and they clothed him or in prison and they visited him. Because it was an unconscious manifestation of the Spirit of God in them.

Those who thought they were consciously doing something to deserve something from Him, reminded him of their works, the master said he didn't know them.

That is the context of work and reward in which Jesus spokes because he Jesus has done the work, received the whole cosmos as his inheritance, he gives it away to his brethren as their share in the inheritance because they are joint-heirs through him.

That is why when you note the wording in the book of Revelation carefully, he says "MY REWARD"

Grace does not nullify any work, Christ has done the work, overcome the world and carries his reward with him. Now he lives through us, we are one with him so his reward is our inheritance for work that he has done, not work that we did.

That is why he calls in Matthew INHERITANCE prepared for us, what he calls in the book of Revelation, REWARD.

## ■ Christ-Like Audacity To Speak

Sometimes you want to share with someone that by the stripes of Jesus we are healed; But then, a thought comes to you like 'you are on medication and you want to preach healing to someone'.

Sometimes you want to pray with someone for healing; But a thought comes to you saying 'you have a bandage on your leg and you want to pray for someone wearing glasses.

In the middle of a conversation you want to pray for a friend who needs a car; But a thought comes to you like 'you are still living in your mother's house and you think you are qualified to prophecy to your friend who is building his second house'.

Sometimes you feel like blessing your peers on social media with a message that God shall supply all our needs according to his riches in glory; But a thought comes to you like 'you just borrowed money from your friend so where is the evidence in your own life'

You see... the tactic of the devil has not changed. Those thoughts are not even from you, they are from the devil. he tried to play the same game with Jesus while he was on the cross. One of the thieves said if he truly were who he said he was, he should save himself and then them. Some of the people on the ground said similar things.

You see, he played the same game of self doubt with Adam and Eve and won, so he thought he could pull off that same nonsense with Christ Jesus. But the Bible says even when he hung on a cross dying, he saved the criminal on his right, saying to him, "today you will be with me in paradise".

Christ never forgot who he was, the son of God. he never confused his outward circumstance(that did not momentarily conform to what he knew and believed and said of himself) to be his true state. Even when he was before Pilate, beaten up and looking like a common criminal, he would not say that he was not a King. Because the simple truth is he was, full stop.

You my friend, are a son of God, blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, by his stripes you are completely healed of the diseases that the tests claim you have. You my sister, are rich and a lender to many nations, irrespective of what may momentarily appear to be your joblessness. Because it is written that for our sakes, though he was rich, he became poor so we through his poverty might become rich.

Never be intimidated by what does not conform to what the word of God says you are, don't let it shape your language. When Lazarus died, Jesus refused to recognize death, he told his disciples that he was asleep. When the disciples pushed him to change his language, the Bible says he became angry with them. According to people, the little girl Tabitha was dead but Christ will not let what appears to be the situation on the outside, dictate his language concerning what he new to be the truth. As far as he was concerned Tabitha was only sleeping and he was going to wake a sleeping girl up. Even if they laughed, it will not determine what he said concerning the situation.

You are who the word of God says you are. Say it in spite of what may appear to be a contrary evidence because that is a lie. If you bless someone and he refuses to accept it because of his outward judgement of the situation, it is his loss.

Someone may think they see you having a problem with men, hey my friend, speak about righteousness if you want to. If they will judge by what they think they see to be your weakness, it is their loss, just like the other thief on the cross who missed heaven.

Most importantly, know that you are what the word says you are, you have what the word says you have and you can do what the word says you can do. And never never let circumstances which do not conform with what you believe to be the truth, shape your words either about you or a situation. Even if it makes others laugh or think you are crazy, after all they did same with our brother Christ Jesus.

### Grace & Glory

Where favour flows,

I know you are.

Whenever abundance consumes like an avalanche,

I know whose righteous right hand it is,

That reaches from on high.

When desire forms faster than light,

I know whose covenant has been kept.

Where glory never ceases to unfold,

I know whose chariot it is that leads.

When the store houses have not enough room to contain the first harvest,

I know whose rain it is that did flood the fields.

As kings line up at the door, bearing royal gifts,

I know whose power it is that bore my name upon its glorious wings.

Where strength seizes upon the marrow,

And beauty upon the flesh,

I know whose stripes did heal,

And spirit did quicken.

And where tongue cannot find enough words,

And so enlists the spirit to blabber away,

In that graceful heavenly language,

Amidst tears and smiles and song and dance,

I know, I know, I more than know,

To whom this royal elixir of loving gratitude is directed.

My Father, My Father, Mine heavenly Father.

Yahweh-yireh

##### 6

# Grace Doesn't Depend on You

■ IT'S ALL JESUS & NEVER YOUR EFFORT ■ A FEAST OF GRACE ■ SEEKING AFTER WHAT? ■ YOU CAN'T CHOOSE TO DIE FOR GOD

Abram was called out of the blue by God and he chose to bless him, there is no evidence that he earned it. Isaac was called Abraham's only son by God and made the heir of the covenant even though he did nothing to deserve it. he did nothing special to deserve it. Joseph was but a boy when he started having visions about God's favour upon his life, he did nothing special to earn it. Jacob his father was a child when God said "...the older shall serve the younger..." he did nothing to earn it. Moses had killed and escaped. God blessed him with the leadership of his people out of Egypt, he was past 70 yrs, he told God he was a stammerer so he couldn't, even in the midsts of his protestation, God still will not change his mind concerning blessing him.

Peter was on his boat fishing, of all the fishermen, Jesus chose his boat and later blessed him with so much harvest that other boats had to come to his aid. he did nothing to deserve it. Indeed he begged Jesus to go away from him because he was a sinner, Jesus called him anyway. Lazarus was dead so he couldn't have earned his resurrection from Jesus, Zacchaeus was a self confessed cheat yet Jesus said to him, "...today salvation has come to this house..." Sampson was made great even before he was born.

Must I go on and on and on before you understand that Jesus DIDN'T say "come unto me all ye who are PERFECT and I will give you REST" but rather he said "come unto me, all ye who are HEAVILY BURDENED and I will give YOU REST". Check it all up, its there in your bible. Yes, I know you are probably a bit confused given what your pastor has probably been teaching you all these years. So please check your Bible, and at least choose to believe Jesus. There is only one thing he asks of you, "...whosoever BELIEVES will not perish..." just that. Don't let anyone add any "ifs" and "buts", we are loved by the father. Stop Judging yourself and just accept his mercy, his unearned favour(grace) and his righteousness, all because of the finished work of Jesus on the cross forever and ever for you and I.

## ■ It's All Jesus & Never Your Effort

" ...but Rebekah's children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. Yet, BEFORE the twins were born or HAD DONE anything GOOD or BAD – in order that God's purpose in election might stand: NOT by works BUT by him who calls--she was told, "The older will serve the younger". "

' For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does NOT, therefore, depend on human DESIRE or EFFORT, but on God's MERCY. ". Romans 9:10 - 12 and 15-16

God did not, does not, and he will not see or make anyone one righteous on the basis of how good or bad his works or deeds are, before, during or after you have been save by Christ Jesus. Look to Jesus who died at the cross, that is the only place where God secured for us all everlasting righteousness. That self condemnation is from the devil, they are not from God. They are meant to take our eyes off the bronze snake on the pole to the snakes around us, just like it happened to the Israelites in the wilderness. This is what Jesus meant when he said in John 3:14-15 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life."

The devil's tactics have not changed, when we look to ourselves and our effort and our failings, we get frustrated and dejected and feel disqualified and so we get weaker and weaker in every aspect of our lives. Satan took Adam and Eve's eyes from the fact that God had already made them in his likeness, and he deceived them into believing that they could by their own efforts become like God. Never never forget who you are, your bible says that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. It all happened at the cross.

Is your boss intimidating you, look to the Jesus for your promotion or security or for a better job. Is that addiction plaguing you, look to Jesus, no matter how many times you fail again. That child you lost, look to Jesus, in spite of what the medical report says, look to Jesus. Financing for your business, look to Jesus, even if everyone thinks you are down and finished. Your boyfriend left you and it was your fault so you think you are never going to have a guy as good as that one, look to Jesus, an even better guy is on the way, look to Jesus and Never Never Never stop believing that it is God who justifies the ungodly, Rom 4:5.

It is his mercy, it is his mercy not your bad deeds that count, it is his mercy not your good deeds that count. It is his grace that makes us sufficient in all things unto all good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed". So yes it is HIS grace that enables us to do good deeds. Grace as used in the original Greek means unmerited favour or undeserved favour or unearned favour. If we are blessed because of OUR good or bad deeds then how then can God's grace be grace.

Christ Jesus made it all possible for us at the cross, as it is written in Galatians 3:13 "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole" ". Our righteousness no longer come from us, it ALL is from Christ Jesus.

Why at all will God who is perfect impute perfection to sinners like human beings through Jesus Christ? The answer is simple, so that we cannot boast that is is our good deeds that qualified us and not his mercy, so that he will use his power in us to confound the world, those who think they are wise by human standards. That is how special God treats those who believe in Jesus Christ.

Where is that in the bible? It is found in 1 Corinthians I will quote verses 29-31 "so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord" ".

No matter what may seem to be happening on the outside, never stop seeing Jesus and never stop believing and never stop confessing that Christ Jesus is your righteousness, that he is your wisdom, that he is your holiness and that he is your redemption.

You are holy, righteous and wise, because of Jesus and Jesus alone. That is what your bible says. Keep your eyes on Jesus alone.

## ■ A Feast Of Grace

The parable of the banquet as told by Jesus is quite interesting. A banquet is a moment of feasting, laughing, telling dry jokes and people laughing very hard at how terrible your jokes are lol... People make friends and simply enjoy the moment without worrying much about 'their' problems and so on and so forth... It is a time of merry making and joyful indulgence.

But most importantly, it is a time when we have the privilege to enjoy the free provisions of another, in celebration of something that is important to him or her.

Mathew chapter 22 and Luke chapter 14, record varying details of the same story. Mathew lets us know that it was in celebration of a Son. The master sent his servants a number of times, to convince them to come in. The master made it known what he had prepared for them. They killed his servants and the master destroyed them all along with their city. The master changed the guest list and invited "bad" people and "good" people from among all the people who would have otherwise not been ordinarily invited. One man came, but not in a wedding outfit, the master called him "Friend".

Luke, my personal favorite writer of all the writers of the four gospels, gives a certain detail that is I believe is most revealing; he mentions the nature of the excuses that the initial invitees gave. From inspecting property to staying at home with wife.

It is the same old problem that Adam and Eve had, i.e. man's attempt in pursuing their own life and satisfaction independent of God and at or out of the workings of their own hands and effort and thus rejecting the FREE gift of God.

But here is the problem, the first group of people who refused to attend revealed the nature of works and the Law, as against the FREE gift of GRACE. They all without fail gave excuses as to why they could not come. They found their joy and satisfaction in what their hands had produced for them. They placed greater premium and found their joy, in the output of their works over and above the celebration of the Son, who epitomises Christ Jesus, the son of God, and the free provisions from the hands or output of the Master who epitomises the Father.

If you read Mathew's account, the Master kept saying, my... my.... my..... but the initial invitees also kept referring to their works I... I... I.... .

The apostle Paul teaches this same thing in Galatians chapter 4, when he describes the FREE GIFT of God to Sarah i.e. Isaac as the type that is of GRACE and epitomise Mt. Zion where is the city of God. And Ismael who was the fruit of the self effort of Abraham, in his attempt to bring about that which God has said he will freely provide by himself, Paul says is a type of Mt. Sinai.

Paul goes ahead to show that, the self effort of man is akin to being under the Law which they received at Mt. Sinai. And he actually admonishes that the bond woman(Hagar) and her son who typify the Law and man's self effort be "put away", that is, rejected and done away with. And in turn choose the way of Sarah and Isaac who typify the Free gift of God's own workings, exclusive of our workings, thus the new covenant.

We see another interesting thing in both Luke and Matthew's account. The master sent for the people in the highways and the byways. That is people who ordinarily did not qualify to be guests at such a great feast. That they came and did not have any reason in and of themselves, to reject the favour shown, indicates that they did not place any premium on the fruits of their own hands over and above the FREE gift of a banquet in other to share in the celebration of the son of the Master. Except for one person who was thrown out because he did not have on, the right apparel fit for the occasion. Even then the master did not go angrily towards him for coming in that manner. The bible says he approached him as a "friend".

Now, I have heard some of the strangest sermons on this particular parable. Some preachers have either out of a misunderstanding or out of an attempt to make scriptures wear a jacket that they have preconceived, turned this whole attire matter into a works religion. Saying things like, "you see... God freely gives the Grace BUT you must also work your part, you must be sinless, holy, righteous, without blemish because that is the wedding attire". You see, they want to make it about your works but that is simply not true.

Look here my friend, let common sense prevail when people, whether bishops or prophets speak such nonsense. The apostle Mathew said that, Jesus said with his own mouth in verse 10

"So the servants went out into the highways, and gathered all as many as they found, both BAD and GOOD..... ".

So you see, Jesus actually said they gathered both BAD people and GOOD people. It had absolutely NOTHING to do with what the character of the people were.

The bible says the master approached him as a friend, he actually called him "friend" and asked him why he didn't have on any wedding clothes but he was speechless, he had no excuse.

I have again heard some preachers say that he had on dirty clothes. My friend, if it is not proven by scripture, thread cautiously. It is always better to let the Bible interpret the Bible. What we know for a fact is this, 1. he didn't have wedding clothes on. 2. he was silent when asked as a friend by the master himself. Clearly, like the others who found satisfaction in what they had decided to do for themselves, this man was satisfied to do for himself, outside of the will of the master and what the occasion demanded.

It is the same old illusion or rather the same old lie that the old serpent told Eve that they could be like God, through their own DOING of the very thing that God told them not to do.

God offers us his Grace, a new covenant of peace(Heb 8), wherein he(God) says I WILL...., I WILL....., I WILL..... But men are holding to the old covenant which says YOU SHALL.... YOU SHALL... YOU SHALL.... men are rejecting the provision of the banquet that God is freely giving out in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, in pursuit of what their own labours and desires dictate outside of the free gift of Grace.

Now you see, whether you are allowed to stay in the banquet or not is dependent on how wholeheartedly you accept the occasion.

It is a parable about Grace and works. It is about the Son of God and what he freely gives in the name of his son. The apostle Paul calls it the GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: Against what you have earned by yourself through your self effort in obeying the Law via your doings.

It is a feast being held in the name of a Son. You cannot hope for its benefits, while not recognising the one in whose name it is being celebrated.

You cannot come to a feast of Grace in a garment of works.

#### ◆ Grace: A Call To Sin?

### My good friend and colleague Mr. Kwame Mantey answered it beautifully, and so I will quote him verbatim.

"No, the grace of Jesus Christ is not and will never be a license for the saved to continue in sin. It is an assurance that no matter what we do or do not do or how far we drift away from Him, the love of the Father is still seeking us and available to us.

Never allow guilt to draw you away from your salvation. Let the Love of the father, the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be your assurance that if Christ be for you, nothing can take you away from the Love of the father. Rest in his grace!!"

## ■ Seeking After What?

How many times have you not heard these words, which were spoken by Jesus Christ, used to 'explain' to the believer why he is not seeing the supply of God in his life; "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" Mat 6:33.

It is interesting how we as people, find every opportunity to condemn ourselves, to point out our insufficiencies, to explain away difficult situations and circumstances, whose presence we cannot explain, using the very words of the God of love. And so because we are afraid to blame God(not because we truly believe God has dealt with us justly in the circumstance) we come back to the old ways of being self critical.

We turn to, OUR strength and it will never be sufficient so we say things like,"I have not been reading the bible for as long as I used to", "I have not been praying for as long as I used to", "I have not been going to church as early as I used to", "I don't serve in church as often as I used to" and on these basis, disqualify ourselves on that first item which said "seek ye first the KINGDOM...".

We then turn to the next item on the bill and this is what I find most puzzling... Jesus said in that same verse " "Seek ye first... and HIS righteousness..." and yet even archbishops, most reverends, deacons, elders, and the whole gamut of church leadership will use the scripture which clearly states "...HIS righteousness..." and start to point out to you 'YOUR' righteousness, that YOU had lascivious thought about the lady sitting next to you while preaching was going on, that YOU spoke unkind words to your husband and kids in the week, that YOU insulted your boss in your mind when he passed over you for that promotion, that YOU did some abortion when you were a teenager or even yesterday, that YOU, YOU, YOU, YOU..... And at every turn YOUR righteousness will never be enough. And yet even though Christ Jesus speaks of "HIS righteousness", we weigh OUR righteousness and on that basis, disqualify ourselves.

And then on the basis of this very warped understanding of scripture, we allow preachers to 'explain' to us, why all the material things we need are not being "...added unto you" hence your lack. MY DEAR FRIEND be deceived no more. A famous preacher once said that if you take the 'text' out of the 'context', what you are left with is a 'con' and I agree.

Question is, are you a born again child of God. Have you confessed with your mouth, whether publicly or privately, the lordship of Jesus Christ over your life and asked him to come and live in you? If you have done that then my friend this is what the bible, your bible and my bible, records as what GOD(not man) has done for you and with you and to you in the book of Colossians

Col 1:12 - 14;

"12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. 13 For he rescued us from the domain of darkness, and TRANSFERRED US TO THE KINGDOM of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins".

So why was the apostle Paul, giving thanks to the Father for our share in the inheritance of the saints? It's because he acknowledges these three crucial facts: 1. the Father has qualified us, 2. the Father has TRANSFERRED US TO THE KINGDOM of His beloved Son, 3. We HAVE redemption, we are not now going to get redemption. So your bible has already made it clear that you ARE IN the kingdom of his beloved son. So you are NOT now seeking the kingdom, you the believer in Christ Jesus are in the kingdom.

At the time Jesus Christ said "seek ye first....", he had not put down his life for anybody, he had not taken anybody's sin, he had not redeemed anybody, there was absolutely not one person to whom he spoke those words who had been saved by his finished work on the cross at that point in time. They were not born again children of God at the time, no not even one disciple was. Christ admonished the unsaved to seek his kingdom and Paul thanks the father for transferring us into the kingdom.

Your position in the Kingdom is an act of the Father and so please, I beg you in the name of God, stop trying to equate your 'good' works in the church or in the body of Christ Jesus to what God has done, as being the basis for 'seeking' the kingdom. By the way, if I may ask, who seeks for what they already have?

Again, in that same quote from the book of Colossians, it says the father has "qualified us", it also says ...we have redemption...". That is, the father is the one who has made us righteous and not of our own good or bad actions. This is repeated unambiguously in 2Corinthians 5:21 which says;

"he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that WE might become the righteousness of God in Him".

So are you in the Kingdom? YES you are(If you have confessed Christ). Are you now righteous because of HIS righteousness? YES you are. It is about HIS righteousness NOT your righteous. That is why your bible clearly states in 1Conrinthians 1:29 - 31 that;

"29 so that no man may boast before God. 30 But by HIS doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and RIGHTEOUSNESS and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."

My friend you have no business seeking for what you already have. God has put you in the kingdom and you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. So do like the apostle Paul does in his letter to the Colossians, give thanks for what you have as your inheritance in Christ Jesus. You are not now going to posses it, you already have that supply and it is time to speak over your life what you believe to be the reality about your life.

## ■ You Can't Choose To Die For God

Trust God to give you the strength to stand and die for the gospel if need be. But don't YOU tell me, that YOU are making a pledge to God that YOU will die for him if need be.

People don't get it, there is no YOU there is only Christ who wills to do through you according to HIS purpose. Don't fall for the same temptation of hubris that befell the Hebrews at Mt Sinai when they told Moses to go and tell God who had shown them grace upon grace, that they will do whatsoever he speaks.

Don't fall for the same temptation that gets people into thinking that they have to do something special FOR God. That was the same mindset that drove David into thinking that he had to build a temple for God. And we see how God got upset with him for trying to do this obviously 'good' thing for God.

How will you feel or think, if you went to a grazing field and found the sheep leading(not just ahead) the Shepherd, the sheep making the Shepherd to lie down in pasture to eat, and taking him to still waters to drink? Will that scene not come across to you as abnormal... Jesus says, "I am the good Shepherd". Religion says, YOU must do something for God, but the gospel says that we are SEATED with Christ Jesus while the farther does the work of making our enemies our footstool.

When Peter thought he could die for Christ, and made that pledge openly, he denied ever knowing him that SAME night. Some say "but Peter later did die willingly for Christ...", that is FALSE. I will repeat, Peter did NOT die for Christ, in much the same way as Christ Jesus did not die for the father. (I can see someone wishing they could punch me in the nose right now hehehehe). My dear friend, Christ died for his brothers and sisters(you and I) NOT his father. Peter did NOT willingly die, nor did he do it for Jesus Christ. In fact, he never wanted to die a martyr's death. These are the words of Jesus himself concerning how Peter will die in John 21:18-19, "... 'when you're old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where YOU DO NOT want to go' Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter will glorify God".

Some believers were sawed in two, others were stoned to death, others were cooked in boiling oil but not one of them did it by the strength of THEIR will. Even Jesus Christ, when push came to shove, became so frightened by coming events that, he being fully God and fully man, relied on the will of his father NOT his own will, when he said "let your will be done".

Let the will of God be done, stop trying to do things for him, stop trying to please God by your will. Your faith in Jesus does please him enough. Do like Jesus did, let father's will be done and not your will.

Jesus never said to God, when God needed someone with whom to cut the new covenant for his sons and daughters, that "Here I am, I will go, I will die for them, I will defeat the devil, I will resurrect..." but rather as is recorded in Hebrews chapter 10:7, "Here I am... I have come to do YOUR will, O God".

Dear Father, let your will, not our will be done in our lives always, Amen.

### This Tide Of Grace

Grace is a shattering force

Burning to stubble, our ways of straw

And purifying to the fore like gold, his kind of life in us

It renders our efforts and doings useless

And elevates the Christ Jesus above all else

It silences our boasting

And exults the finished work of Christ Jesus

It renders every other way a dead end

And makes Christ Jesus the only way

It strips us of our own righteousness

And clothes us with a righteousness that was not our own

It robs us of our ability to see in the natural

And grants us a new kind of sight

By which we see through the eyes of faith

It ends our childhood of independence

That was by the knowledge of good and evil

It makes us into adult heirs

Dependent on the eternal God kind of life

It renders our fears impotent

And floods our hearts with the peace and power of Christ

It supplants the unbearable yoke of legalism With a never ending tide of goodness and mercy

It rents the veil of division that made some servants and others enemies

And birthed us all into a new race of perfect beings

It gathers the sheltered from Mt. Sinai

And the homeless from the ends of the earth And makes us a home on Mt. Zion

It boasts before all creation

Of the splendour of his trees of righteousness

O how amazing this truth is

Even the Grace of the King of Kings.

##### 7

# You Are Not Abandoned

■ CHRIST LIVES FOR YOUR LIBERTY ■ IT TAKES GRACE, NOT YOUR EFFORT ■ HE MADE ME HOLY ■ HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, NOT YOURS ■ YOUR SALVATION CAN NEVER EVER DIE ■ IT TAKES CHRIST NOT YOUR TITHE

The first time God told Abraham that he would be a father, he believed. The second time God told Abraham that he would bear a son, he laughed, looked at his age at 99, his barren wife who was 10 years younger than he thus 89, and reminded God of all of these. In fact so so 'ridiculous' was God's suggestion to him that not only did he scoff at the idea, he suggested an alternative to God. When angels came to tell Abraham that in a year's time he would have a son, Sarah his wife, on hearing it laughed at the idea too.

When Peter was told by Jesus Christ to get out of the boat and walk on the water towards him, he believed, however along the way as he begun to see the storm, he started to drown. Surely his confidence must have departed from him at this point. Then Jesus stretched forth his hand and grabbed him. So obviously they didn't swim but walked back together to the boat.

Thomas, one of the twelve disciples, who had seen Jesus raise the dead, heal the sick, open blind eyes, who had heard Jesus Christ say that he will resurrect on the third day after being crucified; Indeed, so great was his confidence in Jesus that when Jesus was arrested, he said to his fellow disciples in John 11:16 "Let us go also, that we may die with him". But after he had seen how Jesus had been beaten to pulp by the temple guards, how his back was torn to shreds by the spikes with which he was lashed by soldiers, how the flesh on his skull was torn with protruding thorns from the crown made of thorns which had been thrust onto his head, how he was stripped naked, NOT like the one we see in the movies with the actor's private parts covered, but completely naked, how he was made to carry his own cross, how he was so weak that at a point he could carry his cross no more and had to be aided, how he was nailed in his hands and feet, and how a spear was thrust in his side by the soldier to make doubly sure that Christ was a dead carcass hanging on the cross... Thomas on seeing all of this, after he was told that Jesus Christ had resurrected, scoffed at the idea and said unless he put his finger through the holes in his hands and the hole caused by the spear in his side, he would not believe.

Surely like Abraham and Peter and Sarah, his confidence in the person of God had departed from him too. But Jesus Christ appeared to the disciples and asked Thomas to put his finger through his side and his hands. God didn't change his mind and abandon Abraham because he doubted, neither did he Sarah because she had her moments of doubt too, neither did he Peter because he had his moments of doubt, neither did he Thomas because he lost his belief too for a while.

I know many preachers these days make it seem like, you need some mountain/Godzilla sized faith, 24/7, 365 days in a year, demonstrated by painful, stomach crushing, sleep depriving, 40 days and 40 nights of fasting and prayers, repeated several times in a year before God is convinced to stretch out his hands towards you so that you can see your prayers answered, concerning matters that sometimes, even pagans take for granted. Jesus Christ said you need faith only as tiny as a mustard seed to move a mountain into the sea. Your bible says that God has given everyone the measure of faith. Then surely the God who took away all your sins and perfected you forever, has given you at least faith as small as a mustard seed. Your bible says that "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."

The evidence from Abraham, Sarah, Peter and Thomas show that in your moment of doubt, which is a weakness, his strength is made perfect for you. Stop your self condemnation and start believing that his grace is more than sufficient for you and that he is God and he "CANNOT LIE".

## ■ Christ Lives For Your Liberty

Luk 4:22 BBE "And they were all giving witness, with wonder, to the WORDS OF GRACE which came from his mouth:......."

In recent times, it has become common to find preachers who condemn what they consider as the 'recent' phenomenon of grace preachers and 'feel good' message preachers. It is common on social media in particular, to find people who condemn such pastors. From what I have mostly come across, a certain world famous Houston, Texas pastor in particular has borne the brunt of these idle people. Their crime is that they are always, and by always I mean always, speaking about God's goodness and grace. And to think that God's goodness and grace are the charges that these men are guilty of, almost makes me want to jump out of my seat in disbelief. Their accusers accuse them of not preaching sin and condemnation at all let alone, doing it well enough. They are accused of not preaching a 'balanced' message of condemnation and grace.

And the presumably righteous indignation that these accusing preachers claim to have against the preachers of God's grace and hope, stems from what they perceive to be the true gospel that ought to be preached; One that is laden with talk of sin, personal performance, and ritualistic actions. They paint a picture of a transactional deity or better still, a 'pavlovian' regime with our heavenly father. I do not know if those who dwell on messages of sin and condemnation are aware, that all the other religions of this world claim a transactional deity? That all religions of this world have a 'do good get good', 'do bad get bad' system of interaction with their deity? If they are aware, why would they therefore expect anyone to abandon their faith to come and be joined into the faith of our professed heavenly father if there is no fundamental difference?

And the painful thing about all this is that, some of these preachers use subtle threats in an attempt cower their listeners into involuntary submission to their views with quotations like Mar 10:15 KJV "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein". The import being that their message ought not be questioned because anyone not unconditionally accepting their brand of the gospel is not accepting Christ Jesus as a child and therefore is in danger of not making it into the kingdom of God. Let everyone who is reading this from any corner of the world know, that it is unequivocally written in our bible that "ASK and you shall be given, SEEK and you shall find". So do not let any man or woman, be they born of a woman or beast or spirit, ever stop you from asking questions of any message you hear which does not sit well with your spirit or your understanding of scripture. At all times, ask our heavenly father and you shall receive.

At the heart of this matter is the question of what Jesus Christ himself preached? For he says in John 20:21(KJV) " Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." . The important questions then are, what did our heavenly father send his beloved Jesus Christ to do, what did Jesus preach and do, and what did Jesus send his disciples into the world to preach? Because if we knew what our heavenly father's intentions were, concerning sending Jesus Christ, what Jesus himself preached, and what Jesus sent out his disciples to preach, then we will know and see clearly, which kinds of sermons we should be giving ear to.

At the centre of all this matter is our Lord Jesus Christ. he is the bridge through whom the world can and is reconciled to our heavenly father. At least on that point, all agree. So what did Jesus himself say that his father has sent him to do? John 4:34MKJV "Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work". So what is the 'Will' and what is the 'Work' that Jesus was talking about? Given that our heavenly father had, through his prophets, long spoken of the coming messiah, the best place to start should be from the section of the bible popularly referred to as the Old Testament.

It is surprising to many people when they first come to know that, the decision by God to end the devil's power over mankind, was made in the garden of Eden even before Adam and his wife Eve Got thrown out. Indeed what many people do not know or are not aware of is that, God made a provision for man's redemption from his fallen nature even before he pronounced a single one of the curses on the man or woman. I will repeat it again for emphasis; even before our heavenly father pronounced a single one of the curses on man and woman in the Garden of Eden, he declared in advance, our redemption from the fallen nature, i.e. redemption from Satan's dominion over man, through Christ Jesus. If you have a bible either in paperback, hard cover, leather-back or on your PC, phone or tablet, kindly take it and open to the book entitled Genesis; open to the chapter number three and kindly move to the 15th verse. I want you to know, that contrary to the popular opinion that God, Our heavenly father, is a burdensome, unforgiving, overly fastidious, enthusiastic calamity dishing task master, the first thing he thought of concerning mankind was our redemption using his own and only perfect son as our redemption price. So if you have opened to genesis chapter three verse fifteen, I will entreat you to kindly highlight or mark that verse in your bible, for it reveals the graciousness of our heavenly father's heart towards us. That his first thought and words towards us, not the second or third but very first was one of mercy and redemption.

This is what it says...Gen 3:15 MKJV "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; he will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel".

The word "seed" used there is the Hebrew word "zera" and it also means 'child'. Some preachers and commentaries claim that "seed" as used here refers to offspring hence all the children of God. That is totally wrong because in that same sentence God says "he will bruise.... ". The Hebrew word for "he" as used there is "hu" which is a singular pronoun, translated as 'he' or 'she' or 'it'. It has been used 1716 times in the bible and never has it been used in reference to multiples of people. God was speaking of only one person.

We will come to who this "seed" is very soon. Our heavenly father also tells the serpent that this person will, "...bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel". Again some preachers and bible commentaries say that the person God spoke of as the woman's seed will completely destroy the devil but when it comes to the woman's seed, he will only injure only him hence the statement "....bruise His heel". Look here my friend; don't let anyone carrying titles throw chaff at you because of their degrees from some bible school. With regard to the serpent's head and the seed's heel, the word "bruise" which is repeated twice by God in that sentence is from the same original Hebrew word "shuph" which also means 'snap at', 'to gape', 'to overwhelm', 'to break', 'to cover'. So why should it mean destroying the serpent who is the devil but when it comes to the seed who is Jesus Christ, they say it only caused him to bleed? My friend, Christ Jesus didn't just bleed, he died, died, died, died, died..... died. he was so overwhelmed and broken and bruised at the cross it made him cry out "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me" (Mat 27:46, Mar 15:34).

The serpent as used in genesis chapter three is the devil and not the snakes you probably saw in a documentary or bottled up in a jar somewhere in your high school biology lab. My friend, if you look up the book of revelation 12:9 it is written there clearly who the serpent is, and it is the devil. Indeed when you examine the root word of the Hebrew from which is derived the word "dust" in Genesis 3:14, it actually means to pulverise, that is 'to annihilate', 'to crush', and 'to defeat utterly'. So when God curses the devil in genesis 3:14, that "...dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life", he declares to him that for the rest of his life, he will only enjoy utter defeat all the days of his life. That is why when God was pronouncing the consequences of Adam's actions, about a limited lifespan in genesis 3:19, he makes a clear distinction in saying "....return unto the ground; for out of it was thou taken for dust art thou...". Again, the first time the word "dust" appeared in the bible, it was in genesis 2:7 and there again the distinction was made "And the lord God formed man of the dust of the ground....". Indeed when Abraham refers to himself as ".....dust and ashes" in genesis 18:27, the root word for the Hebrew that was translated as "ashes" means 'surface of the ground' and in most of the old testament where the word "dust" is used, there is a clear distinction relating it to the earth or the ground.

Who then is the seed who shall "bruise" the head of the devil? We have seen that the seed of the woman that our heavenly father speaks of is one person. Who is this person? To see who this person is, let us see another person to whom God talks of this "seed". His name is Abraham. God not only mentions the coming of this seed to Abraham, he also did it with an oath in genesis 22:16. Now many people and preachers think that, this blessing of Abraham was just about provision for him and his offspring because he obeyed; that is partially true but not the whole story. God's true intent was to bless Abraham's lineage with the seed (person) who will bruise the devil's head. It would have been utterly useless for God to put Abraham through all that trouble of asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac if the intention was just to give him land and children and wealth because God had already made two(2) different covenants with Abraham in which he already gave him those things. In genesis chapter 15, God makes a covenant with him, to give him and his descendants the land of Canaan and promised to multiply his offspring as the stars of the sky. That was the first covenant. In the book of genesis chapter 17, God makes another covenant with Abraham when he was ninety years old, however on this occasion God sought to make the initial covenant everlasting(forever and ever) and to be his God forever, thus stating in Gen 17:7-8 MKJV "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you.........for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and your seed after you.........I will give the land to you....... for an everlasting possession ". So we see right there that God who had already blessed Abraham, made the blessing everlasting. So contrary to what many preachers allude to, God was not looking for an opportunity to judge Abraham and thus take away his blessings if he had failed. Our heavenly father was looking for an opportunity to complete fulfilling all the promises that he made to Abraham, at the time when he was 'a nobody' in his father's house in genesis 12:2-3. God had made him a great nation through two covenants, God had made his name great by causing his household alone to defeat four kings who had defeated five other kings, God had made him a blessing not only to Lot his nephew but also to the people of Sodom by rescuing them and giving them all that he from the four kings he had defeated. There was however, one more promise that God had yet to keep; Gen 12:3 "...and in thee shall ALL families of the earth be blessed". When Abraham passed the test, God being aware that he had already made an everlasting covenant of blessings with Abraham, says on this occasion of genesis 22:17 "That IN blessing I will bless thee, and IN multiplying I will multiply thy seed.....". Now here is the second part of the blessing which establishes the lineage of the seed who will bruise the devils head, "...and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed.......". I'm aware that some English translations do render the seed here as multiple offspring, so let us examine two literal translations of the original Hebrew. The Young's literal translation of the bible says " ......and thy seed doth possess the gate of his enemies....." The LITV which is also a literal translation says of the same verse 22:17 "....And your Seed shall possess the gate of His enemies". The apostle Paul confirms this saying in Gal 3:16 KJV 16. "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. he saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ".

Beloved of God, let me show you another wonderful picture from this same chapter 22 of our heavenly fathers gracious intent to save all the nations of the earth through this promised seed. Who is it that took a donkey to the territory where he will be sacrificed, who is it that carried wood on his back while climbing up the hill where he was to be sacrificed, who is the one that was described as the only son whom his father loved? My friend, do you see the picture that God was revealing through the similarity of things that happened to Isaac and Jesus? Our heavenly father was revealing the coming mercy through his son Jesus Christ, via whom you and I would obtain mercy and redemption from Adam's fall.

Jacob who prophesied a coming era of the law also says in that same prophecy that the law would last until the messiah comes who will gather all nations unto himself. So just as the apostle Paul says that the law had come to an end because of Jesus, even so did Jacob prophesy while he was blessing his son Judah. And we see this in Gen 49:10 "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be". The word Shiloh is an epithet (a short description) for Messiah. And he goes on to say these about the Messiah Gen 49:11 "Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes". Do you see here again the picture of Jesus' donkey on which he rode into Jerusalem to be killed, do you also see a picture of Jesus covered in blood? Indeed the word translated as "clothes" is the Hebrew word "suth" which means "covering": that is why some translation use the word 'covering' in place of 'clothes'. Once again we see our heavenly father's intent; it is one of reconciling all the people unto himself through the Messiah.

We see from the Garden of Eden, our heavenly father's intent of bruising the devil's head. The word "head" in Gen 3:15 is the Hebrew word "ro'sh" (strong links H7219) which also means 'venom' of serpents. In essence the promised child will take the devil's power which is his ability to cause the death of men, away from him and render him incapable of bringing man to death again. That is why the apostle Paul says in Heb 2:14 KJV

14. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Jesus himself confirms this when he says in Rev 1:18 ASV

18. and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

We see a picture of this child in the story of Abraham's attempt to sacrifice Isaac and how all nations of the world would be blessed through this seed. We see from Jacob's blessing of Judah, how the lawgiver will remain until Shiloh(Messiah) comes, and we see a picture of his donkey tied to the vine and also of him covered in blood.

In the time of King David, when the Law that Jacob prophesied was in full force, this is what David, a man whom God had described as being after his own heart, prophesied concerning Jesus which was partly re-emphasized by the apostle Paul in the book of Hebrews. Psa 40:6-10 "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation"

Here again we see a prophecy about Jesus not bringing or preaching condemnation but God's righteousness, loving-kindness, salvation, faithfulness, truth. We see from the above psalm that God was not pleased with the Law and its requirements.

This is what John the Baptist's father Zacharias says concerning Jesus and his son John and the oath that God made to Abraham. (Remember that the promise of the seed came with an oath on mount Moriah). Luk 1:72-73 KJV "To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham".

When Jesus himself declared his mandate in the book of Luke 4:18, he quoted Isaiah 61, he said his reason for coming was to preach good tidings to the poor, to heal the sick, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Indeed the Hebrew word for "acceptable" used in Isaiah 61 is 'ratson' which also means "favour". So in other words, he came to proclaim the age of the Lord's favor.

Indeed, what do you think Jesus told the reclusive woman, a serial divorcee, who was currently living in adultery, at the well in Samaria, which made her forget about her water-pot, her reason for going to the well, to run into the town to start talking about the arrival of the Kingdom of God? And the bible says in the gospel of John that many believed Jesus at her word. Do you think Jesus went to lecture her on some 6 consequences of adultery, or 12 principles to live above sin, or 7 ways to hell fire or what....? This same woman who was coming to fetch water at noon because she was probably ashamed or simply tired of all the gossips and insinuations she probably receives from the self-righteous women who come to the well in the morning, or probably just needed water at the time, now forgets about her self-consciousness, her water-pot, and the bible says, she goes into the town to tell them about the Messiah.

What manner of message could so change this woman to become an instant evangelist in spite of what people knew or thought of her? I know without a shadow of a doubt that it wasn't the law, for the Samaritans also new the law, it wasn't condemnation, for Jesus in declaring his mandate, tells us clearly that he came to preach liberty to the captives. he came to bind up this woman who had probably given up on herself worth after having so many divorces, either from her own bad attitude or the fault of her husbands. Either way, the living water that Jesus gave her, gave her so much confidence, she run into the town to tell the good news.

What of the prostitute who kissed Jesus feet, washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair? Do you think it was some sermon on 11 daily practices to overcome prostitution, how fornication leads to hell fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth? Do you think when Jesus first met her, he turned away from her and gossiped about her like the wives of her clients did in the market places. Can you imagine what the man who was bed ridden felt when he heard that Jesus was in a house nearby? Can you imagine the excitement as his friends promised him that they will carry him to this kind man who will not shame him for his sins, can you imagine how broken his heart was as they carried him only to get to the location to find out that there was no way to enter the house because of the crowd? Can you imagine the humiliation and self-pity that he felt within himself, as his friends broke through the roofing of someone's house, just to get him into the presence of Jesus? And when Jesus told him that 'son your sins are forgiven' can you imagine the liberty he probably experienced as all his secret deeds flashed into his memory? And can you imagine how much joy he felt when Jesus asked him to rise up and take his bed?

My friend Jesus came for you and I, to preach liberty, not to condemn us, to heal our broken hearts, to set us free from self-condemnation, to liberate us from poverty. Indeed the first ever record in the bible, of any man preaching grace was Jesus. In Luke 4:22 The Bible in Basic English has a more beautiful translation which reads Luk 4:22 BBE " And they were all giving witness, with wonder, to the words of grace which came from his mouth:.......". So there it is in your bible, that the words which came from the mouth of Jesus Christ were "words of Grace".

Not only did Jesus preach words of grace, he also spoke of the end of the Law. My friend before you argue with me, turn to Luk 16:16 "The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it". The Literal translation version of the bible puts it this way Luk 16:16 LITV "The Law and the Prophets were until John; from then the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is pressing into it".

The clearest translation is the Contemporary English Version which states in Luk 16:16 CEV "Until the time of John the Baptist, people had to obey the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets. But since God's kingdom has been preached, everyone is trying hard to get in".

And Jesus was telling this of the legalistic Pharisees whom he said, like to "justify yourselves before men" (Luk 16:15). Jesus couldn't have therefore gone on preaching the law whose end he himself had testified of. And we know from the book of Isaiah chapter 53 that his death brought us forgiveness of sins, healing and shalom (peace, wholeness, prosperity, completeness, etc).

So we see that God declared eternal perdition to the devil. he promised redemption to man as his first act through a seed. he promises that seed to Abraham. Paul confirms that the seed is just one person, Jesus. Jacob prophesies this messiah's coming. David prophesies this messiah and the message of righteousness and salvation that he brings. Paul confirms what David said in the book of Hebrews. Zacharias the father of John the Baptist also confirms that the seed was one person, Jesus. Jesus himself reads the prophecy of Isaiah, announcing the redemption that God promised in the garden of Eden to Eve and Adam. And we see that redemption story unfold in the examples of the Samaritan woman AND the former prostitute who wept on Jesus' feet, and how this Redemption is about Grace.

By the way, who is the seed of the devil that God spoke about in Gen 3:15. Jesus himself tells us who the person is in John 17:12 "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled". And perdition simply means "everlasting damnation", which I have shown that the devil received in Gen 3:14. "...dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life". So we see that Judas Iscariot, is the seed of the serpent mentioned in Genesis, given that Jesus points to him as the son of perdition.

So we know what the intention of God towards us is, we know what Jesus came to preach, he himself said that he didn't come to condemn, and we have seen the scripture which says people marveled at the words of grace which came out of his mouth. What then did he send out his disciples to go and preach?

Mat 28:19-20 " Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Mar 16:15 "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature".

Luk 24:46-47 " And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem"

Joh 20:21 "Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you". How did father send him? We find the answer in Luk 4:18-19 KJV "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."

So this is the standard that preachers are bound by. he, who calls himself a Christian, has no business in the condemnation business or the business of constantly reminding people of sin or their weaknesses. Jesus Christ never ever did that. Throughout the KJV translation of the New Testament section of the bible, Jesus for instance only mentions 'sin' in 12 verses in the context of forgiving someone his sins or people not believing in him as son of God or daring anyone to point out sin in him or daring some self-righteous people to stone an adulterous woman if they have no sin. I looked up the word 'trespass' and the only time he uses that word, he was entreating his disciples to forgive people who trespass against them. I looked up the word 'iniquity' and he mentions it only five times, in the context of unbelievers being kept out of heaven (Mat 7:23, 13:41 and Luk 13:27), and in the context of hypocrisy, thus people who outwardly like to appear righteous to everybody else (Mat 23:2), and also in the context of how the love of many will grow cold because of the prevalence of iniquity in the last days (Mat 24:12).

Here are the instances where Jesus mentions sin in the New Testament section of the bible. Mat 12:31 he speaks of sin in relation to unbelief in him, John 5:14 he forgives a sick man's sin, John 8:7 he dares anyone without sin to cast the first stone at an adulterous woman caught in the act, John 8:11 he forgives a woman caught in the act of adultery, John 8:34 he explains that people are servants of sin and it is only the son who can set a person free from sin indeed, John 8:46 he dares anyone to convict him of sin, John 9:41 he tells the Pharisees that their sin remains because they claim they can see, in other words they don't need Jesus to be saved because they don't believe he is the Son of God, John 15:22 in relation to the world's unbelief, John 15:24 tells of people being guilty of sin because they hate him in spite of seeing the miracles he has performed, John 16:8-9 the holy spirit convicts the world of sin for their unbelief in him, John 19:11 talks of Judas Iscariot.

My friend, the commission of the preacher is to preach the remission of sin through Christ Jesus. he is the one who gives life and liberty from the bondage to Sin. Don't let anyone intimidate you with fear of fire and brimstone. Our walk with our heavenly father begins and ends with the work that Jesus did on our behalves at the cross. Your bible says in Heb 4:16 "let us therefore come boldly to the throne of GRACE that we may obtain MERCY and find GRACE to help in time of need".

When you are burdened with secrets that are eating you inside, when you are burdened with wrong and abusive relationships and don't know how to get out, when you need money for your business and yet not have a clue as to how to come by it, when debtors keep knocking at your door in distress, when you need healing and the devil keeps whispering in your ear that God has abandoned you because of something you did, when everything appears to be going all right for you and yet you feel a sense of insecurity or emptiness, turn to the throne of God where Jesus is seated at the father's right hand and pour your heart out unto God. Just talk to him, don't pretend to sound special, just talk to him, don't pretend to feel remorseful, just tell him how you feel, tell him what you want, you can never ask too much, the psalmist says, " What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD". Keep your eyes on Jesus for his grace and mercy not your good deeds. Elihu tells Job that his good deeds cannot add anything to God's greatness neither can his sins reduce God's righteousness. God does not need anything from us to be God, on the contrary, it is us who need everything from God. And yet it was he who gave up his only beloved son for us that today we qualify to be called the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. This is love.

So listen carefully to what you hear, if it breeds fear and not liberty, it is not of Christ Jesus, if it breeds bondage to self-consciousness and not the liberty that the work of Christ Jesus at the cross attains for us, if it tells you that you will remain sick because of your past deeds instead of healing you and making you feel the love of God, if it makes you feel the burden of sins instead of the freedom that the remission of sins brings, then know that, that is not the purpose for which our heavenly father gave up his beloved son Jesus Christ for us, that is not what Christ preached, that is not what he sent out his disciples to preach. People may have good intentions, but your life and time are too precious for honestly wrong people to lead you on, on the wrong side, away from the road of liberty in Christ Jesus. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

#### ◆ he Sails With Me

Change happens, it ruffles you but remember your reason for beginning in the first place. All that matters is that, Christ is in the boat. It will not sink because it is filled with water, it will not delay because of a storm, it will not miss its course because it is surrounded by the darkness of midnight, and it will not take as long as ordinary boats take, to get to its destination. It will get to its destination IMMEDIATELY because the one who walks on the waters of life, has climbed into your boat. His name is Jesus.

## ■ It Takes Grace, Not Your Effort

You are smarter than he is but he has his own business and more money than you do. She doesn't even know how to put on make-up and her hair style is always scary but her boyfriend is the dashing guy that even you were intimidated by. She slept with any guy who wore a pretty smile back in college but she got married to that honest and hard working gentleman you dream about, on the very day your boyfriend broke up with you. She was lucky to graduate with a 'third' class and yet she is traveling the world, has an MBA, a great job, nice cars, a fancy condo and is a doctoral student, but you, who had a first class, are killing your back in that job you don't even like and are wondering when you will ever be able to save enough for next year's rent on that single bedroom apartment, while burning up your post graduate ambitions.

She lost her job when you bought your first car; you felt sorry for her but her shops are now littered all over the city, built her first storey building at 29 yrs, while you, are caught up in the rat race and office politics.....

Everyone knows of someone like this... you see this and say life is unfair... but you forget that the race was never to the swift, nor was strength ever to the strong... you call it 'UNFAIR', Jesus calls it his 'GRACE a.k.a UNMERITED FAVOUR', it is never based on YOUR goodness but all on HIS finished work at the cross. His righteousness is not earned, it is a gift. You have a choice, you can spend your days trying to argue in your mind, trying to prove him wrong, you can choose to spend your years trying to explain to your logic, why meritocracy and all the self help principles you have read and passionately applied should be superior to all of this 'Jesus stuff' which is just too simple to be true. But the evidence stares you in the face.

Jesus didn't come to give you a 'helping hand', 'a pull up the ladder', 'a shoulder to lean on', 'a partnership'.... or any of those well intended yet fallacious fads. Jesus said with his own mouth "come unto me all ye who labour and are heavily burdened and I will GIVE you REST", "...I will GIVE you REST", "...I will GIVE you REST". He is not interested in 'helping' you get anything, that will suppose that God's strength can only go so far. I dare anyone, to find anywhere in any scripture where Jesus says, implies or suggests that he will 'help' anyone with any thing in the context in which we use "help" today, he is God, he has never needed any man to 'top up' on his effort. he said "ask and it shall be GIVEN".... "if you ask anything believe that you have RECEIVED"..... "What do you want Me to Do for You?"..... "whatever you ask the Father for in my name, he will GIVE it to you"... "I lay my life down for the redemption of many"... Jesus has never and would never need your 'good' effort to give you something. After all did he not say that YOUR righteousness is like a filthy rag? So you have a choice, you either turn it all over unto him and receive his rest, his gift of righteousness, his grace, his blood, his death, or keep trying to con him into the 'scratch my back I scratch your back' business. he said "MY GRACE is sufficient for you, for MY STRENGTH is made perfect in weakness".

## ■ he Made Me Holy

1Co 3:17 ISV "If anyone destroys God's sanctuary, God will destroy him, for God's sanctuary is holy. And YOU are that sanctuary!"

Here is the apostle Paul, calling the believers of Corinth a HOLY sanctuary. Yet in the preceding chapters he calls these same people carnal, and chastises them over reports of divisions among them.

Do you get the drift... What you do or do not do, does not change who you ARE. And what you are is a HOLY sanctuary of Father God.

If anyone or even your own mind tells you that you're unworthy, because of something you may have said or done, smile and tell him that you ARE a perfectly holy child of God.

## ■ His Righteousness, Not Yours

"Then Jesus told this story to some who had GREAT confidence in their OWN righteousness and scorned everyone else"

Luke 8:9 NLT

"I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess."

Luke 18:12 KJV

Jesus calls what you DO to please or get something from God, your OWN righteousness, even if it's from the Law.

ah!..... so how at aaaaall do I become righteous.... you may ask. You see, that is your problem. You think YOU must become righteous, so you go looking for things that YOU must be DOING from the bible. And the place where you can find many things to DO is the law, and you also carry that same mentality to the new testament, where you read in search of things that you think you must DO.

OK I get that but still.... how then do I to become righteous? It's simple... the moment you believed that Jesus is indeed the son God and that when he died, he died as payment for your unrighteousness, you became righteous with a righteousness that is from God himself.

That is what Paul says in 2Co 5:21 KJV;

"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."

So all the so called good things that you and I are able to do, is because of who and what we now are, and not because we are trying to become something. So when you read something like "love is kind", "love is gentle", etc, or fruits of the spirit e.g. faith, it is not saying you must do them to either become righteous or to keep on being righteous. No, you are now being told what manner of person you NOW are. Example;

I'm really weary of analogies because they're easy to bend but let me try. Imagine two young men, one inherits all the riches of his father who was the richest person in the world, while the other inherits nothing from his father who was the poorest man in the world. The first boy starts out in life not trying to become rich, but lives a life of discovering what his estate entails but the poor boy works in the hopes of someday acquiring an asset. When the rich boy wants to spend the weekend in the best Las Vegas hotel, he takes from his riches and pays for the trip or even buys the hotel altogether in that very instant. The poor kid on the other hand has to work probably for years to be able to save enough for the cheapest room in that hotel.

Before the cross, we were that poor boy trying by our doings to lawfully become rich i.e righteous. But the cross of Jesus Christ now became the legal requirement that had to be fulfilled, by which God(The world's richest man) could now go to the 'social welfare' centre to adopt us as his children.

So when Christ Jesus says that he came to fulfill the law but not to break it, he was not saying like many preachers claim, that he came to live by the law so that we can study from his good example in other to do same. No, he was talking about a legal process, by which he could redeem us from the law in other to make us children of God. The law was a contract between the people and God which they couldn't fulfill. And in other to redeem anybody from the force or effect of a contract, somebody or the person involved himself has to fulfill the terms of the contract.

As an analogy, let's say you borrow money from the bank and according to the terms of the agreement or contract that you signed, you are supposed to pay back in 6 months and if you default or delay, the penalty is also spelt out. Now suppose that another third party out of his grace, decides to make all the payments for you, he has fulfilled the contract for you. That is what Christ said i.e. he didn't come to break the contract (law), but rather he came to fulfill it.

So those who are still trying to do something to become righteous, are like the poor boy, even though he has been adopted into 'sonship' and given the all the riches, yet refuses to abandon the mindset that he has to continually work in other to earn what has already been given to him through the finished work of Christ Jesus via the cross, either out of ignorance or arrogance.

So it all ends and begins with the cross, and begins and ends with the faith of Jesus Christ and the effect of his finished work at the cross for us.

My dear friend, are you going to accept God's free gift of HIS righteousness for you, or you are going to keep trusting in your own righteousness.

Are you going to read the Bible in search of the riches in this free gift of overabundant Grace and righteousness given to us through Christ Jesus, or you're going to read it in search of what you must do to become righteous?

It is finished my friend, enjoy it.

#### ◆ Rest & Strength

Speak in tongues to yourself... For "rest" and "strength".

Isaiah 28: 11-12 BBE

"No, but with broken talk, and with a strange tongue, he will give his word to this people:

To whom he said, This is the rest, give rest to him who is tired; and by this you may get new strength;..."

The "here a little, there a little" doctrine is a distorted view of God. If you read Isaiah 28: 10 in context, i.e include 11, 12; 13.

God wants to bless his people with rest and strength by a certain way verse 11. But they have made his word a rule based system a little here, a little there, precept upon precept. But in verse 13 the scripture says that, that rules based view leads to brokenness, it causes you to fail and ensnares you.

"12........ Yet they would not hear, 13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken." KJV

Now consider these words of Jesus himself "For God so loved the world, that he gave his ONLY begotten Son...".

That was not a little... That was ALL he had, of his very best and he gave it away for me and you.

## ■ Your Salvation Can Never Ever Die!

Hebrews 9:12

he did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the Most Holy Place ONCE FOR ALL by His own blood, thus securing ETERNAL REDEMPTION.

No man can change, what my father and your father has made ETERNAL.

SIN no longer exists in the believer, it is dead, it was nailed to the cross when my brother and your brother Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross.

The DEVIL cannot change what your father and my father has made eternal. Heb 2:14 Amplified

"... that by [going through] death he might bring TO NOUGHT and make of NO EFFECT him who had the power of death -- "that is, the devil -- " "

The KJV says " so that by his death he might DESTROY the one who has the power of death (THAT IS, THE DEVIL)".

The NIV says, "... so that by his death he might BREAK the power of him who holds the power of death--THAT IS, the DEVIL--".

What about Jesus? Even he will not because he has said with his own mouth, "the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save", Luke 9:56. Again he has said "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him". John 3:17

So what if he changes his mind, in spite of the things he himself has said above, given that he has the keys to death and Hades Rev 1:18. ESPECIALLY when no man can give a guarantee to him, that he(man) shall never do wrong again? The answer is in two places.

The first is Hebrews 8:12

New American Standard Bible

"FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE."

And Isaiah 54:9

New Living Translation

"Just as I swore in the time of Noah that I would never again let a flood cover the earth, so now I swear that I will NEVER AGAIN be ANGRY and PUNISH YOU.

What is the assurance for the future that, God's word and oath shall not change and thus be broken. The apostle Paul answers that question beautifully about the nature of those two things from God i.e. his word and his oath, in Hebrews 6:17 - 18

"Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

18 That by two immutable(UNCHANGEABLE) things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:".

Your salvation is not a system nor a state arising out of the product of your actions. Your salvation is a person, his name is Jesus, he can never ever die!! I repeat, your salvation can never ever die.

This is the perfect assurance you have, not in yourself but in HIM.

#### ◆ From Samuel To Jesus: It's God's Way And Not Your Way

Saul sacrificed to God because Samuel was delaying and the enemy was coming and his troops were deserting him.

he didn't go fighting the enemy because he knew that fighting without God on your side was the highway to defeat.

So in the absence of Samuel, the enemy was getting closer, he did what he believed ought to be done.

When Samuel arrived at the scene, he said words that bishops and apostles and priests, especially in the charismatic circles, have abused over and over again in their extortion schemes, words which they summarise with Samuel's own words from another place "obedience is better than sacrifice".

Today, priests and bishops and pastors all over the world tell YOU, that YOU should give an offering to God to get anointing for riches. Then they add that "Obedience is better than sacrifice". Simply because they would not have you question the scriptural basis of their demands on you.

In the same breadth they ask you to make a sacrifice while telling you that obedience is better than sacrifices. So what they actually mean by obedience is heeding to their injunction on you. And what they actually mean by sacrifice, are the negative consequences that they hint will come upon you if you refuse.

God wanted his prophet whom he recognised as a priest, by virtue of his adoption by Eli I believe(personal belief without direct scriptual backing), to give him an offering(because only priests were fit to give offerings to God under the law).

Some preachers tell YOU, give some offering for God to bring healing to you or your loved one and like a desperate Saul, acting on the impulse of fear instead of trust, give what you deem to be fit as an offering to God. In the hope that God will be moved by your offering.

Today, you do all kinds of good things, in the hope that God will look on those and bless you.

1 Samuel 13:12

"Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering... ".

In the end, Saul lost not just a battle but his throne, because he sought to do by himself, what God had elected to do for himself by the hand of his own priest/prophet of his own choosing. Samuel actually called Saul's fear induced good intentions "foolish ".

1 Samuel 13:13.

"And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever".

Now another priest/prophet,

Heb 4:14

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess".

Luke 13:33

Nevertheless, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day, for it is not admissible for a PROPHET to perish outside of Jerusalem.

is elected by God to offer his body as an offering to himself for your sake.

Now Samuel's priesthood/''prophetship' is a foreshadow of Christ. Like Jesus he was not the product of the biological intrigues that happens between husband and wife.

Secondly that God accepted offerings at the hands of Samuel, in the times of the Law, which prescribed that only priest could do so, shows that he accepted Samuel as a priest even though he was not naturally born into that house of Levi, from which Israel's priests came. Neither was Jesus born into the house of Levi. As a human being, he was born into the house of the King David(the tribe of Judah).

Now a priest and a prophet called Jesus, a greater than Samuel has come. It is his offering NOT your offering that pleases God. The offering that he gave on your behalf was his body, as it is written

Heb 10:5 NET "So when he came into the world, he said, "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me".

So stop trying to do for yourself by yourself, that which God has decided to do for you through his priest/prophet Jesus Christ.

Your healing is through the body of Jesus

1Pe 2:24 NET "... By his wounds you were healed".

Your sins he carried in his body, so stop punishing and depressing yourself in hopes that God will see it and it will cause him to forgive you. 1Pe 2:24 KJV;

"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: ... "

One other reason was that through him we become heirs of the world so top thinking that how much you give will determine how rich you become or how much God provides for your needs. As it is written;

Gal 3:29 NET "And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise".

You see, you're heirs not because you pay tithe like Abraham but because you belong to Christ.

Stop acting like how religious you act, dress or behave is what makes you holy. What you do can't make you holy, it is only through the sacrifice that God offered in the person of Jesus that we are made holy. As it is written Heb 10:14 NET

"For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy".

The offering of Jesus has done it for you forever.

In this new covenant with our father God, everything about our faith, starts and ends with and in Christ Jesus. Anything outside Christ happens in our own strength. That is foolish.

## ■ It Takes Christ Not Your Tithe

Have you heard it said, "ah... but Abraham paid a tithe... and that was BEFORE the law so we should keep doing it" OK But so was burnt offerings, sin offerings(Abraham did it for Abimelech) and circumcision. So may I know, which of these do you or your pastor keep performing?

My friend, beware of well intended but false theology. Christ Jesus entered the holy of holies to present himself as every kind of offering on your behalf (Heb 10:5-10).

There is not a single sentence in ALL of scripture, which says, that in order to be blessed, you have to first give money to GOD, before he blesses you. IF YOU THINK YOU CAN BUY GOD'S BLESSINGS you deceive yourself.

Whether as an offering or tithes(now I understand there is some theology which says tithes are not offerings, so bear with me, even though it is a lie). To believe that your money is your gateway to being blessed by God is to equate your money, whether 10% or 80% or whatever percent of ALL your income, to JESUS CHRIST himself. And as the pastor of my church will say, "may your money perish with you".

I will repeat it again for emphasis; to believe that your money is your gateway to being blessed by God is to equate your money to JESUS CHRIST himself. And may your money perish with you.

Look my friend, I have dabbled in that brand of confusion before, however, I am now so convinced, without a shadow of a doubt, that all this theology of give money to God as a measure of your faith in other to receive blessings is wrong. Neither is the believer in Christ Jesus, under any obligation to pay tithe. Christ Jesus, represents every offering, tithes included, unto the father for the believer.

It is important to establish a few facts as they are represented in scripture. A tithe represents a tenth of all your earnings. After the Law came into effect through Moses at Mt Sinai, the children of Israel were obligated to pay a tenth of their earnings to the house of the Lord. This tenth was meant for the Levites, who did not have an inheritance in all the allocations that were made to all the various tribes of Israel. So the tithe was their inheritance Num 18:24.

Now as new testament believers in Christ Jesus, we understand that the Law as was prescribed does not apply to us because as it is written, "For Christ is the END of the Law for righteousness to everyone that believeth" Rom 10:4. In other words, Christ represents the end of the law as the way or means to become righteous. It says it in another way in Rom 3:20 "Therefore by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified: for by the law is the knowledge of sin". In other words, doing the things that the law prescribes does not make you righteous because through the law, one gets to know sin and not righteousness.

Christ Jesus spoke about the end of the regime of the law in these words Luke 16:16 KJV "The Law and the prophets were UNTIL John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached and every man presseth into it". So you see, the apostle Paul was only confirming something that Jesus Christ himself had said, that the regime of the law as well as that of the biblical prophets terminated with John the baptist and a new regime has taken over i.e the Kingdom of God. Some other translations say the good news.

Now for those who were under the law, they were either blessed or cursed, depending on how well they performed ALL the law including the payment of tithe, because we understand from the apostle Paul, that failing to perform even just one portion out of all the law, was equal to failing to perform ALL of the law. In other words, if you did everything perfectly but failed at say.... paying your tithe, you were deemed to have broken the law that says for instance thou shall not Kill. That is why the apostle Paul says in Galatians 3:10 NIV... "All who rely on observing the law are under a curse...". The reason being that "...cursed is everyone who does not continue to do EVERYTHING written in the book of the law" and that is an impossible feat to attain. So it is self evident that trying to keep tithing as a legal obligation is to a very significant extent, unwise or foolish because you will be binding yourself under a curse.

Then there is the theology that, Abraham paid a tithe to Melchizedek, Jacob promised God 10% of all that he(God) will bless him with, when he ran away from his brother Esau and so, tithing is an obligation, even outside of the regime of the law. And central to this is that, people want to be blessed financially and they have been taught to believe that, tithing is one of the sure ways of being blessed. But everyone who reads about how Abraham was blessed, will know that he was made rich in Egypt after he had disobeyed God and bypassed Canaan and lied about his wife being his sister(my friend half truths are still lies). When he came back to Canaan, he continued to grow so rich that it brought about, a quarrel between him and his own nephew Lot. he had grown so rich that he had his private army and had formed alliances. So much so that his troops alone, took on the armies of 4 kings who had banded together and had defeated 5 other Kings and had taken his nephew Lot(who at one time, tried to cheat him) hostage. This was clearly no poor or average man, in fact the bible says of him "he was very rich". When he returned from rescuing his nephew Lot, the bible says that Melchizedek gave him bread and wine and blessed him. It was in response to the kind gesture that he gave to Melchizedek 10% of all that he had from the 4 kings. Indeed when the King of Sodom told him to keep the rest of the bounty and just return his people to him, he refused that offer and said in Genesis 14:23 "...I will not take from a thread even to shoelachet, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham rich". So we see that at no point did Abraham delude himself, that he was going to get something from God by giving to some King, 10% of items that he didn't even want for himself, in other for God to bless him in return.

In the matter of the 10% relating to Jacob, it was God who appeared to him in a dream at Bethel and made promises of giving the land to him, that is Jacob. It was there that Jacob made a promise to God.

Gen 28:20 NIV

"Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's household, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.""

We see here that at that point he did not even recognize God as HIS God. And there is no evidence that he paid anything 10% or whatever but rather it was rather God who blessed him in keeping with his word about him when he was still a baby in his mothers womb.

Now, let us remember that Jesus said that he had not come to break the law, but to fulfill it. So how did he fulfill the term of tithe? In Hebrews 10:5-7 "... you did not want sacrifices and offerings, but you prepared a body for me. In burnt offerings and sin offerings you never took delight. Then I said, 'see, I have come to do your will, O God'..."

So Jesus Christ became every kind of offering and sacrifice for the believer through his body. Now there is the strange theology that a tithe is not an offering. But from God's own mouth in Numbers 18:26-28, he directly refers to tithes as offerings. Specifically "a lifted offering" BBE(Bible in Basic English). Who was the one who was lifted up as an offering for mankind, on the cross? JESUS CHRIST. Do you now see an example of what Paul means by the law being a shadow of the reality i.e. Christ Jesus... Do you now see an example of what Christ Jesus meant when he says that the scriptures point to him?

So for anyone to tragically believe that some money given at church, can be the source of financial blessings, would amount to equating it to, or elevating it above the tithe that God offered to himself on our behalf, that is, Jesus Christ.

If you paid money for it then it is not FREELY GIVEN

1Co 2:12 KJV

Now we have received, NOT the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are FREELY GIVEN to us of God.

If you paid money for it then it is NOT a GIFT

Act 8:20 KJV

But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the GIFT OF GOD may be purchased with money

If you paid money for it, then it is not an INHERITANCE

Gal 3:29 ISV

And if you belong to the Messiah, then you are Abraham's descendants indeed, and heirs according to the promise.

If you paid money for it then it is the fruit of your WORK and NOT the GRACE of JESUS CHRIST

2 Corinthians 8:9 -

For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

If you paid for it then it is a reward for your WORK not God's GRACE

2 Corinthians 9:8 -

And God [is] able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all [things], may abound to every good work:

If you paid for it then it is according to your money and NOT according to "HIS" Glory

Philippians 4:19 -

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

So by all means give as much as you can to further the work of the church but please do it because you consider it a privilege to do so. And be rest assured, you are blessed because of Christ Jesus' FINISHED WORK at the cross for you and I.

##### 8

# On The Road To Salvation

■ FAITH 101: THE SIMPLICITY OF FAITH ■ A CONFLICT OF REALITIES ■ TWO TREES FROM EDEN ■ TWO TREES FROM EDENpt2 ■ TAKE HEART; JESUS IS THE ONE SERVING YOU

Nobody is denied access to the kingdom because of what they did, but rather because of who they are. Sin is not what you do, it is a state of being. In the same vain, righteousness is not what you do, it is a state of being. Occasionally an eagle may walk on the ground but it doesn't make it a duck. Occasionally a duck may fly but it doesn't make it an eagle. Unless somehow, the very genetic makeup of the eagle is completely recreated into that of a duck or vice versa. It is the same way with the man who is not in Christ Jesus, that person is a dead spirit, whose very makeup is sin.

That is why it is completely 'foolish' to tell an unbeliever to come and give his life to Christ or to believe in him. First of all, Christ doesn't need his dead spirit for anything, for he has said that he has come so that "ye might have life and have it more abundantly". He is the giver of life not a 'dealer' in dead souls who goes about acquiring them for his trophy case.

Secondly that unbeliever is incapable of believing the spiritual matters you are talking about because your bible says that spiritual things are spiritually discerned. But that man is not a living spirit, he is a dead spirit in fulfillment of the word of God when he warned Adam of the consequences of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. he said to Adam in Genesis 2:15-17 "but you must not EAT from the tree of the KNOWLEDGE of GOOD and EVIL, for when you EAT of it you will SURELY DIE". That is why the unbeliever is a sinner, he became a dead person because of what Adam did in the garden. In the same way, when Christ took our place in death through the cross, he became unto us, the righteousness of God. That is why the apostle Paul says "Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for ALL PEOPLE." - Romans 5:18. So your righteousness is not and shall never be because of what you did or do. It is the same for the unbeliever, what he does outwardly is only a manifestation of his dead soul.

he is therefore incapable of believing because he is walking in death. So for that dead man walking, he may appear to be doing good all his life but that does not in anyway make him righteous. he is still that same person whose very spirit is sin and if only you knew his thoughts and secrets, you will be shocked. he is incapable of believing as Jesus Christ himself says of him in John 8:43-44,45 "Why do ye not understand my speech? because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do...", "And because I tell the truth, ye believe me not".

Christ Jesus is interested in saving that man from the state of death in which he is. That will mean that the old spirit that is full of sin will have to be put to death and a new spirit recreated in him completely. And we understand from the book of Romans chapter 6 that "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with". Having put to death this old self through the death of Christ Jesus on the cross, a new spirit is created in him, that is why the holy spirit says through the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATURE: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new".

So God did not come to do a rehabilitation of men like they do in psychiatric institutions and prisons and counseling centers and motivational conferences. Jesus came to engage in a new era of creation. How therefore can that sinful creature, a dead spirit, an enemy of God who is incapable of discerning spiritual things, come to believe in Christ?

The bible says in Rom 10:9-10(ESV) "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved". So for a dead man who cannot discern spiritual realities, how do you get him to the crucial point of confessing, and why would he even bother to confess what he does not believe? The answer to this issue is a simple one which many well meaning preachers miss. The unbeliever is dead, ruled by his sin dominated spirit and completely without the ability to discern spiritual realities. he now lives by what he sees, what he hears, what he can touch, and what he can smell in the natural biological realm. They call it "seeing is believing", it defines everything about him. Whole fields of study have been developed on the basis of this limitation, the most notorious of them being that which is called science.

That is why the apostle Paul refers to him as the carnal mind because like Adam became, his mind is ruled by a dead spirit which tells him to trust his senses and not God's word, 'eat and see'. Like Cain his senses dependent mind reaches the conclusion, it is Abel who is the stumbling block to God accepting his offering, after all, that is what he saw and so he eliminates his problem. Like Jezebel, her senses dependent mind tells her that it is Elijah who is the threat to her influence and not God, after all, that is what she saw as Elijah turned the people away from idol worship, so she tried to eliminate him. Like King Saul, his senses dependent mind told him that the people were singing David's name, after all, that is what he saw even though the word of God had come to him that God was no longer with him because of his disobedience. Like the children of Israel, before Saul became King, God was their direct ruler through his prophets but they saw other nations with human kings so they demanded for same. At Mt. Sinai they couldn't see Moses for a few days so they made an idol which they could see and touch.

Like the thief on the cross whose sense dominated mind told Jesus Christ "let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him", after all seeing is believing right? Today we say that the United States of America is the most powerful country on earth, why? It's because we see their sky scrapers, billionaires and killing ammunition, like no other nation can boast of. Today a public officer sees how much he is signing away to contractors every day, never mind that about 90% of it is going to offset expenses, the official gets greedy and begins to extort the contractor. After all, he sees his signature making others rich. Today parents abuse their children for not doing well in school, never mind that they are always fighting in front of the kids so the kids do not have the right mental framework to study while at home or in class. After all, they hear the rumors that their neighbour's children are straight 'A' students so why not theirs.

The unsaved man is a carnal man dominated by his senses and that is what informs all his judgments. On the contrary, this is what the prophecy says about Jesus Christ in Isa 11:3 NASB "... And he will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear But with righteousness he will judge ...". I am going on and on about this simple matter of the carnality of the unsaved man, so that there will not be any doubt about the truth of the matter. Lets see an example in John 6:30 " So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform?". And this is what Jesus Christ himself says of the carnally minded man... John 4:48 NIV "Unless you people see signs and "wonders," Jesus told him, "You will never believe".

That is why Jesus was insistent on repentance, telling the people to "repent and believe the gospel". He was not under any illusion that the spiritually dead man can believe without first repenting, because he was aware that the battle existed in the mind of the spiritually dead man. And that, until he shifted his mindset, there was no way he was going to be able to accept the gospel which represented an end to the legal regime of the old covenant and the institution of the new. Now here again, many preachers have created two misleading impressions that repentance and belief are interchangeable and are the same things, or that repentance means ceasing from all your sinning or sinful way of life.

Lets begin with repentance, the word repent simply means to change your mind, nothing more, nothing less. If they did not change their mindset from the existing position, that the era where righteousness was earned through obedience of the law of Moses was about to come to an end, then there is no way they would have made room for a new way which the gospel preached. For example, if the disciples of Jesus had not repented i.e. changed their mindset about the law of Moses, there is no way they would have broken regulations like fasting, washing of hands before eating, harvesting food on the Sabbath, or followed a man who broke the Sabbath many times by healing the sick on the Sabbath, which was tantamount to working on the Sabbath. These were actions which could have cost them their very lives. They had repented but they had not yet become believers even though they had said with their lips a number of times that they believed that Jesus was the Son of God. And it was obvious when Mary Magdalene went to tell them that Jesus had risen from the dead, Luke records that they did not believe. he writes in chapter 24:11 "And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them NOT", and this was in spite of the fact that Jesus Christ himself had told them that it would happen.

This further goes to buttress the point, that belief and repentance are not one and the same things. Repentance took place in their minds while Christ Jesus was with them, but they were not born again, because the holy Spirit had not yet been given to them, they could simply not believe. The reason being that belief takes place at the heart of the spiritual man but unfortunately for them, they could not believe in the resurrection as we have seen, neither had they been given the holy Spirit who would have recreated in them a spirit that was capable of discerning spiritual truths. That is why Jesus said to some of the disciples in Luke 24:25 "...O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken". When Jesus calls them "fools" he was not insulting them for the fun of it, he was stating a spiritual fact. The Greek word translated "heart" which is the word 'Kardia' could denote the centre of all physical and spiritual life or the centre and seat of all spiritual life (Thayer's bible dictionary). So belief that Jesus Christ is Lord and that he truly died and resurrected from the dead is a matter that takes place in the spirit of a person that, a spiritually dead, senses dominated unbeliever is incapable of. Therefore, when in many places of the four gospels it is written that "they believed" or "many believed", it was not a kind of belief akin to faith in Jesus, but rather a change at the carnal level of the mind.

So Jesus Christ had to overwhelm their sense dominated minds in a manner that could get them to the point of repentance i.e changing their mind so that they could believe. Now let us see examples of this in scripture. When you look up John chapter 4 in the story of the Samaritan woman at the Well, even when Jesus spoke of a spiritually discerned matter of "living water" i.e the holy spirit, she being a sense dominated person, replied "You don't have a bucket, and the well is deep. Then from where do You get this living water?". When Jesus went on about how this water will be in her a fountain of living water if she drinks, look at the carnally minded and sarcastic response she gave "give me this water, that I thirst not and COME HERE NOT TO DRAW". but when Jesus 'attacked the battle ground of her carnal mind with his ability of prophecy i.e. telling her about her serial divorces and adultery even though he never knew her in person(humanly speaking), the bible says that this carnally minded woman started enquiring about spiritual matters i.e. worship . The bible says that she left her waterpot at the Well and run into the city telling the men "come and see, a man, which told me all things I ever did: is not this the Christ?". Do you see the repentance... she did not wholly believe that he was the Christ but clearly there is the mental shift, the repentance was taking place.

Look at the disciple Nathaniel, when Jesus told him something he thought Jesus couldn't have possibly known in the natural i.e. seeing him under the fig tree, his answer betrayed his repentance, calling Jesus the Son of God, the King of Israel but look at Jesus' answer to him in John 1:50 "Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree? Thou shalt SEE greater things than these". So we see that repentance comes when unsaved men, have their sense dependent minds, overwhelmed by the manifestation of the power of God. And have you noticed that it changes their confession... we will come to that shortly. When Jesus turned water into wine at Cana, the bible says in John 2:11 "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and MANIFESTED forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him". At the Passover in Jerusalem the bible says in John 2:23 "... many believed in his name, when they SAW the miracles which he did". Look at the story of Thomas, he would not believe even after the other disciples had told him that they had SEEN Jesus, but this sense dominated man said unless he sees his pierced hands and puts his finger through his side, he will not believe; but when Jesus appeared to him in person and overwhelmed his carnal mind, see how his confession changed... he said "My Lord and my God".

But when it came to directly talking of spiritually discerned matters, even with the religious elite who were unbelievers, Jesus himself says "....how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?". But again look at what happens when the manifestation of God's power is seen by the unsaved; John 7:31 "And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hat done? " But look at the story of the man born blind whom Jesus had healed in John chapter 9, when Jesus asks him if he believed on the Son of God, he said "who is he Lord, that I might believe on him". And when Jesus introduces himself, see how his confession changed in verse 38 "And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him".

Again and again we see the manifestation of power leading to repentance. Confirming that which was spoken by Apostle Paul in Romans 2:4 that the goodness of the Lord leads to repentance, thus a changing of the mind. And when the Jews had come from every country all over the world to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover or more accurately, the feast of the tabernacle, the bible says of the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:6 the holy spirit manifested power in a marvelous manner. The bible says that as the disciples begun to pray in tongues, the multitude heard the 'noise' and gathered to see what was going on; And to their astonishment, the bible says "...every man heard them speak in his own language". Just like Jesus Christ, the holy spirit did not go preaching theology, for they were unable to discern spiritual things but rather confounded their sense dominated mind with his power. And what was their confession, "...we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own language" Acts 2:11 NIV. And when Peter stood up to preach to them, they asked him, "what shall we do" and he said "Repent and be baptized...". On that very day, the bible says that three thousand of them were baptized.

That is why I find it very odd, when I hear people say that others were unable to see the goodness of the Lord because they did not believe. Maybe that is a matter that I'm not yet properly 'schooled' upon, so I will refrain from addressing it. But the overwhelming evidence is that, for the carnal sense dominated mind, it has been witnessing the power of God that opens the way for repentance to take place and belief subsequently.

And here is the crucial point on the road to salvation, the holy Spirit says in Romans 10:10 ESV "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved........., with the mouth one confesses and is saved." Have you noticed that when ever repentance came, it changes their confession? The woman at the Well started asking if this was not, the Christ, Thomas said "my lord and my God", the man born blind said "I believe", Nathaniel said "you are the Son of God", When Zacheous was overwhelmed that a righteous man like Jesus had chosen to dine with a corrupt man like him, his confession changed, when Peter was overwhelmed by the fish that the word of Jesus had given him, he confessed his sinful state. When people heard the disciples speaking about the wonder of God in languages that they couldn't have possibly learned, they asked Peter for help saying "What shall we do". And the three thousand who were baptized were not some ignorant people with no understanding of Jewish law; In fact the law was so important to them that the bible says they had traveled from every nation under the sun. But the power of God so confounded their carnal minds that they repented.

So when the Apostle Paul says that "if you confess with the mouth that Jesus is Lord..", he was not saying it by accident and the order of the word "saying" appearing before the word "believing" is not an accident either. Because when a man confesses with his mouth the Lordship of Jesus, he hands the authority over his own person to Jesus Christ. Mind you, Jesus doesn't have authority over his spirit, the devil does because of what happened in Eden. It is for that reason that reason that Jesus says "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" Revelation 3:20 KJV.

If only preachers will let the manifestation of the goodness of the Lord bring about repentance, thereby leading to an opening of the door through the confession of their own lips, for the holy spirit to takeover and do his own recreation, instead going ahead to teach spiritually discerned matters to unsaved people, I believe many more people will be saved. But many preachers have this wrong notion, that it is they who are saving the people or it is the people who must save themselves upon hearing the good news of Jesus Christ. And nothing could be further from the truth. It is Christ Jesus who saves, full stop. And that is another problem that some people in the church have; They seem to forget that it is the holy spirit who convicts an unsaved man of his sin. They wrongly believe that they must condemn and shame unsaved people into belief, when there is not a single evidence in all of the new testament section of the bible, that Jesus Christ ever did that. he new that he needed to be invited in because he was not the lord of the unsaved man's house, he knocked at the door of the sense dominated mind of the unsaved man by the powerful manifestation of the holy spirit in the forms of healing, prophecy, raising the dead, catching fish, showing his resurrected body, praying for forgiveness for his killers while he hang on the cross dying, speaking in different foreign languages on the day of Pentecost, showing mercy to a murderer like Saul and so forth.

Many people also forget that, it is written that God will show mercy to whom he will show mercy. It is God reconciling the world to himself through Jesus Christ. It is God calling those whom he predestined before the foundation of the earth was laid. The bible says "...For those HE FOREKNEW he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified." - Romans 8:28-30 NAB. At no point does the unsaved man play any role in his salvation beyond handing over the authority pertaining to his life to Jesus through his confession. Even then we see that It was God who had planned it all along, as Paul says in Romans chapter 8. That is what Jesus was saying when he said, "You did NOT choose me, but I CHOSE YOU and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit - fruit that will last - and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you." John 15:16.

I can understand why this may be hard for some people, because they thought they had power and responsibility to save the unsaved, some think that unsaved people must save themselves. That all the passion they exerted towards preaching powerful spiritual truths to the unbeliever has yielded no fruits, i.e. was a waste of time, is hard to swallow; that It was all God choosing, calling, justifying and glorifying those whom he had predestined, thus giving them(preachers) nothing to boast about, is humbling.

No wonder God elected to send a legal expert like Paul to the gentiles, because those were the times when human 'civilization' was really taking shape, when political ideas and philosophy was taking shape. While the Jews were enthralled by signs, the gentiles were enthralled by intelligent analysis and philosophical argument. That is why Paul himself said "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God"- 1 Corinthians 1:22-24.

Either way, to them which are called, Christ knocks on the door of the carnal mind in the manifestation of power to them that seek a sign and in the manifestation of wisdom to them that seek after human wisdom. That is why when Paul was in Athens, as was recorded in Acts 17:16-34, when some men came to grab him to a place where the bible says, they spent all their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas, he used their own religious way of life, Idolatry inscriptions on an altar which read "TO AN UNKNOWN GOD" -Acts 17:23 and their own poetry about this unknown God which said of him "For in him we live and move and have our being" - Acts 17:28 to knock on the door of their mind with a display of superior wisdom. When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some sneered but others begun to change their mind(repent) and their confession was, "we want to hear you again on this subject". The bible later says some of them became believers.

Therefore let your light so shine, let the gifts God on you freely manifest without restraint. For by it many may change their minds(repent) and thus change their confession on the road to salvation.

## ■ FAITH 101: The Simplicity of Faith

You hoped for a mango, now you have an orange in your hand. The "substance" in your hand now is NOT the "substance" of the thing you hoped for.

You hoped for a Smartphone, now you have a Smartphone in your hand. The "substance" in your hand now IS the "substance" of the thing you hoped for.

The SUBSTANCE is different from the HOPE.

The SUBSTANCE is the reality of the desire in your possession now.

HOPE is only an expectation, that may or may not be based on anything reliable.

You do not see air, but you feel it in your nose now as you breathe. The "evidence" that there is air now, even though it is not seen, is the feeling in your nose as you breathe in and out.

You do not see sound, but you hear it in your ears now as you pay attention. The "evidence" that there is a sound now, even though sound is not seen, is the hearing in your ears as you pay attention.

You acknowledge that the Smartphone is now in your possession because one or more of your senses tells you that it is. You see the receipt of your payment, you see the phone in your hand, you feel the phone in your hand, you checked and saw the serial number on the manufacturer's website that indeed, it is the Smartphone that you hoped for. Now you no longer hope for it because you have it in your hand.

You acknowledge that, the "substance" in your hand is NOT a mango but rather an orange because one or more of your natural senses tells you that it is. You see it in your hand, your sense of smell says that it smells like an orange, your sense of taste in your mouth says that it tastes like an orange. So you then acknowledge that the thing in your hand is not a mango but an orange. Now you keep hoping for a mango because you acknowledge that you do not have a mango in your hand.

We acknowledge that there is A "substance" or AN "evidence" because one or more of our five natural senses, i.e. sense of sight, of taste, of smell, of hearing or of touch(feeling), convinces us about a thing or a situation. And based on that conviction from the five senses, we acknowledge the conclusion reached in our mind(soul), as the REALITY.

But strangely your bible says in Heb 11:1

"Now faith IS the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen".

Faith as used there in the original Greek is the word "pistis" which also means "persuasion" and "belief".

But hey wait a minute, can you see faith or touch faith or taste faith or smell faith? Of course not. Our five natural senses, based on whose evidence we come to a conclusion, about whether a hope is now substance, or whether a thing we cannot see has evidence that it is present now based on what they can sense, (those five natural senses) cannot in anyway ascertain, measure or test faith.

All along, we as human beings have measured what qualifies as substance and evidence with our five senses. But now the Holy spirit is saying in Heb 11:1 through Paul that, faith is substance and evidence.

So first of all, let's get a couple of things clear. If faith is the substance and the evidence, then faith is not hope, it is the reality now, it is the substance, it is the evidence. Hope is a future expectation that may or may not fail, depending on what it is based on.

So if this thing called faith is substance and evidence, a supposed reality that I cannot conclude is truly substance and evidence, based on based on my natural senses, then how can my mind come to the conviction and acknowledgment that it is indeed the REALITY or that it is indeed true?

That question comes up because, we think that the only means by which our minds come to a conclusion and thus a conviction is through our natural senses. That may be true for a man who is not born again, because the bible says he is a carnally minded man who is not capable of understanding spiritual things 1 Cor 2:14.

What am I saying? I'm saying that we are thinking like carnally minded men. People who are not born again and so are not spiritually minded.

1Co 2:14 DRB "But the sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God. For it is foolishness to him: and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined".

Stop depending on your senses to tell you what is real and not real, what is substance and not substance, what is evidence and not evidence. We are born again, born of the spirit of God in Christ Jesus John 3:5. We should stop trying to understand through our senses that faith is substance and evidence because we will fail miserably.

We must realise that we have a spirit, a soul(mind) and a body 1 Thes 5:23.

We must realise that through the body it is only our natural senses which inform our soul(mind), on the basis of which we come to a belief or persuasion. Which is what ordinary humans are used to in their everyday life.

We must also realise that, through our spirit we are able to discern and understand things that, we cannot understand through our natural senses 1 Cor 2:14 and thus renew our mind in other to believe or be persuaded.

So the problem is not that faith is not substance and evidence, but that, we are letting the senses shape our soul's reality as to what is substance and evidence.

The problem is not that faith is not substance and evidence, but that we are used to letting the natural senses shape our reality as to what is real or not real.

The problem is not that faith is not substance and evidence, but that, we are not used to letting our spirit shape our mind's reality as to what is substance or otherwise.

We have not been mindful of the fact that, the holy spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives inside us and has become one with our spirit. And that as Jesus said, it is he who is our teacher and not our senses, hence we have wrongly placed greater premium on what we believe through our senses, than through the spirit.

So the problem is, what or who we are listening to. Are we listening to the spirit or to our senses?

Let's take a practical example; I love the story of a little girl called Tabitha. Her relatives thought she was dead. How did they come to such a conclusion. Their eyes could see that she was no longer moving, their ears could not hear her breathing or speaking or making any sound, their touch could no longer feel her pulse beating, their touch could feel that her body temperature had become colder than ordinary. They might have heard the doctors declare her dead. Their minds interpreted all that information delivered through their senses and concluded that she was dead.

Jesus said that she was sleeping. The bible says that the people who were around started to laugh. These were people who were mweeping a minute earlier. They had reached a conclusion through information provided through their senses. If Jesus had used his natural human senses, he would have received the same information, but he did not bother to do that. He opened his mouth and declared that the little girl was "sleeping". Now remember that Jesus has said that "the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life". He said "Tabitha get up". His' was one opinion, theirs were many opinions. The preponderance of the same opinion that is based on the flesh is irrelevant when it comes against the opinion of the spirit.

Jesus had a body that could die like yours is today. He was also of the spirit of God, just like you are today if you are born again. He had a mind just like you have today. At that point, he spoke words based on what his spirit had decided as the substance, not what the natural senses of others had declared. He didn't go declaring life back to a dead body so to speak, dead people are not asleep, they are dead. When he got there, he woke a sleeping person up. The reason why others laughed was because they realised that by saying the little girl was asleep, he was saying that she was not dead.

What they didn't understand was that faith is the substance and the evidence, and not what the flesh said was the substance or evidence. His faith was in the fact that "the words that I speak, unto you, they are spirit and they are life" John 6:63.

So what does the spirit convince you about? That conviction, that persuasion, that belief, that faith that the spirit produces in you, independent of the natural senses is what is the substance and evidence.

You don't need any other substance or evidence. You believe that there is a God whom you cannot see. You believe that Jesus rose from the dead, even though you have never seen him before. That persuasion that you have about Jesus, that is called faith. It is spiritual.

The moment that you believed in Jesus, either because of a miracle that you experienced or saw, or because you heard someone make a convincing argument or explanation, or because you were in such a difficult place in your life you just felt like turning to something supernatural, or because you went after that incredibly beautiful girl who insisted that you follow her to church, or you were born into a christian home where all you've ever known is Christ and have come to believe in him, at that moment, when you believed in him, you were made a new creation, the holy spirit came to live in you.

That same holy spirit who produced all those miracles that happened at the hand of the person called Jesus and raised him from the dead, that same spirit came to dwell in you and became one with your spirit.

Now with regard to the measure of what you have received from Jesus, the apostle John says that "And of his fullness have we all received..." John 1:16. That is what apostle Paul confirms in saying "I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me: and the life I live in the flesh I LIVE BY THE FAITH OF the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" Gal 2:20. Some bible translations say "faith in the son..." but those translations are inaccurate there. The word used there is "of" and not "in" and you can check Thayer's bible dictionary or whichever one you want and compare the articles for "in" and "of" for yourself.

It is not from, you. This spiritual ability of being persuaded, belief or faith, is the faith of Christ Jesus who is now living through you. I have heard some preachers say that we have received a little bit of faith but it is now up to us to grow it. My friend, John says "of his fullness have we ALL received". No body received more or less of Jesus when they became born again. And if as Paul says, that it is Christ who now lives through him, are they suggesting that Christ has lost some of his faith and so you must "grow" it?

My friend, like all other things in Christ, you have received his faith in you too and it is a gift. It is not something you do, IT IS NOT some special work in other to get. YOU HAVE FAITH.

So if the bible says in Rom 10:17 "faith cometh by hearing..." does it not mean that faith grows? My friend, first of all, read the context properly, in fact read all of Rom 10. Paul was speaking of the unbeliever who does not have faith, that is, does not have Christ. He is saying there that, that unbeliever comes to have faith by hearing the word of Christ. Paul actually says there that "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ". The original Greek word there is transliterated "Christos" and not "theos", like the King James has it. That is why many relatively more modern translations like the ASV, ESV, DRB, JMNT etc. have "Christ" in place of "God" because they depend on the more reliable Greek manuscripts, which have "Christ" instead "God" in the verse. This seemingly 'small' matter is relevant here because it allows us to situate that verse in its proper context.

In fact, the apostle Paul never ever tells the believer to have faith, no not even once in all of his writings. Because it will be strange for the one who says that the life he lives in the flesh he lives by the faith of Christ, to now turn around and tell other believers to now get faith and then grow it.

So if faith is the substance and the evidence, and I have it because I have received the fullness of Christ as the person of the Holy Spirit, why am I not employing my faith all the time?

It may be because we were busy trying to get and grow what we already have in Christ Jesus. It may be because we had confused hope for faith. It may be because we are so used to acknowledging what our natural senses tell us is the reality that, we do not listen to what our inner man tells us is the reality.

The final point is, faith speaks. When the people said the little girl was dead, Jesus being convinced, i.e. having faith that his words are spirit and are life, spoke a different reality into being. Peter didn't catch fish, his senses gave him the information that there is no fish, but Jesus having faith in who he was, spoke a different reality into being. Those words were spirit and life, and imposed their power in the place of a previous reality.

You have the spirit of Christ Jesus in you. You have the faith of Christ Jesus in you. Your spirit is convinced about one reality, your natural senses may be convinced about another reality, agree with your spirit and speak forth the words of faith that your spirit is convinced about; And like Peter and the people laughing at Jesus, their natural senses will come to agree with the reality that you hand long been convinced about through faith in Christ and had spoken forth.

## ■ A CONFLICT OF REALITIES

he tells the bed ridden man at the pool of Siloam, "take up your bed and go". This is not to a man who could walk.

he tells a man in a temple, whose arm is withered to stretch forth his arm. His arm was "withered". It didn't have strength to do anything, yet he told him to act as though he wasn't aware of the 'reality'.

he told his disciples that, Lazarus was asleep, when he was supposedly 'dead'. At his grave he didn't command life into a dead body, so to speak, but he rather called out to him as though Lazarus could hear him.

Wait a minute, as emotionally charging as these events bothering on the display of Christ's power can be when they are recounted, slow down your heart rate because my point is not exclusively or necessarily about confession or 'power', so to speak.

It is not also about some formula to get things done. It is about something else that defines our walk in Christ Jesus.

he told people who were crying at the death of a little girl called Tabitha that she was asleep. he woke her up, he didn't go to 'fight' death, he woke a sleeping little girl up.

His disciples were at sea, and in a storm. The Bible records that it was the darkest hour of the night so it would have been next to impossible to see without a lamp. Jesus walked on the water to them. When Peter wanted to be sure it was him, he told Peter to "come".

Wine was out at a party. Now some say that it was his first miracle. I disagree. Watch his mother's reaction. She told him that the wine was out. Jesus preempting her real intentions said "what has it to do with us". Now watch very closely at what she did. She ignored the 'reality' that it wasn't their business and the 'reality' of her son's, if you like... disinterest in 'meddling' in someone else's affairs. She turned to the servants and said "whatever he tells you to do, do it".

A little digression. If Mary had not seen Jesus perform miracles before, do you think she would have put him on the spot like that? I don't think so. That is why I don't believe that, that event was his first miracle.

Now back to our matter at hand. he asks them to fill the receptacles with water, he asked that they serve the guest of honour with it. he acted as though it was not water.

Peter told a man begging at the temple in the Name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. It is healthy men who can walk, not cripples.

At one time, Jesus is responding to a question from the religious elite and he says,

Matt 22:32

31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,

32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? GOD IS NOT the God OF THE DEAD, BUT of the LIVING.

At the time he said those words, the 'reality' was that, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were dead. At least that is our human perception of reality. But Jesus says God is a God of the living and not the dead. In other words, they are very much alive in the realm of the 'reality' of God.

Jesus said something even more incredible in the book of John chapter 17 in what is probably, the best lesson on how to pray. he said;

Joh 17:4 KJV

I have glorified thee on the earth: I have FINISHED THE WORK which thou gavest me to do.

At the time he was saying this, he had not died on the cross. he had not resurrected from the dead nor had he ascended into heaven. In verse one of that chapter, he acknowledges that the task of giving eternal life to all people had been given to him. But if he had not died, and resurrected and not ascended with evidence of his blood into heaven, this task would not have been accomplished.

And yet he says to his father in the verse 4 quoted above in that prayer that, "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do".

Later on the cross he said the most beautiful words ever pronounced in all of human history, "IT IS FINISHED". And yet he would not let his friend Mary Magdalene touch him(or hold on to him, according to other translations) because in his own words;

Joh 20:17 KJV

Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

Jesus had started calling his disciples, "my brethren" even though the Holy Spirit had not been breathed on them by Jesus or descended on them at the feast of the tabernacle on the day of Pentecost.

Now you see what I'm driving at, Jesus is primarily a person of faith. he thinks in the realm of faith, he speaks in the realm of faith, he acts in the realm of faith.

What he declares IS, is the reality from which he proceeds. That is why he declares that "I am the way, the truth and the life".

We perceive things according to what we believe the reality to be. And that reality for most people, is shaped by what the five sense communicate to the mind.

But the reality(truth) for Jesus is himself. What he believes about a situation is the truth and he proceeds from that premise.

he believes Tabitha is asleep, he proceeds from that truth(reality) and he wakes her up. he believes that the water he created cannot swallow him up, he proceeds from that premise. His mother Mary, at the wedding had long graduated from the school of 'reality', if you like, and we saw it in action. Peter at the gate called beautiful had long graduated from the school of 'reality' and believing that the crippled man is well able to walk in Jesus name, proceeds from that reality, to ask him to walk.

Faith simply means belief. I have heard and read many definitions given to it by many big and small preachers(if indeed there are such distinctions) alike.

Now here is the thing, Peter's faith was not in himself. Mary's faith was not in herself. Their faith was in Jesus. In Mary's case, the person was there in the flesh so she directed the servants to him. In Peter's case, the person was not there in the flesh as before but they had his authority to use his name and so he did.

We are therefore to proceed in our union with Christ Jesus from this reality. That is why the apostle Paul says, faith is the substance of things hoped for. It IS, not, will be, but rather IT IS the SUBSTANCE.

Our belief is not in or does not proceed from a human philosophy but from a person. That person is called Jesus Christ. he lives in us, he is our reality. What he believes is, is. That is, he is primarily a faith God and it is from this reality that we must proceed.

Jesus lives in you, you have residing in you at this very moment, that reality of Christ Jesus, it is in this person that your faith resides and you must proceed from that reality at all times.

According to the belief of this world, the reality that you may be proceeding from is a lie(Tabitha is dead not asleep) but according to your faith in the reality of Jesus Christ, you are proceeding from the truth(she is asleep).

While we live in this world, we exist in a conflict of these two realities. A Conflict that is based on the reality of this world, which is carnal, versus a reality of Jesus, which is spiritual. The apostle Paul encourages us to fight the good fight of faith.

Operate from the position of your faith. Your faith is in Jesus Christ. You are a new creature, therefore trying to operate from the reality of the world is like a hunter who is naturally skilled with rifles but goes hunting with a pitch fork. Don't be like a fish out of water, be the light that you are and live from a position of faith, just like Jesus the Christ.

## ■ Two Trees From Eden

Do you know why your salvation CANNOT be lost. Let's hear from Jesus' own mouth:

John 6:37-40 (Easy English translation)

37 Everyone that the Father gives to me will come to me. When anyone comes to me, I will never send that person away.

38 I have not come down from heaven to do what I myself choose to do. No, instead I have come to obey him who sent me.

39 he who sent me does not want me to lose anyone. he does not want me to lose even one of the people that he has given to me. he wants me to raise all of them up on the last day, so that they live with me always.

40 These are the people who will be alive for always: Everyone who sees the Son and believes him. And I will raise them up on the last day. That is what my Father wants

Do you now see why Jesus specifically told Peter not to worry, even after he pointed out to him that he was going to sin i.e. betray him... Do you now see why Jesus said that he had prayed for him... Because, it is his responsibility to keep you and in fulfillment of his father's wishes. It is not your responsibility to keep yourself.

That is what people under the law were trying to do, by living by the law of Moses. Their salvation depended on themselves but now, the salvation of the believer in Jesus Christ who was given to Jesus by his father, now depends on Jesus and not themselves.

But is it only an issue of the law as was given by Moses? No! It is also an issue of self dependence instead of looking to and believing in the word of God who is Christ Jesus. In the book of Galatians chapter 4, the apostle Paul in an analogy, juxtaposed the son born to Abraham by the slave woman as being a product of a system symbolic of the Law. And Isaac who was born of Sarah according to the word of God, a product of a system symbolic of the new covenant. Thus revealing to us that relying on our own doings in other to remain saved, blessed or to please God is a mistake, because it is akin or rather equal to trying to justify oneself under the law.

Yes I know that it is contrary to the popularly celebrated system of self-dependence that is in the world. It is common to hear popular phrases like "self made man" and other similar variants. A constant celebration of self effort, is rampant in literature, music, in the arts, in business etc of the few who have had above average success, out of the billions of people who have walked the face of the earth.

That way of thinking is contrary to the life where Jesus Christ is the one by whom, in whom and through whom we live. So the truth is that we have been brought by the father to Jesus Christ, so that we can now live a life that is originated and sustained by him and through him. And that is, exactly what Jesus himself says in John chapter 6;

John 6:57 (KJV) As the living Father hath sent me, and I live BY the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live BY me.

I give emphasis to the preposition 'BY' because the original Greek word from which the English word is translated is 'dia' which is properly translated as 'through' because it connotes the channel of an act. You can search either Thayer or Strong's bible dictionary for yourself.

In fact, the New Living Translation puts that same verse this way "56 I live by the power of the living father who sent me; in the same way, those who partake of me will live because of me".

So we are called to the same life where the father sustains Jesus and we in like manner are sustained by Jesus. That is why it is an absolute tragedy of epic proportions, that many churches have been turned into motivational centres where they teach what the apostle Paul describes as the "basic principles of this world". Because what we are called to is not the same do A to get B principles that the world lives by, we are called to a far higher way which is a LIFE that has its source in Christ Jesus and is sustained by him.

What all those preachers who teach those things do not know is that, that system of self-dependence has it's roots in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And I will show how come it is so, in the next section.

But I will give you a hint *Jesus is the tree of life. he lives through the father and Adam was in the image and the likeness of God meaning that he also lived through the father. If Jesus therefore says of himself "I am THE way" then the tree of the knowledge of good and evil also represents another way, but one which leads unto death. What way does the apostle Paul say leads unto death? The answer is the LAW which represents a system of self-dependence whereby one gets good depending on what they do or don't do, therefore having absolutely no need for God or of God.

This is the good news of the grace of Christ Jesus; that you the believer have been born into a new life that is sustained from A to Z by Christ Jesus.

## ■ Two Trees From Eden pt2

"Spirit of life", "Book of life...", "Crown of life...", "Water of life...", "Tree of life...", "Bread of life...", "Light of life..."

Do you get the picture?

Joh 10:10 KJV

"...I am come that they might have life...."

Joh 14:6 KJV

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:..."

Jesus Christ is the life and all things pertain to him.

One of the most confusing verses in scripture is Gen 3:22. I am coming to say something that might seem presumptuous for someone like me who has never stepped foot in a theological seminary.

I am yet to come across an English translation that gets that verse completely right.

Here is why I believe so; the first part of that verse says that God claims that "...man has become like one of us..."

That clearly creates the impression that, the creator did not make man like himself. That would mean that the creator either failed or lied when he said in Gen 1:26a

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:....."

The second dangerous thing that, that popular translation brings to the fore is that, God lied to man about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Even more, it implies that the serpent was right when he said in Genesis chapter 3

"4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

That will mean that, the creator not only failed/lied, but also, he perpetuated an injustice against the devil by cursing him.

My friend, do you see the absurdity that, that first part of the verse 22 brings.

The second part of verse 22 introduces another absurdity. If the first part holds that man has become like God, then why would he need the tree of life to live forever? My friend, stupid plus stupid does not sum up to smart.

The third absurdity that comes to mind is, when God cursed the serpent, he prophesied redemption for man through the "seed" of the woman in Gen 3:15

"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

why would God choose to prevent man from taking from the tree of life and eat and live forever which was a quicker and easier option, than sending the seed who is Jesus to come and go that through a horrific death?

A death so horrible that when Isaiah saw it in the vision he said, in chapter 53:2

"...he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him."

Is God some sadist who wanted to see his child suffer when there was an easier option?

So you see the absurdity that a single verse that the "experts" have translated, has introduced.

Now one of my favourite literal translations(the YLT) tries to address this absurdity in the first part "....man has become...." It turns out that, the original Hebrew word which was translated as "has become" also can be used in the past tense "was", depending on the context.

So the YLT says "And Jehovah God saith, 'Lo, the man WAS AS one OF US, as to the knowledge of good and evil....."

But then it keeps the same translation that the KJV and others keep, for the second part of that verse, leaving the absurdity in the translation to fester.

There are those who say that, God didn't let man take from the tree of life because he would then have lived in his sin forever.

My friend, look up the word "life" as used there in the original Hebrew, it means to restore life, Thayer's Hebrew dictionary.

So if the tree of the knowledge of good and evil breeds death, how is it possible that the tree of life preserves death? Is it not even more absurd when the book of Revelation chapter 22 makes it clear that the tree of life brings "healing to the nations"?

My friend, the Bible's statement of fact, is greater than the opinion of some preacher. The tree of life brings healing not an eternal preservation of death.

We also know from Revelation that the devil and his agent will in their state of death, be consigned to hell forever. It is not the job of the tree of life to do the job that hell has been prepared to do, such a scenario simply doesn't stand up to scripture.

The NASB tries to rectify this absurdity, by using the other meaning of the Hebrew word that was translated as "lest" which is "might", because the original Hebrew word there also means "perhaps" or "peradventure".

But it also leaves the first part in the same manner as it is in the KJV thereby leaving the absurdity of God being a liar and the devil being truthful, untouched. A comparison of the NASB, KJV and the YLT are bellow with all the strong links provided.

Genesis 3:22

New American Standard Bible

Then the LORD[H3068] God[H430] said[H559], "Behold[H2005], the man[H120] has become[H1961] like one[H259] OF US, knowing[H3045] good[H2896b] and evil[H7451b] and now[H6258], he might[H6435] stretch[H7971] out his hand[H3027], and take[H3947] also[H1571] from the tree[H6086] of life[H2425b], and eat[H398], and live[H2421a] forever[H5769] "

King James Bible

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one OF US, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

Young's Literal Translation

And Jehovah God saith, 'Lo, the man was as one OF US, as to the knowledge of good and evil; and now, lest he send forth his hand, and have taken also of the tree of life, and eaten, and lived to the age,'

Now let us put together the various attempts at correcting the absurd translations of the KJV in the first part by the YLT and in the second part by the NASB and see how the two opinions will reconstruct the sentence in that verse

(YLT) And Jehovah God saith, 'Lo, the man WAS as one of Us, as to the knowledge of good and evil; (NASB) and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever

Now when we combine the two 'corrections', which are not my personal opinion on what the language there ought to be, but that of two different expert opinions, it throws out the absurd translation of the KJV and that of the many others.

That reconstruction says that, 'man was like us', which is consistent with what God said "Let us make man in our image and in our likeness", it recognises that fallen man is no longer like God, and now he might turn to the tree of life for restoration, because he was like God so is aware of what that life is in comparison, that is why to this day, man yearns for a greater than his present self.

The Hebrew words translated as "stretch out his hand and take" are used figuratively to mean to fellowship(stretch out his hand) and receive(take)(look-up Strong's for yourself) .

Because eternal life is not something that a man, having died, can of his own volition acquire for himself like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

So the word of God in that verse is saying, man was like us with regard to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In other words, man was not dependent on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil just like us, perhaps he might fellowship and thus receive from the tree of life, eternal life.

Now why is the tree of life different? if it is just a tree like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, why can't it's fruit be had, like any apple or mango tree?

There is where you make a mistake. The use of the word "tree" is figurative or rather symbolic for a way or reality of life. For example, Jesus says of himself in John 15:5 "I am the vine... ", he's NOT saying he's some vine sitting in some farm in Israel. he's using symbolic language to make us picture a reality that otherwise might not be understood properly.

Example, when Jesus was at the well with the Samaritan woman, he said if the woman knew who he was, she would ask him and he would give her to drink living water(John 4:10).

We understand from the book of John chapter 7 that, that symbolic reference to living water, was the Holy Spirit.

Joh 7:37-39 KJV

"37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

38 he that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

39 But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified."

So we see from the above scripture that Jesus is using the symbol of water to reference the Holy Spirit.

In another place, Jesus speaking to the pharisees about the reality and the way of the life of people says a bad tree produces bad fruit and a good tree produces good fruit. he wasn't saying that people are trees like say a sycamore tree in some bush somewhere.

Now on the tree of life, in Genesis 3:22, we see from above that the tree gives eternal life. John 3:16 Christ is the one who gives us eternal life when we come into fellowship with him through the new birth by the holy spirit. Revelations 22 says

Revelation 22

1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations

We saw from John 7 what the river of living water is, that is, the holy spirit. Now we see that this river of water of life, proceeds from the throne of the Lamb of God.

We see also that in that river is the tree of life. Some translations say the city but that is not exactly correct, the tree is in the midst of the river as the KJV puts it.

That is to say in real terms(not symbolic terms) that the reality of and way to healing and eternal eternal life(tree of life), is in the Holy Spirit(water of life) which proceeds from the throne of the Lamb and of God.

So when word of God speaks of the tree of life being in the Garden, he was in symbolic terms, referring to himself.

Now that Jesus who is "the way, the truth(reality) and the life, says to the whole world, to come and drink of him living water in which is the tree of life, some come to fellowship and receive, others do not. That is why in speaking in symbolic terms in Genesis 3:22 he says "...he might stretch out his hand and take of the tree of life and live forever". Because he's a Just God, he cannot trick people into a reality and way of life like the serpent.

That is what the prophet Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 2:13

"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken ME, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.

Jesus who is the word of God, who created all things, said "of my self I can do nothing".

Adam was also created "in our image and in our likeness" by the word of God who is Jesus. Jesus says "I and my father are one". Jesus says to his disciples when they ask him to show them the father that, they have seen the father because they have seen him. Paul says in Colossians that in Christ the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.

Adam and Eve were however made to believe that, they could become like God, outside of the existing fellowship.

Gen 3:5-6 KJV

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Remember the symbolism of eating. Jesus said whoever ate his body will live. When he died his disciples buried him, they didn't eat his flesh. By eating he was referring to belief or faith in him. The thief on the cross neither ate Jesus' flesh or partook of the communion but Jesus saved him. Eating meant believing.

The woman saw(considered) that it was good to believe in a knowledge of good and evil to become wise and thus become like God.

So they abandoned the way and reality of fellowship with God for a way of living by a knowledge system of good and evil.

They had separated themselves from God's way to a new way that depended on their performance. They were no longer one with God.

When God had a covenant of Grace with Abraham, the Israelites out of Egypt, murmured and manner came, they complained and water came out of rocks, they murmured and the sea parted, quails were provided for meat. God did not deal with them according to their evil.

But when God sent Moses to tell them to keep his covenant, which was in reality nothing but the command to keep the circumcision that he gave to Abraham, and remind them of God's goodness, they told Abraham to go and tell God that whatever he wants of them THEY can do

Exo 19:4 – 8 KJV

4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.

5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.

8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

While God was telling them of what he had done and his intentions of making them a royal priesthood like Peter says we are in Christ Jesus, they were interested in what they could do by their performance.

God himself later points out to the prophet Jeremiah that the law with its system of sacrifices was not what he had in mind when he asked them to keep his commands, after he had brought them out of Egypt.

Jer 7:22-24 ASV

22. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices:

23. but this thing I commanded them, saying, Hearken unto my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; and walk ye in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.

24. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

God got upset and turned the mountain black, and spoke forth the first ten of the commandments which said thou shall... thou shall... thou shall... Which depended on their performance, Now notice something remarkable that happened

Exo 32:25 KJV

And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)

Just like it happened with Adam and Eve in the garden, their inability to leave by a knowledge of good and evil, exposed them to their shame.

After the law of good and evil came, when they murmured snakes came, when they complained they died, because it was no longer about depending on God but their own performance .

But to the generation which did not have this knowledge of good and evil, this is what God said

Deu 1:39 KJV

Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.

So like Adam lost the garden, so did the adults lose the God given land of Canaan but the generation which at the time did not have any knowledge of good and evil(for it was only by the law that they could have knowledge of good and evil), it was they who inherited the promised land.

We are the generation of the new covenant children of God. We are the generation that does not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We are the generation that fellowships and receive freely eternal life from the tree of life.

#### ◆ Eden: The Garden Beyond Earth

The Garden of Eden existed, before the creation of the earth and man in Genesis. Lucifer was there.

Eze 28:13 KJV

"Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created."

The next verse shows that this Garden was on the mountain of God. Remember Mt Zion Rev 14:1?

Eze 28:14 KJV

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

The next scripture shows that 1. this mountain of God was and is in heaven. 2. Lucifer's intention was to reign from the mount of God.

Isa 14:13 ISV

You said in your heart, 'I'll ascend to heaven, above the stars of God. I'll erect my throne; I'll sit on the Mount of Assembly in the far reaches of the north;

So when the bible says in Genesis that,

Gen 2:8 KJV

And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

It is saying that, God after creating man from the dust of the earth, and making him/her into his image and after his likeness, placed him in heaven with him; In the garden of Eden which is on the mountain of God, where he once put Lucifer.

We see in Genesis 3:24 the tree of life in the garden of Eden.

Gen 3:24 KJV

So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

We see in the book of Revelation 22:1,2 that the tree of life is in the midst of the river of water of life that is proceeding out of the throne of the lamb.

Indicating that when God made man and gave him dominion over earth, he raised this man whom he had made like himself, into heavenly realms where he(God) was, and it is from there that Adam and Eve, executed their dominion over the earth.

So when some preachers claim that, God created a farm and made man a farmer, they have no clue what they say because it doesn't stand up to the scrutiny of scripture. God doesn't need to farm potatoes to get nourishment and he had made Adam and Eve, just like himself.

It is this divine restoration of humanity back to heavenly glory that Jesus came to accomplish through the sacrifice of himself at the cross.

That is why Jesus says to the Ephesians;

Rev 2:7 KJV

he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

That is the divine reality that Paul reveals to the Ephesians & Corinthians when he says to them;

Eph 2:5-6 KJV

5. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

6. And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

1Cor 15:49 KJV

49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

The second Adam has come to restore humanity to the heavenly glory from which the first Adam fell.

Lucifer in the Garden of Eden, lost his place because he wanted to be God. he gets Eve and Adam to believe that, by wisdom that is founded on the knowledge of good and Evil, they could become like God, independent of the likeness of God that they freely had. Like Lucifer, they lost the glory of God that they had.

In the end, God was right, Satan was false. Putting your trust in wisdom that is founded on the knowledge of good and evil leads to death. Just like the Law of Moses which produces death,

2Co 3:7 KJV

"But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones..."

even though it was supposed to be a knowledge that thought good from evil.

But thanks be to our Heavenly Father, who in his great mercy and loving kindness, has shown us his Grace through Christ Jesus, and has by him restored us to his Glory, from which Adam fell.

## ■ Take Heart; Jesus Is The One Serving You

John 16:33 says, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

I never really liked this scripture. I'm not sure that I still do. All who like having trouble show by hand. But I do like the second part which says "But take heart! I have overcome the world".

Note something carefully, Jesus says you have overcome the world.... oops! That is a lie, yeap... Jesus says that he himself has overcome the world, Not you.

In other words, the problem before you has already been solved by him. he has faced it and he has solved it.

Now you have a choice, either walking from Accra to Siberia or flying to Siberia by aircraft. Someone has faced the problem and has overcome it i.e. by providing an aircraft for that purpose.

You can spend your whole life trying to fight the battle of creating an aircraft by yourself, learning to fly it, getting a license to fly across the airspace of several countries, inventing the fuel for it, producing it and getting environmental protection certification and so forth.

Or you can pick up your passport, buy a ticket on your phone, get to the nearest international airport and arrive at your destination after a few hours at most.

For many Christians, that is how exhausting the walk with Jesus has become. When they are ill, their pastor preaches some seven steps to receiving healing.

With money, they are told to have faith that can move mountains through fasting and prayer, and sowing money, and tithing and some other 13 steps of harvesting, etc.

When it comes to wayward children, if you're not buying anointing oil, you're buying handkerchief, or following some 7 steps to healing your family on top of a never ending "spiritual warfare" of endless all night fasting and prayer services.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against fasting and prayer, whether in the day or at night, even though I don't personally fast.

For many people, it is so exhausting being a Christian; all because honestly ignorant men and women with good intentions have taught them wrong things about Jesus Christ.

And wrong teaching has led many into wrong beliefs and false practices. In fact, if many people will be honest, they would have abandoned the faith long ago but for the fear of death by fire in hell.

Jesus is honest enough to say that, in this world you will have problems. But he didn't say you shall overcome that problem. he said he has overcome that problem. In other words, he has dealt with the problem and succeeded. If anyone knows how to deal with that, it is him, if anyone is your solution, it is him.

So when troubles come, instead of thinking that we must start some 30 day warfare against the devil, we should simply turn to Jesus.

That is why he came, he came to serve. I know that this statement tends to warp the religious mind but it is true. Jesus came to serve but not to be served. he himself said with his own mouth in Math 20:28

New Living Translation

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Contrary to popular theology and worship songs and praise songs and sermons, which claim that God is looking for people to serve him, the truth according to Jesus, not some pastor or bishop, is that Jesus came to serve YOU.

That is how it is in the kingdom Of God, the Greater serves the 'lesser'. According to Jesus' own words again in Luke 22 he says;

Luk 22:25-27 KJV

25 But he told them, "The kings of the unbelievers lord it over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors.

26 But you are not to do so. On the contrary, the greatest among you should become like the youngest, and the one who leads should become like the one who serves.

27 Because who is greater, the one who sits at the table, or the one who serves? It is the one at the table, isn't it? But I'm among you as one who serves.

What about when the son ascended back into heaven to his father? Does the father serve the son? Let's let the new testament speak for itself. Hear Jesus speak by his own lips Mar 12:36 KJV

For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, "The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool".

Paul too says the same thing in Heb 1:13 KJV

13. But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?

Heb 10:12 - 13

12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.

Beloved sister and brother, in this world you will have trouble, whether or not you have done something wrong. In our Father's kingdom, the greater serves the lesser. Allow Jesus to serve you. he has already overcome, he simply says

"come unto me all ye that labour and are heavily burdened and *I* will give YOU rest".

When Jesus was washing the feet of his disciples, Peter said in John 13:8

"Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet...."

Listen very very carefully to Jesus here...

John 13:8 EasyEnglish

"....... Jesus answered, 'If I do not wash you, you do not belong with me.'"

ISV  
"..... Jesus answered him, "Unless I wash you, you cannot be involved with me.""

JMNT  
"......... From discerning, Jesus replied and said to him, "Unless I can (or: If I should not) wash you, you do not continue to hold (or: have) a part with Me."

KJV  
"........Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me".

NET  
".... Jesus replied, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me."

Perhaps, the reason why many Christians live such exhausted lives is because instead of being more than conquerors, we want to be the ones overcoming the same problems in the world that Jesus has overcome for us.

Instead of simply relying on Jesus to give us his rest, we want to be the ones resting ourselves.

Perhaps we are struggling to be a part of Jesus because we don't want our master to be the one washing our feet.

The system or reality of our kingdom appears to be in direct opposites to the system if the world in the natural.

Nonetheless, with regards to the problems of the world, the apostle Paul doesn't say we are conquerors, he says

Rom 8:37 KJV

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

The use here of the expression "more than conquerors" by Paul, though literally a single Greek word in the book of Romans, is actually inspired by Hebrew history where God fought for his people without they having to lift a finger. Thus the expression implies that someone else has gone to war, fought the battles, defeated and has overcome the enemy. he is the conqueror but the beneficiaries of his loot, that is all the treasure and property that has been taken, are said to be "MORE THAN CONQUERORS".

In all these, we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. Why, because Jesus has done the overcoming for us and thus has made us more than conquerors.

Just throw yourself at father's throne of Grace, lift your head up, put on a smile, you have a secret that those who laugh at you do not know, because of Jesus, you're more than a conqueror.

### FROM UP A TREE, I DIED AND LIVE

I received a word

Through the woman, Eve...

Of a seed, set apart for my sake

To make of me, liberty's heir

By crushing the serpent's head

I received an oath

Through the man, Noah...

Of a bow, set above for my sake

To make of me, his mercy's heir

I received a word and an oath

Through the father, Abraham...

Of a seed, set apart for my sake

To make of me, blessing's heir

O!... how grace did hunt me down

When upon that rugged tree

Through the tears and blood of a broken man

Atonement did flow like a flood

Upon that tree,

Judgment did stand from Eden's valley

Upon this tree,

The seed of promise was lifted in judgment from Calvary's hill

Upon that tree, judgment did stand

And condemnation shown forth

Like scarlet from Eden's valley

Upon this tree, judgment did stand

And eternal mercy shown forth

Like a bow in the sky from Calvary's Hill

##### 9

# Why God Is Not A Chauvinist

■ GRACE DOES PAY AT THE MALL ■ THOSE WHO CONTEST THE REALITY OF JESUS CHRIST ■ 'PAGAN' POEMS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

First of all, there is a problem that has to be addressed with regard to how we have allowed a culture of chauvinism to permeate the interpretation of scripture. The thing is, the world has been a male dominated world and where power resides, those who wield it are quick to look for any opportunity to maintain their hold via various means, including misinterpretation of scripture to further that course.

Women have been subtly told in so many words, that they are second class to men. Christian men have found scriptures to back this claim and some Christian women have with the very best of intentions, come to believe this misrepresentations of scripture. Once upon a time, slaveholders found scriptures like Eph 6:5 which says...

"Slaves, obey your masters. Remember how important they are. And be afraid of them. Work well for them because you really want to make them happy. Work for them AS IF YOU WERE WORKING FOR CHRIST." -EASY ENGLISH translation.

What could be a more clearer translation of scripture than this, to say that it is OK to keep other human beings, ---who are members of the body of Christ, who are sons and daughters of God, who are joint heirs with Christ, who are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus--- as slaves. Or that slaves shouldn't flee or resist slavery, even if by the means of force.

And yet in today's world, for a little over a hundred years now, all Christians agree on this truth, that Ephesians chapter 6 had been terribly misrepresented to further an evil end that was primarily motivated by the love of money and other commercial motives of slaveholders.

Similarly, from the same book of Ephesians but this time the chapter 5, is being used by many(whose spirits I believe ministers to them in disagreement) to perpetuate the lie, that women are second class citizens, when it comes to the place of authority in the home vis a vis that of the husband. I have heard many well meaning preachers, preach this lie and thus creating a vicious cycle that I believe with all my heart, must be ended.

But before I come to the book of Ephesians chapter 5, I will begin by addressing other scriptures which have been used as the basis of tutoring women into believing that, their desire(craving, longing) aught to be for their husband, or that a woman's glory is her husband. In other words, a woman's world aught to revolve around a man and her self-worth aught to be defined by a husband.

Genesis 3:16 "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee"....KJV

If you look at your KJV bible, there is a 'Note' which says that an alternative translation for the last sentence in that scripture is ..

"...and thy desire shall be (subject) to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee"

Now this is what God told Eve in the garden of Eden, when she and Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was part of the curse that came upon man because of Adam's sin. Ladies and gentlemen, it is clear from the above scripture that, God never originally intended for the woman to go through sorrow in the process of child birth, if it were, it would not have been pronounced unto the woman as part of the consequences for her sin.

Similarly it was not the original intention of God's creation plan that the woman's desire(the original Hebrew word there is 'teshuqah' which also means 'longing' or 'craving') shall be subject to her husband. It was part of the curse that fell on her because of the sin.

In the SAME vain the last sentence in that curse on the woman says "....and he shall RULE over thee". Therefore the ruling of a husband over a wife is an order that came about as a result of the curse that fell on the woman because of the sin in the garden. Clearly if the 'rulership' of a husband over his wife was a curse as was pronounced in Genesis chapter 3:16, then same couldn't have been the original order of the relationship of companionship that God had in mind when he created the woman in the garden of Eden. Like I always say(jokingly), if you don't like something in the bible, terr it out or throw your bible away. But if you are going to claim that you accept all that your bible has, then let truth stand in its proper context.

So if all this was part of the curses that God pronounced on Adam and Eve when sin entered into the world, why do born again Christians, who say and know and believe that the blood of Jesus Christ which was shed at the cross, redeemed them from the curse of sin, still hold on to the idea that even in their new life in Christ Jesus, the curses of,----- a woman's desire being subject to her husband, or her husband ruling over her,------ should still stand?

Do we now see why there is so much pain in homes all over the world in Christian homes? It is because even though we all agree, that Christ Jesus has redeemed all mankind(women included) from Adam's sin and it's attendant curses, MEN are still interpreting new testament scripture in a manner that seeks to perpetuate what was a CURSE. The curse that used to reign naturally over women outside of Christ, no longer reigns naturally over women who are in Christ Jesus but the sad thing is that, men in Christ are also trying to enforce this unnatural regime over women in their homes, on the basis of a misunderstanding of scripture.

The consequence is conflict and strife because subjecting themselves to their husbands in this manner, no longer comes to them naturally as on those outside of Christ, who are still walking in the curse because they do not have Christ Jesus as their Lord and personal Saviour.

Do you now see, why it seems so easy for women in other religions, to subject themselves to such extreme and sometimes brutal forms of submission to their husbands, without much complaint or resistance. It is because the curse reigns naturally over them.

On the other popular claim that a woman's glory is her husband, let it be clear, there is not a single verse in all of the bible where it says that. It is that simple and I encourage you to find out for yourselves. The only glory that a Christian -----whether man or woman----- has, is the Glory of Christ Jesus himself. This is what Jesus Christ said in prayer to the father for ALL believers in John 17:22 "I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are"

So the big question is, why would apostle Paul say that women should submit unto their own husbands, what did he mean by that? Especially when he was a pharisee and pharisees are experts in scripture who could memorize many of the old testament scriptures. So surely the apostle Paul must have known about the curse, so he could therefore have not been speaking in terms of a man ruling over a woman in marriage.

My friend this section is already getting too long, otherwise I would have copied and pasted the whole of Ephesians chapter 5. Nonetheless I will examine this scripture that has been much misunderstood and abused in good measure by righteous and crooked MEN alike. And in the great hope, that you will examine this chapter for yourself.

So the great apostle Paul, after having thought extensively of the new life in Christ Jesus, begins to admonish the believers to no longer indulge in drunkenness, foolish talking, jesting, fornication, whore-mongering and all the other ills that take place among the children of darkness. The reason being that they are now children of light in the Lord.

Instead they should be speaking to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and making melody in their heart to the Lord. he admonished them to give thanks always for all things unto God. he goes on to say in Eph 5:21 "submitting yourselves one to another in the of fear God". On this verse of scripture, I have not seen or heard or read anyone say or suggest that any Christian by this scripture has any automatic right of 'rulership' over another.

But come down to the next verse Eph 5:22 "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord". Then all chauvinism breaks loose: All sorts of weird interpretations begin to pop up. Some suggesting that it means the husband has the final say in every matter over the wife. And it is the verse 23 which nails it for them. It says "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the Saviour of the body.

By this scripture, they wrongly think that they have some automatic right of 'rulership' over their wives. But we have seen that 'rulership' of the husband over the wife from Genesis 3:16 is a curse. So the apostle Paul who is a Pharisee, knowing about this curse, could not have been suggesting that at all. Moreover does "submitting yourselves one to another" in verse 21 not include husbands unto wives and vice versa?

The real reason for that kind of inconsistent thinking emanates from the part of verse 23 which says "for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church:.....". They do not understand the nature of what the headship of Christ is really like, so they have given it their own meaning to imply that the husband is the ruler over his wife. In other words they think that we as the church exist to serve Christ, who is the head of the church. So in the same vain the wife lives to serve the interest of the head and thus in this case, her husband. But that is very very far from the truth of the nature of Christ's headship.

First of all, I will say something here, that may completely surprise you or even shock you, that is, if you skipped some particular sections preceding this chapter. Christ Jesus didn't come to redeem you so that you can serve him, NO. he has enough angels doing that for him already. Lets hear from Christ Jesus' own mouth. Mark 10:45 "For truly the son of man did not come to have servants, but to be a servant...." BBE(Bible in Basic English translation). Luk 22:25 "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them;...." Luk 22:27 ".....but I am among you as he that serveth". Again after Jesus washed the feet of the disciples he said in John 13:14 "If I then, your lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet". John 17:19 "for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified".

This is what your Bible and my Bible says is the nature of the headship of Christ. It is not one of the husband ruling over the wife, for that kind as seen in Genesis 3:16 is a curse. So the apostle Paul in saying submit yourselves one to another, was doing nothing more than elaborating on the context of the submission by using the relationship as exists between the husband and wife in Christ Jesus, and not of the kind that existed in the curse of 'rulership' of the husband over the wife which is found in Genesis 3:16.

## ■ Grace Does Pay At The Mall

If you doubt that mammon(deified money) rules in this world, go to church on a Sunday morning or tune in to Christian broadcast channels right now. Go to a brothel or pass by the busy intersections of the city. Park your car and join a public bus this evening and just watch the mood of people at rush hour as they sit pensively riding home... Or better still, what is the most important 'concern' on YOUR mind right now? Are you anxious for a solution or you're anxious for that money that if only you had it, you'll never have to be at that point ever again...

Beneath my calm persona, I'm an anxious person by nature. In fact, whenever I'm unusually calm, that's when I'm most anxious about something. And because I hate "pity" I've learned to mask my emotions in other to avoid attracting that kind of attention.

Do I get anxious about money... I used to. For me it has never been about whether I'm broke or not. I'm not easily intimidated by the absence of temporary trifling comforts. It was about getting to that place where 'circumstances' of life could not make me it's victim.

Maybe it's because I have always had this habit of stepping back and watching the rest of the world play out like a movie before my eyes. Maybe it's because I may have come to certain realisations much earlier than a person ordinarily should have to. Well, I may never know for sure why, but it's just the way it was with me for a while.

The thing is for most people, money is a person. Crush their car, they will let it slide but lose US$1,000 and they will eat you alive. It reminds them of their sweat, their power... Their very persona has become defined not by the things they have(and that is a misunderstanding that many have), but rather by their ability to be the person who acquires the things that they have.

That is how come there are people who would wear the same shirt for years, drive the same rickety car for decades, build a house that consumes every bit of land, and even build a fence that deliberately eats into their neighbour's lot. You know very well that this man or woman could buy a bigger lot, drive a nicer car, eat out at more decent restaurants and still have more than enough for himself and his family. But he will not. he would rather die than live with the idea that his money has been abused in the slightest way. It is because he more than values money. To him, money is deified and thus must be treated with an almost messianic reverence. And his way of doing it is through being extremely frugal.

On the other extreme, this man may live large, be generous, an absolute easy go fella when it comes to spending his money by himself. But woe unto you if you lose 1 cent of his money, all hell will break loose. he doesn't mind spending, but he burns with envy, when it is another person displaying the spending ability that, in that moment he is unable to. When that person is not around, he will give you examples of a 'better' use to which that person could have put the money. he will tell you how you could have bought four shirts instead of complementing you on the niceness of the 'expensive' one you are wearing.

Judas Iscariot is an example. Many people are not aware that Judas was not a poor man. In fact, According to some historical accounts, he was not even middle class, he was a very rich man and the money he betrayed Jesus for was so small that to this day, some academics and historians do not believe in the story about the crucifixion of Jesus for that reason. They just can't make sense of such an account, given what they know about him and how rich he was.

But that is what some do not get... It is not about how rich or otherwise a person is. It is about how they perceive and relate to money. To them, money is a person and if it stares it must be had.

In many ways, that is what the anxiety about money is all about. It is not that we have a need yet unmet, it is not that we are broke, or about how the pressing medical condition would be met. It is that we see, feel and begin to almost literally taste the raw power of money and what having it will mean for us and how we will never be 'victim' to such difficult circumstances ever again.

Every time someone disrespected or disregarded you because of money, the 'humbling' effect it produced drove you closer and closer to seeing it as this powerful personified hand in the affairs of men.

Every time you think about how hungry you were to the point that even you had to sleep with the boss to get the job; Every time you wonder about how you would have been the one standing in the line on a rainy day at a bus station if you were not having that affair with your bosses and the 'powerful' people, you revere more and more, this powerful hand called money.

Let's face it, no one likes poverty. Those who have not tasted what it feels like before, tend to have this illusion that, those who have, have somehow earned this mythical badge of honour. And you see them doing all sorts of stupid things in the ghettos and in monasteries and yes in christian missions in difficult terrains, thinking that they must somehow qualify or earn the right to enjoy the wealth they have inherited from wealthy parents. It is because like those who struggle or have struggled financially, they have come to have this immense respect for the power of money to give them the privilege they know. Like all others, they have personified it.

So our anxieties about money, more often than not, are born out of how we have been slowly shaped by circumstances, both good and bad, to treat money as deity.

And whatever deity you revere you serve, it is that simple. circumstances have served us with the false notion that, in the absence of this 'personality', we are not.

So we tend to sometimes wonder, why God will just not make things as simple and easy as, the deity we perceive money to be, does things.

We don't say to ourselves "if I had Jesus, I would have bought that car". Instead we say "if I had money, I would have bought that car".

We say to ourselves at the mall, "now that I have money coming from this job, I can finally buy this appliance". We never say to ourselves, "good... now that I have Grace from Jesus, I will buy this appliance".

In fact, let's face it, while reading the above you secretly asked yourself "ah but can Grace pay for the item at the mall".

My friend, where is your confidence? In Mammon or in Jesus Christ? All the reasons above as to why we personify money, are false options that the devil presents to us because to him, anything that draws us away from Christ Jesus is ok with him. Because for every wrong thing that you believe you had to do or still have to do, there's somebody else who has trusted in God for an answer and has received it.

The problem has never been with money, the problem is mammon, that is, deified or personified money.

The question now is, are you going to put your confidence in Jesus who says that "My Grace is sufficient for you". Do you have the Grace from Jesus to answer all your problems? The answer is yes. Every time you are stressed about any need, find out from the new testament if you have the Grace for it, because we're under the new covenant.

If it is riches, it says that we are heirs of the world through Christ Jesus. It says that though he was rich he became poor that we through his poverty might become rich. It says that "I have come that you may have life and have it more ABUNDANTLY". If it is health, it says that he took upon himself our diseases, if it is anything he says "ask and you shall receive".

But whatever you do, know this;

Mat 6:24 KJV "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon".

Keep your eyes on Jesus, and every time you're tempted to deify money, remember that 'Grace does pay at the mall'.

#### ◆ Is There Any Such Thing As Your One True Love?

Some time ago, I was at a friend's wedding with some other friends of ours. While the preacher was throwing in his two cents of matrimonial advice to the young couple, I chuckled at a point he made, which I suspect prompted the lady sitting next to me to ask me a rhetorical question. "Is there any such thing as the one true love?" she quizzed, in a slow passive tone though not at all nonchalantly.

In truth, her question has not ceased to swim up into my 'idle' thoughts every now and then. What almost always follows that thought is the question, what is love?. What does it mean to love someone and what does it mean to be loved by someone? and what makes a person your one true love? I know that a thousand and one variants of answers, ranging from sexual intercourse, to butterflies in the tummy, to money, to gifts, to time, to respect, to ambition, to religious piety, etc, all revolving around the central themes of 'giving' and 'receiving' would be proffered depending on whom you ask.

To whatever extent one receives and is willing to give in return, of whichever combinations of factors one expects, is a very subjective matter. That is not to say that there is no such thing as love, simply because no one has been able to come up with one universal definition. I'm told a legal luminary once said, "I may not be able to give a legalistic definition for sausage, but I know one when I see it". In much the same way, I believe that when one sees love in another, they can tell. And to the extent to which a person is willing to give you those things which you cherish, whether tangible or intangible will very likely determine where we place them in your true love category or scale.

Let me illustrate it with this real life story of a lady. This lady was a prostitute. In her small town, I can imagine all the important leaders including the religious ones knew her for who she was. Of course, like we are all often quick to do, she was judged by the rest of the people whose sins happened away from public scrutiny and so acted like they were any more righteous. The men who cared not much for her wisdom or intellect save for her sensual benefits, the wives of her customers who obviously treated her with disdain in the market and public places, the children speaking naively about rumours they have heard of her... I'm not sure whether she had grown used to it or simply ignored public opinion. One day, she walked into a party full of all the important people, moved straight up to the guest of the party at the head of the table, fell to his feet, drenched his feet with her tears and kisses, wiped his feet with her hair, and anointed his feet with a most expensive ointment, much to the dismay and open condemnation of many around who knew her.

There was another woman from a town called Magdala, who at a point lived her life day and night, tormented by seven demons and who saw her brother die and be buried. She came to know a man, she financed this man's work, she saw him arrested, in chains and badly beaten beyond recognition, when this man's friends had all deserted him after his arrest, she along with a couple of other women, stood at the very feet of the poles to which this man had had his hands and his feet nailed, she watched as a soldier pierced into his side with a spear, she stayed till he was brought down from the poles and followed to his grave where he was buried. At the dawn of the third day, she was among the very first to appear at this young man's grave, and when it appeared that the grave had been broken into and his body stolen, the man's friends came and left, but she stayed there and wept, for the body of a dead man who may have been no relative of hers.

What did these two women have in common, why would they go through all the trouble just to be near this man, shedding tears for a person who for most part of their lives, was most likely, a complete stranger. The answer is found in what this man, did for these women. For the prostitute, he was the very first person to assure her that in spite of what religion says about her, in spite of what people said or thought about her, in spite of how people treated her, she was not condemned to eternal damnation and that God had forgiven her all of her sins. In other words, this man GAVE her something more valuable than anyone ever could. For the woman from the town of Magdala, Whose name is Mary Magdalene, this man was the only one who had delivered her from all her years of torment from these seven demons who possessed her. It was this same man who raised her brother whom she had seen die and was buried, from the dead. In other words he GAVE her a second chance to live a life free from torment and sorrow.

I don't know how you would feel towards this 'stranger' of a man if you were in their shoes but I know and believe with all my heart, that to them, this man was their 'one true love'. Unlike other people, this man GAVE them things that no one on the planet could give to them. This man also GAVE not just to them but to all people his very life. By this man's stripes we have healing, by this man's chastisement, we have Shalom(prosperity, peace, wholeness, sound mind, completeness), by this man's shameful and bloody death, we have forgiveness of sins once for all, we are now made children of God and he has now become our father.

Maybe the issue is not so much about if there is there is the possibility of there being a 'one true love', rather than where we are expecting to find our one true love. If we look all around us, to the people we see and know, we see what is great about them and what is painfully wrong about them: guess what they see when they look at us too. And in hoping to find from among mere mortals our one true love, are we not expecting them to be just as given towards our most cherished desires and comforts, just as the man spoken of from above? And if this man who has given us his all including his very life, does not qualify to be our 'one true love', then who can.

And if this man gave us his all and therefore qualifies more than any other to be our one true love, should we not lookup to this precious lover of ours, to bring our way that special person whose touch brings the proverbial butterflies into our tummy; he is my one true love, his name is Jesus Christ, he has given me his all and so I can trust him more than any other person, to bring my way a lover whose smile makes my heart skips a beat and whose love I can count on; understanding and resting perfectly in the knowledge that only he, Jesus Christ, can qualify as my one true love.

## ■ THOSE WHO CONTEST THE REALITY OF JESUS CHRIST

When someone says they are atheist or belong to another faith, and yet are particularly antagonistic towards the Christian faith, it is usually because of one of two reasons.

They are trying to "kick against the goads" like Jesus told Paul.

Like Paul, when he was Saul, was fighting against the impulse of Jesus in his heart, which is what the proverb "you cannot kick against the goads" meant.

Or they are simply anti Christ.

Because atheist and people of other faiths ordinarily don't really care what you believe so much that, they will waste their energy and time, trying to show how wrong you are.

That said, are there anti Muhammadans or anti Buddhists or anti whatever hiding behind the umbrella of the Christian faith, simply to antagonise others? I believe so. After all, some people made themselves preachers, just to cause more hatred for Paul, so it is not at all implausible.

The Romans, Persians, Syrians, Greeks all had various false deities. Not once in all of scripture can you find Jesus antagonising them. he was busy preaching the gospel of the arrival of the kingdom of God.

Be like Jesus, preach the gospel of his Grace. Remember the parable of the wheat and tares, Jesus told his agents to let them both grow. At the appropriate time, they were separated and burnt.

It is not our place to go attacking, or yes, even trying to end other religions or faiths or belief systems. It doesn't mean that you are passively endorsing them. It simply means that you're focused on preaching the gospel and are not going to allow the human appetite for zealotry to become a distraction from your great commission.

After all, the people whose faith you antagonise cannot be saved by your attacks, that is not what your bible says. The apostle Paul says

Rom 1:16 KJV

For I am not ashamed of the GOSPEL of Christ: FOR IT IS the power of God UNTO SALVATION to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Don't be deceived into thinking that you must add to the gospel, to make it powerful enough to save people. Sorry but God doesn't need that kind of help from you.

Lay hands on the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, make disciples, baptise(immerse) them into the name of the father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

That is what we have been sent to do. The master himself will take care of the weed that is growing amidst the wheat, LEAVE THEM ALONE it is not your job.

## ■ 'PAGAN' Poems In The New Testament

Because of the 'religious' meaning of Ewe names for instance("Ewe" is the name of an ethnic group as well as their language, in Ghana), many people today assume that they have always derived their meanings from the Christian God. That may be true today, but they have not always been so. Mawu(god) used to mean different things to different people depending on the deity or idol they served.

So an Ewe name like "Edem" which means God's elect, would in times past, have been in reference to the god or idol worshiped in the family and not the christian God. That should tell you, how radical the impact of Christianity has been among those groups of people.

In today's church, we would have been more interested in breaking off any relationship with anything that identified with their former deities or idols, including telling people to abandon such names. When we should be more interested in shifting their understanding of who God really is and what their beautiful names should mean to them instead.

We have become unnecessarily more interested in the superficial. The apostle Paul quotes pagan poets like Menander whose writings were meant to glorify their god Zeus in Acts.

Act 17:28 KJV

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Today we quote this poem from the bible, a poem written by a pagan to a pagan god. We teach children to recite it, and our bishops scream it on their television channels all day.

But we do so, not in worship of the lie it was intended to foster, but with an understanding of a different reality and perspective. With an understanding that there is only one true God in all of the universe, whom Christ reveals to us. And through Christ Jesus we become his offspring. This truthful understanding is so pervasive today that, many of those who scream it on their television channels are not even aware that the great apostle did not originally author those words.

Paul did not go to the Greeks, being petty about not reciting poems because they were meant for some other deity. he used their own poem to shift their understanding of truth.

1Co 15:33 KJV

Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

Titus 1:12

"One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons."

These two verses above are all from pagan philosophers, writing of their ways, but Paul uses it to in a different context to shift their understanding, to Christ Jesus.

Today you go to many communities where they worship idols, and the natives will tell you that they are worshiping a supreme god that they cannot see and talk to directly so they do it through their idols and rituals. The modern church will tell them that they are wrong in EVERY way. Instead of seizing the opportunity to tell them that yes it is that unseen god that we want to reveal to them through Christ.

Paul in writing to the Romans says of the non Jews

Rom 1:19 - 20 ISV

19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God himself has made it plain to them.

20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been understood and observed by what he made, so that people are without excuse

But we of the church in today's world, either out of ignorance or arrogance or both, go to people who do not share in the faith and speak to them as if they are idiots and people not having any knowledge of God.

But when Paul goes to speak to Greeks for instance, he uses their awareness and acceptance of the existence of an unknown god, to introduce them to that god in the book of Acts. Because he knows that the creation of God reveals him even to unbelievers as the above verses from Romans chapter one points out.

Acts 17:23 NASB

"For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you."

Paul was going round, examining their objects of worship. Clearly he wanted to understand the people he was going to deal with, as he himself said in another place,

"19 Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.

20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the Law I became like one under the Law (though I myself am not under the Law), to win those under the Law.

21 To those without the Law I became like one without the Law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win those without the Law."

1Co 9:20

Today, people want to go and preach to Muslims for instance, while having zero understanding of their ways, and being petty about trivial things like their piercings and the paintings they make on their hands. Let someone shout Allahu Akbar which simply means God is Great in a church, he will be lucky if he is only reprimanded and not thrown out.

Let us be more interested in making people understand the gospel of the grace of Christ Jesus, instead of being more interested in showing how zealous we can be. Let us be more interested in making people understand God and his love for them in Christ Jesus, instead of foisting religious behaviour on people.

We are called to be ministers if his GRACE and only that.

### Basileus Eimi

### Be still my soul

### Be still

### Be still

### Be still

### In turning and turning and turning

### Is only the constancy of restless minds

### So be still my soul

### Be still

### Be still

### A million oases of stagnation encircles

### A million fountains of frustrations in view

### A million mirages, but they all are

### So be still my soul

### Be still my beloved soul

### Be still

### Lift your eyes and see

### For your fountain rests

### In lightening sparks of jasper

### Hold still your gaze

### And See your glory shine forth

### Amidst the radiance of sardine

### With the boldness of a lion

### Your cry of victory thunders

### From within the bosom of a rainbow

### And all powers of the ages cry

### holly... holly... holly...

### In awe and worship,

### Of your Grace and Righteousness,

### And Victory and Love,

### And Riches and Power,

### And Honour and Majesty,

### And Wisdom and Glory

### Whose vesture is whelmed

### In atonement blood

### Whose twoedged sword

### Has overcome all who impede

### Who rides afore his armies of host

### In a glorious victory charge

### Be still my soul

### Be still my soul

### Be still my soul

### ###

### Dear friend,

### I believe you have been greatly blessed by this book. Kindly grant your friends and loved ones the same opportunity by encouraging them to download it for FREE online or order the paper back edition of GRACE360. God richly bless you.

### Thanks!

### Edem Light

