Psalm 127

Good day One of the luxuries we have today as Christians is the ease at which we're able to access Christian content. We're able to attend a church service in person as well as various courses at church. We have small groups where we meet together once a week and discuss the word of God, through this we develop relationships with others in the church. There's also opportunities to get involved in church activities and initiates. We also have access to Christian content via Christian book stores like CUM books, we're able to watch teachings on You Tube, satellite TV, church websites. There are also Bible apps like the You Version app which also includes various reading plans ... Even just being able to own a physical Bible today can be viewed as a luxury ... It's easy to forget just how blessed we are to be able to access all of these resources and can take for granted the enrichment that it brings to our relationship with God - and along with that, the enrichment t...

Good day In the previous message we looked at the potential that a seed carries and how, through our obedience to the Holy Spirit, we can find hope and encouragement in knowing that if that person goes on to produce fruit because of the seed we've planted, that it's not only that one life that's impacted. That person can go on to impact many others; their friends, family, children, relatives, work colleagues, people they'll eventually go on to meet and disciple. God may even call them into full-time ministry. They may end up pastoring a church or doing missionary work. Their children might even go on to accomplish great things in the kingdom of God. They may even give birth to the next revival. They may see thousands coming to know Christ ... and those thousands may go on to win many more thousands ... all because we took the time, and chose to be obedient to what God has called us to do in His kingdom, by planting and watering seeds in the lives of those around us. To...

Good day I mentioned in the previous message that we can become a product (produce the fruit) of the seeds (word/information) that we allow to germinate in our hearts/minds. Knowing that this process is true, it should encourage us to make the most of the opportunities around us (including the use of various social media platforms) to plant seeds (sharing scriptures, teachings, invites, etc.), because by doing so, we're allowing the seed to carry out its process, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, hopefully take root in people's hearts/minds and produce a harvest (where they call on Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and seek to live their lives for His glory, fulfilling His purposes and plans for their lives - and planting seeds of their own as they also begin to reach others!) I'd like to add onto the above by sharing the following illustration: If a farmer plants a seed and that seed grows to become a tree, that tree then goes on to produce fruit which in turn carries m...

Good day In the previous message we took a look at the impact one can have when sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and that we should never take for granted the times that we share a scripture or a Christian message with someone, or the times we may encourage someone regarding their relationship with God, or the times we bring someone along to church or to our small group meetings, etc. because by doing so we're planting or watering the seed (God's word) into the lives of others. For today's message I'd like to add to the above and start off by taking a look at the below parable where Jesus explains that the seed is the word of God and how when it is sown, the condition of the soil determines the type of harvest one can expect: Mark 4:14‭-‬20 The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word a...

Good day In the below passages we see that the word of God carries life (John 6:63), that it is powerful, (Hebrews 4:12), that it can be compared to imperishable/incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1:23-25) and that when someone plants or waters that seed, God causes it to grow (1 Corinthians 3:5-9) John 6:63 NIV The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. Hebrews 4:12 NKJV For the word of God is living and powerful , and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 1 Peter 1:23‭-‬25 AMP For you have been born again [that is, reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose] not of seed which is perishable but [from that which is] imperishable and immortal, that is, through the living and everlasting word of God . For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glor...

Good day In the previous message we looked at Matthew 9:35‭-‬38 with the focus being on prayer. Today I'd like to focus on being an answer to someone's prayer. What I mean by this is that on the one hand we're instructed by Jesus to pray that God send out labourers/workers into His harvest...This means that our prayers are birthing things into motion... the Holy Spirit is busy leading, prompting and speaking to people about their assignments for that day, whom they need to speak to, what they need to speak about, what to do, where to go, which decisions to take... Maybe speaking to people about what He's called them to do, where they need to be involved, what role they need to play, etc.... All of this is taking place through that prayer. Now while it's great to sit back and be excited by the fact that our prayers are busy accomplishing all of these wonderful things, the question is, do we ever consider that WE may be the labourer that God is wanting to work through...

Good day Matthew 9:35‭-‬38 NKJ Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.” Verse 38 in the NLT reads as follows, so pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” In the above passage we find that when Jesus saw that the multitudes were weary and scattered, He said to pray that the Lord would send out labourers/workers into His harvest. I had to reflect on this and ask myself, for all the things that I mention when I pray, whether I'm praying for myself, family, friends, communities, city, c...

Good day Previously we took a look at what Jesus Christ did for us and said that the way we receive God’s free gift of eternal life is through faith. I'd like to share the below story as an example of what faith is like: There's a story of a famous tightrope walker by the name of Charles Blondin who crossed the Niagara Falls. He walked across pushing a wheelbarrow holding a sack of potatoes. Upon reaching the other side he asked the audience if they believed he could carry a person across in the wheelbarrow. The crowd enthusiastically responded, “Yes! we believe you can”. He then responded and asked, "So who wants to get into the wheelbarrow?” ... to which there was no response ... In the same way, faith is more than just believing, it's acting on what we believe. The Bible says in James 2:19 that even the demons believe - and tremble. The demons know about Jesus but they aren’t going to Heaven. In the same way there are people who know about Jesus, they say they belie...

Good day In the previous message we looked at the story of Garcia and how in the same manner God demonstrated love and mercy, all the while carrying out justice, by sending His Son Jesus Christ to the Earth to pay the penalty/price for our sins so that we can be forgiven. Today I'd like to add to that message by looking at another illustration: Isaiah 53:6 "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity (sins) of us all." To explain the above verse, let’s imagine my left hand represents me and I had a book tied to my hand which represents every sin that I've committed; and let's imagine that my right hand represents God. God loves me (pointing to my left hand under the book), but He hates my sin (pointing to the book). He doesn’t want to punish me but He must punish my sin. This book (my sin) prevents my right hand (God) from embracing my left hand (me) What I need to do is find a way ...

Good day We ended off the previous message saying that we're sitting with a problem, on the one hand eternal life is freely available to all, but on the other hand, our sin prevents us from obtaining it ... so how is this problem solved? One of the things we know about God is that He is merciful. The Bible says in 1 John 4:8 that God is love. However, in Exodus 34:7 the Bible says that He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Based on this we must understand that even though God is merciful, God is also just and therefore He must punish sin. Suppose I went and robbed a bank and was caught on camera, along with eyewitnesses identifying me as the robber, and then was later caught with the money. I now stand before the judge and they ask me, "how do you plead?”. Given that the evidence is overwhelming I say, "guilty, your Honour. But, I am very sorry. The bank got all their money back, no one was hurt, and I promise that I will never rob again if you let me go”. Woul...

Good day We've established from the previous message that eternal life is a free gift and is freely available and accessible to all; then we asked the question, If that's the case, does it mean that everyone will automatically enter into Heaven one day? Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Lawlessness means someone has no regard for the law/commandments, which usually results in the committing of sin (1 John 3:4) . Now sin is when we disobey the instructions/commandments of God (eg. like disobeying one of the 10 commandments, "do not steal") and the verse below tells us that sin is what separates us from God. Isaiah 5...

Good day Once we've developed a friendship and we've shared our experiences through "witnessing" or by sharing our "personal testimony", we move on to the next part which is to share the good news about what Jesus Christ has done for us. I'll be sharing the below, and the messages to follow, as though speaking directly to someone: I'd like to ask you a question - Have you come to the place in your spiritual life where you know for certain that if you were to die today that you would go to Heaven? Or is that something you would say you’re still working on? Now I know that can be quite a daunting question. The subject of one's death is not necessarily a topic that people like to think or talk about; and in this context, it's about whether one is sure that they'll go to Heaven should they die. The other question is, is that something we can even be certain of? 1 John 5:13 "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son o...

Good day As I mentioned in the previous message, "witnessing" is telling others about the things we've seen God do in our lives, or the things we've heard God do in the lives of others. When we witness we show others that they can turn to God and place their trust in Him as well. All of these bear witness to a Father who loves us, cares about us, and who time and time again continues to show us how merciful and patient He is with us, continues to show us His faithfulness and how good He is to us! ... The word testimony is closely associated with the word "witness". It can be found in 2 Timothy 1:8, Revelation 12:11, 1 John 1:1-4. You may have heard Christians refer to this word when sharing how they came to receive the free gift of eternal life by placing their faith in Jesus Christ or maybe how God came through for them in a certain area, all with the intention of giving glory to God. This word means "to give evidence". It means that we declare ...

Good day In Part 10, the subject of the message was, "What value do we place on relationships?" Some of the points mentioned in that message was the following: "One of the signs of the end times is that the love of many will grow cold" (Matthew 24) ... "What have we allowed to come between us and others? What offences, grudges, personality clashes, saying that we don't see eye to eye, saying that we just don't get along, saying that we don't have the same interests, etc. have hindered us from developing relationships with others?" "A lack of love will affect our ability to develop relationships, and again, if the purpose behind doing what we do is all about people, then how can we develop in our efforts to preach the gospel/fulfill the great commission and make disciples if our love, care and concern towards others becomes stagnant or grows cold?" We also looked briefly at the value God places on having a relationship with us and the ...

Good day In the previous message I mentioned that if the purpose behind what we do is all about people, then how we relate to others and the value we place on our relationship with them becomes very important. We also took a look at the value God places on having a relationship with us and the lengths that He's prepared to go to to make that happen. I then flipped the question around and asked what value we place on the relationships in our lives, with an encouragement to love and treat others the same way God loves and treats us. Today I'd like to build on that message by sharing a few brief points about how we can connect more effectively with those around us: Take the initiative. Be genuinely interested in other people. Learn to become conversational. Talk in terms of the other person's interests. Ask questions about their family, job, hobbies, etc. Be a good listener. Always listen and show respect for the other person's opinion. Don't be critical or judgementa...

Good day In the previous message I mentioned that the purpose behind what we do is all about people, and that when God gives us an instruction, He does so with people in mind. I shared that the instructions God gives us is inspired by His purposes, so if His purpose is people, then ultimately one can conclude that whatever He's asking us to do, the great commission is at the heart of it ... That God has people in mind when asking us to do something for Him, so therefore we make ourselves available to be a vessel/vehicle that the Holy Spirit can work through in order to reach, help and encourage others. This brings me to today's message - If the purpose behind what we do is all about people, then how we relate to others and the value we place on our relationship with them becomes very important. God placed such a high value on His relationship with us that He gave His Son Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for our sins so that we can enter into a covenant with Him and have an etern...

Good day We've come a long way in this series and there's still much more to share on this subject. In the previous message (Part 8) we took a look at the importance of the Holy Spirit when it comes to the great commission/evangelism and how we cannot do it without His help. Today I would like to share on how the purpose behind what we do should mean something. We shouldn't just be involved in various ministries or acts of service and not be able to identify what it's main purpose is, and so I'd like to share the below passages of scripture and point out what Jesus' purpose was and that of the Apostle Paul. Now when I say purpose I'm not referring to what they did or were called to do, or the position they held, when I say purpose I'm referring to the underlying drive/agenda/motive they had behind doing what they did, the reason or purpose behind doing what they did. John 4:34-38 Then Jesus explained: “ My nourishment comes from doing the will of God , w...

Good day In the previous message we took a look at how Christianity is where it is today, with so many Bibles at our disposal, so many churches to attend, so many Christian resources to read and watch, etc. All because of the diligence and faithfulness of those who have gone before us and how we're here today because of their obedience - and that in this same way, someone out there, whether now, or many years from now, will say the same thing about us because of our obedience to the great commission, and availability and obedience to the Holy Spirit. Now I want to take us back to the instruction of Jesus as it's recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke and link it to the opening chapter of the book of Acts and point something out that I believe is fundamentally important to how all of the above was/continues to be carried out. In Matthew 28:16-20 we see the instruction of Jesus, which is generally considered the great commission: "Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All autho...