LUKE 16:1-15. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

 

Jesus gave a parable of a master who had a unfaithful manager. He was told he'll give an account because he would lose his job. The manager thought on how he would survive afterwards and called the debtor's and reduced their debts so that when he is fired, they would welcome him. The master praised the manager for acting shrewdly. Note better that it was the master not Jesus who praised the manager. Jesus doesn't praise crooked people but used that example to teach us a lesson on how to prepare for the future. The future of the manager was in this world but the future of Christians is in the world to come.

The child of this world are wiser in preparation for their future more than the children of light.

To give wisdom, Jesus said that we should use our wealth for missionary work so that those who will be converted in other places where we have funded the missionary work will welcome us in heaven.

If you are faithful in little, you'll be faithful in much but if you are unfaithful in little, you'll also be unfaithful in much.

If you are unfaithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust you with true riches. Here lies the secret of true riches. Material prosperity is not true riches. True riches are the riches of heaven which is only given if you are faithful with money. 

How do you acquire and use your money. Can Jesus approve of it? This determines whether God gives you the true riches or not. 

True riches include greater increase in Christlike characters, revelation Gods word, and anointing of the Holy Spirit. Are you in increasing measure becoming more Christlike in the way you speak, in your attitudes and motives, in your thoughts, in your character, in your priorities? Do you have revelation in God's word or do you just get bright ideas and verses to share with others. Revelation changes your life practically. Your life gets transformed. Are you increasing in the anointing of the Holy Spirit....this produces increase in your love for God and others even those who hurt you, you get joy in increasing manner, and greater peace. Can you say that you love God more today than you loved Him last year? Do you love others more today? How patient and forgiving are you to others? Do you have joy and peace more that nothing can take it away, even evil men and bad circumstances cannot take it away? Do you have more righteousness than you had last year? These is how you can check whether the anointing in your life is increasing or decreasing. Read Heb 1:9, Rom 5:5, 14:17.

No man can serve two masters. The two masters are not God and satan as many think. The two masters are God and money or material wealth. We have two words, master and servant. A master tells you what to do and a servant obeys what the masters tells you. If you make God your master, you have to make money your servant. You have to receive instructions from God and obey them and you have to give instructions to money. It's not how much money you have but whether you make it your servant. You can have ten servants in your house and there is no problem as long as they remain servant. If one servant becomes the boss, that when the problem sets in. 

The Pharisees who loved money scoffed and ridiculed Him as taught this. Jesus said that they justified themselves before men but God knows their hearts.

Do you love justifying yourself before people? You cannot deceive God. He knows your heart, your attitudes and inner motives. Jesus called self-justification an abomination in the sight of God. 

Abomination is like sewage. When you justify yourself and come to God, God sees you as sewage and He cannot accept that. Don't offer it to God. Learn to humbly acknowledge, 

I WAS WRONG, THAT WAS MY MISTAKE, PLEASE FORGIVE ME, HOW CAN I REPAY YOU OR SET IT RIGHT?

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LUKE 15:11-32. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

Jesus gave the parable of the two sons which is known as the parable of the prodigal son. Isn't it interesting that by calling it the parable of the prodigal son makes us concentrate on one son and neglect the other yet Jesus gave us the parable to teach us from both sons? Whenever you think of this parable, how often do you think of the other son? We've been sidetracked and we miss some wonderful lessons we could have learnt from the other son.

The first son asked His father to give him his inheritance and went to a far country to spend it. This is a picture of a backslider who after being blessed by God turns away from God.

This we see all around us. Someone seeks God when they are poor but when they are materialy blessed, they backslide. They run away from the Fathers house to live as they like. They don't abide and seek God on how to use what He has given them but just waste it. They now begin living a life of sin and do things they couldn't do when they were first converted. They now speak lies. They start watching immoral videos and comfort themselves that they have a good reputation in the church. Know that your private life and walk with God is ten times more important than your public testimony and ministry. Jesus lived 33 years and did ministry for only 3years. 30 years was his private life before God. 30÷3=10. 

Are you more concerned about your public testimony or are you more concerned about your private life? You should be ten times more concerned about your private life, that is, your thoughts, your inner attitudes and motives and your heart more than what people think about you. You can be a backslider inside and still have a good reputation outside. You can be privately feeding with the pigs, indulging in sexual immorality, in mustarbation and such things but you are known as a good brother or sister in Christ. You can be one of the church leaders and at the same time the biggest backslider. Your inner life is in turmoil. There is no peace, there is no joy in life. 

The interesting thing is that the father did not come looking for the son but waited until he got tired and decided to humble himself and acknowledge His sin against God and his father and go back and was willing to take the humble position of a servant. The moment the father saw him come id the time he ran and welcome and embrace him and made a big celebration.

God is still waiting for you to get tired of living your hypocritical life. A double standard life is life without peace and joy.

The second son when he came back, asked from a distance and was told that the other son had come back and he got very angry. His father came and welcomed him but he complained that he had obeyed him in everything and yet he was never given a kid to celebrate with his friends. His true condition was revealed then. He could not bear seeing his father blessing the younger son more than him. He said that he wasted his wealth with the prostitutes. He never saw him but imagined the worst possible evil against his younger brother. He refused to join in the celebration.

This other son though he never wasted his life but was still serving his father was a backslider. His heart was full of murmuring and complaining and evil imaginations. He desired to be given honour before his friends, he wanted to be given a position but didn't have. His service to his father was grudgingly but only the outside he was faithful.

How do you serve God? Are you always murmuring and complaining in your heart because of many unanswered prayers? Are you always imagining evil about others?

We see here that those who openly indulge in sin can easily repent and turn back but those who sin privately and have a good reputation in the church do not easily repent. They are more concerned about what people will say rather than what God who sees them in private will say. The devil also sees the secret things you do in private and you will be powerless against his attacks unless you repent.

Remember that your private life is 10times more important than your public life.

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LUKE 15:1-10. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

The tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to Jesus to listen to Him. Jesus was the holiest man walking on earth and the natural mind would think that sinners would go as far as possible away from them but instead they came to listen to Him. They didn't go to the Pharisees in the temple all those time yet the Pharisees practiced righteousness? Why? 

What was the difference between Jesus righteousness and that of the Pharisees? Jesus had compassion on the sinners. He looked at them as sick people who were wasting see away due to their sin and He loved them and was willing to die for them. He knew that what God requires of Him was not sacrifices but compassion. He came to call sinners to repentance. Mathew 9:13, 12:7. Sinners and tax collectors would sense in their hearts that Jesus was not judging or condemning them but they could feel the love and compassion Jesus had for them. It was not acting but reality. What fills your heart is like perfume, even if you don't speak, one can sense it in a distance. The smell of the Pharisees was judgment and condensation and sinners couldn't go to them. 

What is your attitude towards sinners? Do you have compassion for them and long to bring them to repentance or do you condemn them instead? Jesus did not come to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him. Learn from Jesus. Be compassionate towards sinners.

Jesus gave a parable of the lost sheep. The shepherd left the 99 and went searching for the lost sheep and when He go found it, he joyfully carried on his shoulders and brought it back. 

There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than the 99 who need no repentance.

Who are the righteous people who need no repentance? Does it mean that when you are first converted that you need not to repent again? No. The last message that Jesus gave to the church was repent and overcome. Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3. We see Paul writing to believers telling them to repent in 2Cor 7:8-12. Therefore there nothing like once you repent you no longer need to repent. So, righteous people who need no repentance refers to believers who are repenting everyday. They are the poor in spirit. They are judging themselves daily to see areas in their lives where they never acted in a Christlike way, during the day. They judge themselves in the light of scriptures and seeing their failures and asking God for mercy and seeking grace to overcome. They are seeing areas in their lives where they need to change the way the act and seeing areas in their lives where they need to improve and seeing better ways of doing things they do. They are not concentrating on the sins of others but theirs.

 You can be among these righteous people who need no repentance if you start judging yourself everyday in the light of scriptures to see where you are unchristlike asking God for mercy and grace as He gives you light in the unchristlike areas in your life. Your will not be horrified with the sins of others but your own. If you live this way, you will enjoy fellowship with God and your joy will always be full. But if you become wise in your own eyes and concentrate on the sins of others, you will never know fulness of yoy in your life and perfect peace. 

You can start today to judge yourself. Check after 30 days whether you have seen more faults in you or in others. If you can see more faults in your life than in the life of others, you are blessed indeed.

He gave also the parable of the lost coin. It was lost in the house. These are lost people who come to church but the house was swept until the coin was found. Sweeping involves cleansing the church and purging it by God's word and showing Christ clearly. Jesus said that you are clean through the word I have spoken to you. Jn 25:3, and that if He be lifted up, He will draw all men to Himself. Jn 12:32.

We'll look at the parable of the two sons in the next study.

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LUKE 14:25-35. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

 

Jesus seeing a large crowd following Him turned and preached one of the strongest message to them. It is known as the cost of discipleship. Many in the church call themselves disciples who are not true disciples. It's good to be honest with ourselves and not deceive ourselves. A disciple means a learner and a follower of Jesus. Are you one? What have you learnt from Jesus in the last 30 days that you are trying to follow? 

The first condition is that Jesus must be number 1 above family members and friends. Yes more than even His own life. The Love for Jesus must exceed that of father, mother, brother, sister children, even His own life. He says we must 'hate'. This means if you compare the love of Jesus to that others including self, the love for others must look as if it is hate. If there is a decision to be made which you have a choice between pleasing Jesus or any of your family members or friends, you choose immediately to displease them so that you can please Jesus. When your parents or siblings calls you to go in a certain direction and Jesus calls you to go in another direction, you go the Jesus' direction.

The whole mindset is that I will always choose to please Jesus even if I must displease family and friends and even self.

He said also that we must carry our cross everyday and follow Him.

The cross has a vertical bar and a horizontal bar.✝️ The horizontal bar symbolizes my will, my way, and my plans and desires, whereas the vertical bar symbolizes Gods will, Gods way, Gods desires and plans. The cross is a symbol of crucifixion. It's a symbol of death. The man with a cross is facing only one direction and He knows He is going to die. He has said goodbye to family and friends and the would as well. There is no turning back.

The cross we have to bear everyday. Luke 9:23

For you to be a disciple, everyday you have to put to death your own way and will and plan and desire whenever they cross Gods plan, and will and way and desires. There is only one direction ⬆️➡️. Forward and upward. You have set your face like a flint determined to go in the direction God has planned for you (Isaiah 50:7) and you have kissed goodbye to everyone and everything.

 How many disciples do we have in our churches? It's almost impossible to find one genuine one among the thousands who claim to be christians. Very often we want things our own way and we get offended when things don't go our way and we murmur and complain. The reason you get offended easily and complain and murmur is because you are not a disciple of Jesus. Face up to it. This is the very reasons we don't have the peace and fullness of joy promised to disciples. Can you say that your life is filled with perpetual joy and peace which no one can take away from you by either doing something or not doing something for you? 

Jesus said before you decide to be a disciple, you must sit down and count the cost. It's better not to start to than to start and stop in the middle. If you begin this journey of discipleship, you must finish the race. Don't begin something that you will not finish.

He also added that if we don't forsake all our possessions, we cannot be disciples. Possessions are things that possess us. Things that are so dear to us that we are unwilling to lose. We hold them tightly. To forsake them does not mean you cannot own anything but it means that nothing possesses you. Everything you have you are freely willing to give away whenever the Lord tells you to. They are all on open hands and you are always ready to let go if God takes them away either through loss or giving out. If there is anything you own that you are not willing to let go as a follower of Jesus, you are not His disciple.

Jesus said that this life of discipleship is the salt of the world and we should never lose that taste otherwise we will become useless and worthless fit to be thrown away. This teaches us that we can be a blessing to others today when we are disciples but once we leave that path of the cross, we become a curse and a burden to others. Never think that because God used you to bless others, He will always do it. No, He will use you as long as your life is on the cross as described above but if you decide to leave the path of death to self and loving Jesus above everything else, you will lose the anointing like Saul and the first things to leave your life when you move out of this life is peace and joy. 

Have you lost your peace and joy? Yes, it's because you left the path of the cross and got sidetracked to something else. Go back to the crossroads where you lost the way and ask the ancient path of the cross, and you will hear voice in your heart saying, this is the way, walk in it. Jer 6:16, Isaiah 30:21.

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LUKE 14:1-24. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

Jesus went to the house of a Pharisee for lunch on a Sabbath and they were watching him closely. There was a man whose legs and hands were swollen. Jesus asked them whether it was permitted in the law to heal on the Sabbath or not but they kept silent. Jesus healed the man. He asked them whether if their ox fell on a well on Sabbath whether they wouldn't immediately pull it out and they couldn't answer.

The reason the Pharisees couldn't answer the two questions was because it revealed their hypocrisy. There was no command in the law that said you shouldn't heal on Sabbath otherwise they could have quoted it to him. They wouldn't leave their ox on a well without pulling it out because they knew it would die. Their hypocrisy blinded them to a simple fact that the life of a human being is more important than the life of an animal. They also had their own prejudices on what the law meant even though there was no scripture for it. They were always jealous of Jesus because many followed Him and he did miracles which they themselves couldn't do.

Are you a Pharisee? Do you look carefully to see faults with people whose lives and ministries bless people in a way you don't bless them? Are you jealous of someone who has gifts you don't possess?

Jesus also taught that when you are invited somewhere, you shouldn't go to the place of honour but in the lowly place otherwise a more honourable person than you will come and you will be humiliated before everyone as you are told to take a lower sit but if you are in a low seat you will be honoured before everyone as you are taken to a higher position.

If you humble yourself, you will be exalted but if you exalt yourself, you will be humbled?

You have a choice between humbling yourself or being humbled. To humble yourself is an act of your will.

When you make dinner don't invite those who can invite you back but invite those who are unable to invite you back and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you.

Jesus also gave a parable of the wedding feast as a reply when people said blessed are those who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. 

He said the invited guests on the day of the feast when they were told everything was ready, they began giving excuses saying that their business had prospered and they had to take care of it, another bought a piece of land and another got married.

This is a picture of people who are invited in the kingdom of God and are excited to get born again but get sidetracked and loses the vision when God blesses them materially. The fire of God get quenched in their lives and they are more obsessed with the blessing and forget the Blesser. They no longer love God as they loved Him in the beginning.

 The privilege that was for them, God gives it to others who are unworthy, the lame and the blind and the gentiles. Also a picture of those who get to know God from a young Stage but along the way loses sight of Christ and are taken up with possessions and God has to choose others who have wasted their lives in all kinds of evil and begins to use them in a mighty way. The first become proud and think that God understands when they compromise and stop walking the way of the cross, denying their own will to do Gods will and assume that because God has been blessing them, God will always bless everything that they do. When you stop walking the way if the cross, God will reject you like He did to Saul and replace you with another. The privileges God had for you, He will fulfill in another.

Take heed lest anyone take your crown.

If you get sidetracked from following Jesus to something else, you will hear at the end, "For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’” Vs 24.

Follow Jesus until the end. Choose Him above your family, your work, your wealth. Let Him always remain number 1 in everything. If you make something else number 1, you lose Jesus. What do you gain?

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LUKE 13:31-35. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

 

Jesus was advised to go away from where He was because Herod wanted to kill Him but He answered that He will continue until the third day. God's prophets were killed in Jerusalem. He says how He wished to gather her children as a hen gathers her chicks around her wings but they were not willing. Your house is abandoned until you say blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

We learn that it's not always good to respond in fear to the threats of man but we must always be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit in everything that we have to do. God also wants to help us in many ways but He cannot force us. We must willingly submit to Him and run to Him for help. Gods store of blessing is full waiting for us but unfortunately we become wise in our own eyes and instead of running towards God and seeking Him earnestly, we just sit down wondering what to do. God will never force Himself on us. He has given each of us a free will whereby we can choose to go God's way or go out own way. We can choose to do God's will or own will. We can choose to please God or please ourselves. God will not force us to choose Him.

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LUKE 13:18-30. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

 

Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a mustard tree which grew to become a tree and a birds of the air made nests in its branches or a leaven which a woman hid in flour and the whole dough was leavened. As we studied Mathew 13 earlier, we saw that the birds of the air Jesus defined as evil spirits and leaven He defined as hypocrisy. We saw that a little compromise will make room for demons and hypocrisy will corrupt our whole Christian life and thus we must be warned of compromise and hypocrisy. You can check the studies in Mathew 13.

Someone asked Jesus whether there will be only a few who will be saved and He answered that we must strive to enter the narrow gate for many will seek to enter but will not be able to. The gate is narrow, many will seek to enter....this is talking about Christians, many will seek to enter. Seeking means they are making effort but many will not be able to enter. 

The narrow gate and the narrow way has been a forgotten theme. Many Christians who are seeking to enter the kingdom will not be able to enter. Is there anything in your life that will hinder you from entering? Don't be comfortable, seek God about it, don't get a surprise when you expect to be received only to be rejected. Seek God seriously on the matter; it's something that cannot be undone. Seek God earnestly and honestly to show you your true condition as He sees you. Many are comfortable with the reputation they have gained amongst believers but that should be cast in the garbage bin. Only God's opinion matters.

When the master of the house shuts the door, you begin knocking from outside and He says to you that He never knew you. To know means to have an intimate relationship with Jesus. 

They'll say they ate and drank in His presence and had been taught in the streets. He will answer and say 'depart from me you who do evil' and they will be castout where to where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. They will see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in God's kingdom and they themselves will be cast out. 

The question in the last day will not be what you did for God, but it will be your relationship with Jesus and your relationship with sin. Do you have an intimate relationship with Jesus that has made you hate sin and are seeking God continually for power to overcome sin in your life or are you sitting comfortably imagining just because you recited the sinners prayer you will definitely be in God's kingdom? Many people who attend church every week will not make it because of sin. 

All your righteousness and your service and sacrifices in God's house will not be mentioned when you are found in sin. Sin is a very serious matter. It can cancel out all your lifetime sacrifices in the Lord's work and all your service to God. Do you take sin seriously or do you take it lightly? Do you seek God's power to overcome it earnestly or casually? Read Ezekiel 18:24

Learn from Jesus; in the days of His flesh, He cried out with strong crying and tears to Him who was able to save Him from spiritual death. Heb 5:7 Remember that the wages of sin is death. Jesus was praying that God would give Him power to overcome sin with strong crying and tears in the 33 years that He was on earth. The days of His flesh refers to His whole lifetime from childhood unto the day of His death. Do you pray like Jesus with strong crying and tears for God to help you overcome sin? Do you know that Jesus faced all the temptations that we'll ever face and yet He never sinned? He was made like us who are His younger brothers and sisters in every way and we are told that whenever we are tempted, we can go boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace to help us overcome temptation just the same way that Jesus overcame. Mercy is for forgiveness for our past failures and grace is power to overcome in our present temptation. Read Heb 2:17, 4:15-16.

Many will come from all directions and enter. Many who seem unimportant Christians now will be the greatest then and many who seems the greatest christians now will be the least important then.

 God does not look like man looks. Many of those we think are the greatest preachers will not enter the kingdom and others will be least in the kingdom. Some who are despised in the church who are important will be the greatest then, and many of the great church leaders, of course all those who are living in sin will never enter Gods kingdom unless they repent and others will be the least in the kingdom. Many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first.

Don't boast of your position in church or as a great leader. Humble yourself otherwise you are in for a surprise in the final day.

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LUKE 13:1-17. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

 

Some people told Jesus how Pilate murdered some people and offered as sacrifices in the temple and Jesus asked them; do you think they were greater sinners than all the rest? Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

This is the message the church needs to hear today. We hear about God's judgement on others, we hear people die through accidents, earthquakes, through fires and other ways and we concerned on the outside but inside we think we are better than them. What a pity. Unless we repent, we will also perish. God will judge us. He has given us time to repent of our wickedness and sins which are hidden carefully from the eyes of others but God sees them. Repent before God's judgement reaches you.

Ecc 8:11 says Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.

The little time we are given is for us to repent not to continue indulging in sin.

A man had a fig tree which for three years he came looking for fruit but found none. He told the keeper to cut it down but the keeper asked him to give the tree another chance to put manure around it and fertilizer and if it still does not bear fruit after one year, he will have to cut it down. We had read earlier in chapter 3 that we must bear fruit that prove our repentance. Yes you claim to have repented, but what in your life proves so? Have you straightened up the crooked things in your life? Have you smoothened the rough places in your life starting with the way you use your tonger and especially when under provocation? Have humbled yourself where you were proud? Have you apologized to those you have hurt, have you returned things that are not yours?

We see that the tree had been given three years and only one year was added making it four after which it had to be cut down. To everyone God has given specific time through which they are supposed to have born fruits of repentance. God will not always wait for you. Once that time elapses, God's judgement will fall on you. God's judgement may come in form of death, or God touching what you love, or exposing you, or sicknesses, financial struggles or through many other forms. Even in the judgements, God is still calling back in repentance but it's unfortunate that the devil blinds our eyes to think there are some other reasons why those things happen because we don't judge ourselves. We have developed a very bad habit of blaming others for our misfortunes. Why don't you consider them as Gods judgement. 

If you want to destroy yourself, learn to blame others and justify yourself but if you want to make progress in your christian life, learn to judge yourself rightly and stop pointing your fingers on others.

Jesus on Sabbath healed a woman who had suffered for 18 years and the synagogue official was extremely angry and said to the crowd they should come to be healed on Sabbath. Jesus exposed his hypocrisy saying that he Also untied his oxen to drink water on Sabbath. We see how religiosity and legalism blinds people. Instead of of praising God that good deed was done, he looked trying to find what was wrong with a microscope and found that it was on Sabbath. He never saw His own sin. 

Do you try to find something wrong in the good that others do? Do you judge others instead of judging yourself? You are a disciple of the Pharisees. Resign from that and learn to look for something good to appreciate in others instead of trying to find something wrong and condemn others. Learn to judge yourself and see what is wrong with you to see areas in your life you need to improve, where you need to change, what you need to stop so that you can become a better person every moment.

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LUKE 12:49-59. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

 

Jesus came to set the earth on fire. He was also distressed because He had a baptism which had not been accomplished. He came not to bring peace but rather division and a family will be divided amongst those who are His disciples and those who are not.

Have your heart been set on fire? Do you love the Lord so much that not even a family member can hinder you from doing what pleases your Lord or are a compromiser who only wants to please everyone? Are you willing to pay any price to pay the price because you have the sacrifice of Christ on the cross or do you not even bother about the cross? How often do you think of the price Jesus paid for you, is it only during the Easter season? What do you keep meditating on the rest of the time?

Never lose the sight of the cross of Christ. Meditate constantly about all that Jesus underwent to pay the price of your sin.

Jesus asks, Can't you judge for yourself what is right? In whatever you do, learn to judge for yourself what is right.

He says before you reach to the judge, settle matters with your opponent first otherwise you will be imprisoned.

God one day will judge us righteously and before we reach at the judgment seat, learn to settle matters beforehand that needs to be settled.

Have you hurt someone, apologise? Have you taken something belonging to another? restore. Have you spoilt something belonging to another? Repair or replace. Do you have a debt? Repay. Have you taken advantage of someone because they are weak or because of your position? Apologise. Always settle things right at the first or at the earliest opportunity. Don't wait until that matter is brought to the judgment in the last day. Then you can do nothing but there is something you can do today 

This is a piece by Zac Poonen on judging for yourself what is right.

When faced with an issue concerning which we are unsure as to whether it is God's will or not, it is good for us

to ask ourselves twelve questions. As we answer these questions honestly, it will become increasingly clear to

us what the will of God is.

Is it contrary to any of the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, or to the spirit of the New Testament, as far as I

know? (2 Timothy 3:16, 17)

Is it something I can do with a clear conscience? (1 John 3:21)

Is it something I can do for the glory of God? (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Is it something I can do in fellowship with Jesus? (Colossians 3:17)

Can I ask God to bless me as I do it? (2 Corinthians 9:8)

Will my doing it blunt my spiritual edge in any way? (2 Timothy 2:15)

Will it be spiritually profitable and edifying, to the best of my knowledge? (1 Corinthians 6:12; 10:23)

Would I be happy if I were found doing it at the moment when Jesus returns to earth? (1 John 2:28)

What do wiser and more mature brothers think about it? (Proverbs 11:14; 15:22; 24:6)

Will my doing it bring dishonour to God's Name or ruin my testimony, if others know about it? (Romans 2:24; 2

Corinthians 8:21)

Will my doing it cause others to stumble, if they know about it? (Romans 14:13; 1 Corinthians 8:9).

Do I feel free in my spirit to do it? (1 John 2:27)

(Look up the Scripture references and meditate on them)

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LUKE 12:35-48. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

 

Jesus begins saying that we should always be ready to serve and our lamps should be kept burning. Leviticus 6:12-13 says that the fire on the alter shall be kept burning on the alter and it shall never go out. Fire is a picture or fervent love for Christ. Mathew 24:11- we saw Jesus saying that the love of Many Will grow cold. The lamps must be supplied with oil for them to keep on burning. The oil refers to the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 5:5 says that it is the Holy Spirit who sheds abroad love in our hearts. It's a good question to ask ourselves, right now as you read this, do you love the Lord more than you loved Him when you first got converted? Is your love for the Lord increasing or decreasing? Are there things in your life which you gave up because you wanted to please Christ and right now you have gone back to them like a dog returns to its vomit? Wake up and go back to your first love and do the things you did at first. Seek the anointing of the Holy Spirit that you may be set ablaze with love for the Lord once again. You must always be ready to serve wherever the Lord calls you whether convenient or not, but that is not possible unless your heart has first of all been set ablaze with the love of the Lord.

We must be like men who are waiting for the master so that we can immediately open the door for Him when he comes? If the Lord comes today, will He find you ready eagerly waiting for Him or will you wish that he should wait a little longer because there are things in your life you are ashamed of and you have not set them right? Will He find you with bitterness or unforgiveness or unsettled matters in your life which you took rightly? 

Ask yourself, if you knew that Jesus was coming in five days or you will die in five days, what in your life would change knowing that you will have to give an account of everything in your life? You'll of course restore everything that's not yours, ask for forgiveness from those you have hurt, forgive those who have hurt you, make the necessary restitution, all confess and forsake all you secret sins.....why do you not do so, because you don't fear God. The fear of death will make you do things in your life which the fear of God has not produced in you all these years because there is very little fear of God amongst the believers today.

Fear Gods judgement because it is serious and righteous and you cannot bribe God.

When you are always ready waiting for the Lord, when He comes, He will make you sit down and He himself will serve you. What a privilege to be served by the Lord Himself. Desire that and always be ready. We don't know the time otherwise we can prepare ourselves before, we must always be ready for we know not the time.

Jesus said the faithful and sensible and wise servant servant is the one who will be found doing the task that he was assigned at the proper time? 

Do you know your assignment? God made you with a purpose. The wisest thing you can do in this life is to accomplish God's specific assignment for your life? Be sensible and wise. You don't have much time to indulge in many things. Concentrate on what God has assigned for you and do it faithfully and do it at the proper time. If you get sidetracked by something else you will miss the timing and seasons God has for you to accomplish His will. If you think you have a lot of time and that the Lord tarry and get sidetracked to finding faults with other children of God and criticizing them and seeing what is wrong with other brothers and sisters and judging them, you will miss God's will and you will be punished for not fulfilling it; but if you are ignorant, your punishment will be less because to whomever much is given, much is expected. 

If you know Gods will and don't do it, Jesus will come unannounced and will cut you in pieces and be throne away to hell together with the unbelievers

Do you know Gods assignment for your life? Are you concentrating in doing it faithfully at timely or do you assume you have much time?

Be wise and faithfully do Gods assignment for your life.

You are blessed to be a blessing

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LUKE 12:22-34. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

Jesus after telling His disciples to be rich towards God and that reminding them that life is not measured by how much material wealth one has, He told them not to worry about what to eat and what to wear for life is more than food and body more than clothing. God feeds the birds which never sow nor reap and the disciples are of more value to God than the birds. 

Can you add a single moment in your life by worrying? If you can't do such a small thing, why worry about the other. 

God beautifies the flowers of the field more than even Solomon in all his glory. God clothes the grass in the field which today is green and tomorrow is thrown in the fire. How much more will He clothe you of little faith?

And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs.

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.

Don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.

What's is the kingdom which we are to seek first of all?

The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Rom 14:17

The birds wake up and praise God and go out in the field picking grains. They are not inactive; but in their labours, God provides for them. 

In our daily activities, seeking God's kingdom first may mean that our primary occupation of our thoughts are on partaking more of the righteousness, and peace and joy found in the Holy Spirit and serving God in the attitude even in our place of work. Rom 14:18.

As this becomes our attitude, God will give us everything that we need. It gives God pleasure to give us His righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Do you have it? Are you continuing seeking to experience the Righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit? Is your mind worrying about so many things? God will take care of you if you seek with all your heart His righteousness, peace and joy found in the Holy Spirit.

Open your hands to those things that you hold so tightly and share with others. You will keep your riches in heaven and money bags which don't grow old and no thief can steal or moth destroy; YOUR HEART IS ALWAYS WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS.

What is the thing you value so much in your life? The thing that you are always thinking about which you are not willing to lose for anything? That is your possession. You are obsessed with it. Sell it and give to the poor and your treasure now will changed location from earth to heaven.

Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning

You are a blessed to be a blessing

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LUKE 12:1-21. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

Jesus warned His disciples to first of all beware of hypocrisy. 

Are you a disciple of Jesus? The very first thing you need to be warned of hypocrisy. It is the thing that Jesus condemned most in His earthly ministry. Pretending to be righteous before men but your private life is a different thing. You appear to have godliness outside but inside you are rotten. Beware

What you do secretly will be manifested before everyone and whatever you say in secret will be heard by everyone. God will expose everything you have been trying to hide from others and you cannot hinder God when His time comes to expose you.

Do not be afraid of people whose lives is in their nostrils and what they will say even if they scheme to kill you; but fear God who can kill you and cast in you hell. Fear Him. Don't be a hypocrite. Live before His eyes and seek Him to help you overcome what is generally called private sins. But they are not private because God is watching you, the angels are watching you and weeping, the demons are watching you and laughing at you and love it when you pretend before God's people because they know what you have been doing in your private life and are just waiting for you to die and they drag you to hell finally. Wake up and relent before it's too late.

God is concerned about the sparrows. He has very much concern about our lives that He has counted the numbers of each hair on our heads. We are of greater value than many sparrows and He cares intensely for our lives.

If you are not ashamed to confess Him before men, He will not be ashamed to confess you before His Father and the holy angels and vice versa.

If you sin against the Son of man, you will be forgiven, but whoever curses the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. This is the unpardonable sin. When you commit it, you will no more have a desire to repent and give up your sins. You can sin with a clear conscience and no conviction of sin. Very few people have reached this road of no return. But you have not reached it yet if you still have a desire to repent.

When you are persecuted and taken to courts, don't worry what you will say to defend yourself for the Holy Spirit will teach you what you will say in that hour.

Someone said to Jesus to tell his brother to subdivide the inheritance with him. Jesus asked who made him a judge on such matters.

He said, be WARNED ABOUT COVETOUSNESS and every form of greed, because LIFE IS NOT MEASURED BY HOW MUCH PROPERTY YOU OWN. 

He gave a parable to demonstrate his point saying a rich man have abundant harvest and decided to build great barns to store the harvest which he planned to eat and drink and enjoy himself for many days. The very night he was thinking of that was his last night to live. Who got everything He earned and saved? 

It's always good to keep in mind that we will live everything behind and others will use or misuse them.

This is what happens to those who lay earthly treasures but are not rich towards God.

Are you rich towards God? Do you use what God gives you to serve God and His children? 

Your riches towards God is the only thing you will be left with after you die.  

Be rich towards God.

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LUKE 11:42-54. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

We should cleanse ourselves from greed by becoming generous to the poor and we'll become clean everywhere.

The Pharisees were very careful to give tithes of the smallest things that grow in their gardens but neglected the justice and the love of God. They majored on minors and ignored the most important thing. 

Have you forgotten about the judgment of God in His justice and the love of God.

Have you neglected Gods justice that you will reap what you sow? 

You cannot sin and think that giving to God's work will atone for that.

 Ps 51:16

You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

 Isaiah 1:11, 13,15-16

“What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?” says the Lord. “I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle. I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

“Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me... I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.

“So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.

Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways.

If we continue in sin, all our giving is worthless and unacceptable to God. 

But when we are repentant and broken, God will accept.

 Ps 51:19

Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, In burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.

God is a God of justice and you will reap what you sow. His love gave us His Son to die for our sins and it's an insult to the blood of Christ to think that our sacrifices and our giving will be a covering for our sin. Only the blood of Christ can cleanse us from sin.

The Pharisees loved to sit in the places of honour and to be greeted respectfully. They are like Hidden tombs which people walk on without knowing.

Are you like that? Do you want to be respected as a godly person when the inside of you is corrupt and rotten? Do you seek for honour from men? Seek the honour that comes from above. John 5:44

The lawyers laid heavy burdens on people and couldn't move them even with a finger. Do you tell people to do things you never do? Do you tell people to live in a standard which you never live? Do you judge people for not doing things in a certain way when you don't show them and example by your life?

They honoured the prophets their fathers killed by building them sepulchres agreeing with their fathers but for their evil deeds God will judge them.

They took the key of knowledge and hindered others from entering and they themselves didn't enter. They discourage others from seeking to know more of God telling them it's impossible and they already have what God wants them to have. They themselves don't experience the fullness of God, and they hinder others from seeking to experience everything God has for them. Have you been discouraged from seeking to know more and more of God? Are you contented with the level which you have acquired? Don't allow that hunger and thirst to be quenched but continue pressing on. There is still more of God's riches in Christ which you are yet to experience. What remains untouched is much more than what you have experienced so far. Don't settle for less than all that God has for you.

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LUKE 11:33-41. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

 

No one lights a lamp and puts it under the table but puts it on a stand that everyone may see it's light.

The eye, which is the conscience, is the light of the body and when it's clear, your whole life is full of light, but when your conscience is bad, your whole body is full of darkness. Watch out and be careful that the light in you is not darkness.

Here we learn how important it is to always keep our conscience clear. When your conscience is clear, your whole life will be in light, but if you have a bad conscience, your whole life is in darkness. The voice. A prick in your conscience is more serious that the railing accusations against you of a thousand people.

When your conscience tells you what you are doing is wrong, do you silence that voice and assume everything is ok and continue going against your conscience or do you avoid doing what your conscience tells you to do? When your conscience convicts you of something wrong you've done, do you set it right or do you ignore it and justify yourself?

Be watchful that the light in you does not become darkness. 

When you keep on silencing the voice of your conscience, you will get deeper and deeper in sin. The sins you could not have committed sometimes back, you'll find yourself doing it without seeing any problem. You can commit sexual immorality and still go on justifying yourself and still think that God is pleased with you; no He is not. He is angry with the wicked everyday. Ps 7:11. Never think that going to church or doing anything for God will make up for your sins which you commit, even a whole lifetime of service to God will never atone for one sin. You have to confess and forsake.

The wicked together with those who forget God and start living in sin will be turned into hell. Ps 9:17.

It all begins with ignoring the warnings of your conscience. If you don't want to backslide and go deeper in sin, learn to keep your conscience clear and never ignore when it pricks you of something wrong you have. Always humble yourself. If there is something you need to restore or someone you need to ask forgiveness from; that should be the very first priority. Always do it in the first opportunity. It's serious. 

Paul warns Timothy to keep his conscience clear because some ignored the warnings of their conscience and fall away from the faith and began teaching things contrary to the scripture. 1Tim 1:19.

Paul also says that because he believed there will be a judgement and resurrection of the righteous and the wicked, since he wanted to be among the righteous and not be condemned by God's judgement, he always did his best to keep his conscience clear, lived a life of repentance whenever found something wrong with him as he constantly judged himself rightly so as not to be judged by God. Acts 24:16, 17:30-31, 1Cor 11:31.

Paul also tells us to follow him. Learn to always keep your conscience clear, and never ignore it's warnings or it's promptings.

God will give you more light on yourself every moment and we will be becoming more and more like Christ in our conduct, in our speech, in love, in purity, in faith...

Are you becoming a better person or are you just the way you are an year ago? Have you been seeing things that you need to repent of or change or areas you need to improve and are trying to improve in your spiritual life? If not, you are going the wrong direction.... turn from it into Christ.

Stop justifying yourself and start judging yourself.

A Pharisee invited Jesus to have lunch at his house and Jesus went. Jesus never said that He won't go because the Pharisees were planning to kill him. He knew not everyone and He didn't have any prejudice against them. He was free from all prejudices. Have you gotten rid of your prejudices against a group or community of people saying that they always act in a certain way and whenever you meet and from the group, you've already made up your mind that he is like that or she acts like that even when its your very first time to meet the person. 

When you lose something, you are always suspecting someone because you have a prejudice against them. Many times you have found that you had misplaced what you thought had been stolen and seen that you condemned the innocent in your heart. Learn to instead of putting a wrong reason and motive about why someone does something, put a good reason and good motive and you'll be freed from unrest in your heart.

The Pharisee was surprised seeing that Jesus did not wash His hands before dinner and he got disturbed. 

Jesus told him that they washed the outside of the plates and cups but inside them was full of greed and wickedness.

They were to clean the inside first so that the outside will be clean also.

Do you get disturbed by little things that have no eternal value and don't get disturbed by things that have eternal value? For example, are always very careful that you wash your hands before meals but you don't get disturbed by a sin in your heart? You are a Pharisee indeed. Are you always very careful that you wear clothes that match but you are not concerned about the mismatch of your private life and public life? You are not disturbed that the impression you give to people is different from the real you inside, but you are disturbed when you wear clothes that don't match; you are a true child of the Pharisees. Change your priorities. Be disturbed by things that have eternal value first of all before getting disturbed by temporal things.

Have your priorities in order.

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You

LUKE 11:24-32. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

 

Jesus said that if anyone unclean spirit is cast out, it wonders in dry places seeking rest, when it finds none, it says it will go back to it's original house and finding it cleansed and put in order, it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than it and they come and occupy the house and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

We cannot afford to be empty. When for example you cleanse yourself from murmuring and complaining, if you don't fill that empty with Thanksgiving, you will become a worse complainer than the beginning. If you cleanse yourself from judging others and finding faults with them, if you don't fill that space with encouraging others and finding something to appreciate in them, you will be worse. Instead of judging others, you learn to judge yourself rightly.

If you cleanse yourself from watching filthy movies and don't replace that with watching something godly, you'll be worse. 

If you cleanse yourself from reading romantic novels and don't replace that with reading something godly, you will be worse. Whatever you stop doing, you must replace it with something good.

A woman in the crowd said that the womb that bore him and the breast that nursed him were blessed but Jesus replied, that those who hear the word of Jesus and obey it are more blessed than the womb and breaats of Mary the mother of Jesus. Yes if you hear and obey God's word, you are greatly blessed.

An evil and an adulterous generation seeks for a miraculous sign. This is the generation that we are living in. We are obsessed with signs, miracles and wonders but Jesus said that the sign He gave us was His death and resurrection. Unfortunately this is rarely heard except perhaps during Easter, but the rest of the times we are occupied with miracles and wonders. Isn't interesting how the devil has sidetracked the church from seeking the things that are eternal to things that are temporal? May God have mercy upon us and open our eyes to see things from His point of view.

The queen of south paid a price to listen to Moses but they had one greater than Moses and didn't listen to Him yet they had no price to pay. Nineveh listened to Jonah but someone greater than Jonah preached to them and didn't listen: this their judgement will be stricter for to whoever much is given, much is expected.

Did you know that people for a long time men couldn't acquire a bible to read at home but you can have it now freely yet you don't read. What will you answer at the last day....

Always remember that everything you do one day you will give an account of it in the day of judgment. Learn to judge yourself today and ask God to give you light so that you can set right the things that need to be set right otherwise you may get a surprise at the last day expecting to receive a grand reception in heaven and only to be rejected and there is nothing you can change then. Change the things you can now when you have time.

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LUKE 11:5-23. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

 

Jesus teaching more of prayer gave a parable of a man who went to his friend at midnight asking for bread because he got a visitor. The friend had already slept and asked not to be disturbed but because this man kept in asking and knocking, he rose up and gave him as much as he needs.

He that this is the way we should ask, and seek and knock and we shall receive, find and the door will be opened for us.

He said an earthly father cannot cannot give a stone to a son when asked for a break or a scorpion instead of an egg. The best of earthly fathers are evil compared to God, and they know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit when we pray in such a manner?

This man was concerned about friend who had not eaten and was willing to be inconvenienced. He had no help but knew where he could get it. He could have easily said let's wait until morning but he didn't and went to awoke his friend who had already slept but had the bread that he needed to give to His friend.

Do you have a burden like that when you see others around you? Are you willing to be inconvenienced for their sake or do you just sit there wishing you could help them or do you rise up to pray and seek God and keep on asking, keep on seeking and keep on knocking until you receive answers to prayer? Do you pray just once or twice and just say whatever will be will be and Gods will be done I have nothing more I can do? Awake and continue asking and seeking and knocking until you receive answers to prayer. 

God will test you that is why He delays answering you but if you are persistent, you will receive everything you need to make you a blessing to others. God will fill you with more of the Holy Spirit and give you more gifts so that you can be a blessing to others. Don't be satisfied with the old anointing. You need fresh anointing and more gifts to make you be a blessing to others not just a few. Don't be satisfied if God has not made you a blessing to others.

The crowds were amazed a mute man speak when healed by Jesus. Some said He casts out demons by Beelzebub. Others asked Him a sign. 

Jesus did not do anything to prove any point or try to convince people that He was the Son of God and He had power and authority from God. Let's follow Him here; don't try to do anything to convince people that you are doing God's will. People will always find fault with you no matter what you do. Leave them alone and live before God's face.

Jesus said that any kingdom or house divided against itself is brought to ruin. This is the reason the devil whenever he sees fellowship between brothers, or in churches and at home; the first thing he works to achieve is to break that fellowship and bring division and he has succeeded in many parts. But Jesus says that if a stronger person than he comes, he plunders his goods. Jesus is stronger than satan and can keep us when we are united to Him. We must be gathering together with Him otherwise we are scattering even if we do nothing. If we are not actively participating in the Lord's work, we are scattering. Being lukewarm is a hindrance to others who want to be serious in the things of God and thus we have to be active in the Lord's work.

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LUKE 10:38-11:4. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

Jesus was welcomed by Martha together with His disciples and being hospitable she begun preparing meals for the 13 hungry men that were her special guests. They had not given a notice that they were coming otherwise she could have prepared earlier but this was a surprise visit. 

It is a tideous work to cook for 13 men and seeing that her sister Mary didn't come to the kitchen, she was irritated and reported it to Jesus. Instead of being appreciated by Jesus for her sacrifice and hardwork; she got a shock of her life by getting rebuked instead. 

What she did was something good but her priorities were wrong. Mary had the right priorities. Listening to Jesus must be more important to Jesus than serving Him.

Are you distracted by the work of the Lord from the Lord of the work? What do you value most, serving God or listening to His voice? 

Learn to listen to God first and only do what He tells you to do. Your fruitfulness will be determined by your eagerness to listen to God's voice and obey it. All your life if you serve God without listening to Him first you'll discover at the last day that all that work will be burnt up and you'll be left with nothing. 

Learn to set your priorities in order.

In you schedule there are things that are *important and urgent* for example taking a sick child to hospital, others are *important but not urgent* for example ironing the clothes you'll wear tomorrow, others are *not important but urgent,* for example a matatu which is going the direction you are planning to go tomorrow, others are *not urgent and not important* for example drawing a picture of yourself if you are not interested and skilled in drawing without any purpose. Learn to categorise your activities in the order of their priorities.

After finishing Praying, one disciple asked Him to teach them praying just like John taught His disciples.

After observing the life of Jesus , this disciple concluded that the secret of Jesus was His prayer life. He realised that in the life of Jesus, the top priority was prayer. What about you, if someone spies on you secretly for six months, what conclusion will they make about you? What will they see as the most important thing about you? Learn from Jesus and follow Him. Let prayer be more important to you than ministry. In other words let your private walk with God become more important to you that your outward or public ministry. Living a godly life is more important than exercising spiritual gifts. Seeking God's approval is more important than men's approval. Speaking and listening to God is more important than speaking and listening to men.

Jesus taught us commonly known as the Lord's prayer.

Our Father who art in heaven. God who controls all things and all people and all circumstances from heaven is my Father. He loves me and cares for me, thus I need not to be afraid of ANYTHING.

Hallowed be your name. May His name be regarded as holy. Our Father is a holy God, this is a forgotten concept. He hates sin. We must treat His name as holy not as our equal. 

Your kingdom come. His rule in Righteousness and justice to come.

Your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. How is Gods will done in heaven? In reverence and Godly fear, and immediately and exactly as commanded. The angels do not run here and there trying to do God's will but they wait to hear what they are to do and do it. 

Are you always eager to hear God's voice and will and do it immediately as the Lord leads you or are yoy busy like Martha trying to do something for the Lord?

You can start now and be like Mary to sit at the feet of Jesus listening to His voice.

Give us each day our daily bread. We need material blessing to help us do God's will every single day. We need food, shelter and clothing, we need health, wisdom, counsel, knowledge.....this we must pray for so that everyday of our lives we'll be able to carry out God's will.

Forgive us our sins in exactly the same way we forgive others. 

How have you forgiven those who have wronged you? Do you say, I forgive you but I will never talk to you or forget what you have done? Or do you say I will never forgive you for what you have done? Then you are signing your own death sentence saying the Lord's prayer. You are telling God to not forgive you when you have not forgiven, and you tell him not to talk to you when you say you'll never speak to those who speak, and you tell God to keep on remembering what you did against Him when you keep on dwelling on what was done against you. You tell God to deal hardly with you when you deal hardly with those who wronged you.

Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil. There are many Temptations the devil places along our path, but we need to pray daily that the Lord will not lead us where they are placed that we may not fall in evil schemes of our archenemy the devil so that we can do Gods will for our lives.

You are blessed to be a blessing

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LUKE 10:21-37. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

 

Jesus thanked God because He had hidden those revelations from the wise and prudent and revealed them to the babes, because it was well pleasing to Him.

Humility and honesty and sincerity is what the babes have which the wise and prudent don't have. We see that it is pride in our wisdom, our riches, our power, our knowledge, it can also be bible knowledge,... this is what blinds us from receiving Gods revelation. It is pride that makes us despise those who have not achieved what we have and think that we are better than them failing to acknowledge that what we have, God has given us.

Everything has been handed over to Jesus and He has been faithful. Have you handed over everything in your life to Jesus or are afraid that they'll not be safe? Why then have you not given everything to Jesus?

No one knows the Father except the Son, and know one knows the Son except the Father and to whoever the Son chooses.

Have you known God as your Father? If yes, your life will be free from all fear and anxiety. Knowledge of God in our heads will not help us. We must know it in our hearts. We have a Father in heaven who loves us in exactly the same measure that He loves Jesus Christ. John 17:23. This, He is willing to do unto us everything that He did for Jesus if we fulfill the same conditions that Jesus met. We can say that God is very eager and willing to give us everything that we ever needs to do everything that He wants us to do to fulfill His will in our lives in our generation. He will give us all the health, and protection, and guidance, and wisdom, and resources, and knowledge, and encouragement, and rebukes, and correction, and teaching, and testings and everything that we need to do all of His will for our lives. 

Only Jesus can reveal the Father in your heart, but you must hand over everything of you and everything you have to Him.

Blessed are the eyes that see the things that you see and ears that hear the things that you hear. Many prophets had kings longed for it but that privilege wasn't given to them. It has been given unto you. What have you done with it?

A lawyer as tempted Him asking what he must do to inherit eternal life.

He asked what was written and how he read it. 

Even now, what is written in your bible? How do you read it? Do you read it with an idea of what it should say and when you see something in it you try to bend it to fit your own preconceived ideas or do you read it with an open mind as Gods word taking its instructions and correction and teaching as they are? What do you do when you find something in God's word that your flesh don't want or something that is exactly the opposite of what you've believed for a long time?

He answered loving God wholeheartedly and your neighbour as yourself. Jesus told Him to do that and live but he willing to justify yourself asked who his neighbour was.....

Willing to justify yourself you can do or say many things but none will convince God. When you have to justify yourself in anything, know that you are wrong. Learn to live before God's face and always let your face be put in the dust, i.e. only care more for God say or think about what you are doing or saying and care less for what men think about what you are doing or saying. Live humbly with your God and learn to acknowledge that whatever you have, God has given you.

Jesus gave the parable of the good Samaritan who helped one who had been left half dead who a priest and a Levite didn't help.

The priests and Levites represent the pastors and serious church members who in their zeal to serve God became inconsiderate to those around them who are in need.

Are you sensitive to the needs of others around you even as you walk. There are many hopeless cases which could have been healed and many suicides which could not have taken place if we are sensitive to the needs of those around us.

There was once a man who was hopeless and thought everything and everyone was against him and that no one cared about him.

He decided to walk in a distance of about 10km where he met a lot of people. He was going to kill himself at the end of the journey. He was not going to come back, but only one thing could have made him to come back and not commit suicide, i.. t he found at least one person amongst the hundreds along the way who smiled at him. In all that journey among the hundreds of people he met, no one smiled at him and of course he committed suicide at the end.

 He wrote in a note which was found later in his house.

The world is full of people who are obsessed with only their needs and don't care about others. 

Just a smile could have saved a life but no one offered it? How much does it cost you to smile at someone?

There are many people around you who are very discouraged and only need an encouraging word from you but you will not notice it if you are only obsessed with your own needs. 

Learn to encourage and appreciate others around you and their efforts. There are many who have specialized in finding faults and criticizing everything they try to do. If you are among them, drop out of that school and join that which is for encouraging and appreciating others.

Be sensitive to the needs of others around you.

You are blessed to be a blessing

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LUKE 10:1-20. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

 Jesus sent 70 disciples to go and preach. He said the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few and therefore we should pray to the Lord of the harvest that He may send forth labourers to harvest. 

The need is not the call to go but the call to pray.

He sent them as lambs among wolves. Wolves are always stronger than lambs and can devour them anytime. We see thus that the disciples are weak and must rely wholly on the Lord for protection and preservation. 

Are you overconfident that you overcome without the Lord's help? You'll be a total failure. You are as weak as a lamb in the midst of wolves and only if the Lord goes with you will you be able to stand and overcome everything. Rely on the Lord for your preservation.

They were not to carry anything or greet anyone. Wherever they were invited they were to say peace be in this house. They were to remain where they were welcomed. They were to heal the sick and preach the kingdom of God. Wherever they were not invited they were to wipe of the dust of their feet. It will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that city. 

It is a serious thing when we reject God's genuine servants, but these days there are so many deceivers more than genuine prophets of God. How do you know the false prophets from the true prophets? Study the messages of the old testament prophets, and seek God in prayer for a witness in your heart.

The reason the miracles were performed were to lead people to repentance to to make a name to the miracle workers. The messages of true prophets always lead you back to God in repentance from sin in in faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Listening to the true servants is listening to God because they are leading you to God and rejecting them is rejecting God because it was God who was calling you through them.

When they returned they had great joy and said that even the demons were subject to them in their name. 

He told them not to rejoice in what they had done for God but to rejoice only in what God had done for them.

Do you rejoice in what you do for God? The agenda for our rejoicing should be what God has done for us.

Jesus saw satan fall from heaven as lightning . He gave the disciples power to trample over snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means harm us. Hallelujah.

Are you a disciple of Jesus? If yes, you have power over ALL THE POWER OF THE DEVIL. By that authority you can stop the operations of the devil against you. Is the devil surpressing you in any area in your life? First of all before using your authority check whether you have submitted to God in every area of your life, then you resist him and will flee from you. 

You can make declarations and against the works of the devil in your life and that will be the end of it, but remember it's only for disciples, those who have given their whole lives unreservedly to Christ. If you are living in sin or having hidden sin in your heart and you try to resist the devil, your words will be powerless and the devil will laugh at you and continue harassing you.

Nothing shall by any means harm a true Christian. Whatever the devil tries to do to harm them, God causes it to work for their good, to become more like Christ. There are no wasted experiences in the lives of the true disciples. Both good and evil experiences leave them better Christians because God is still in control and will never allow an experience without a purpose. Even the disciplining itself is to make us partake of His holiness. Heb 12:6-14

You are blessed to be a blessing

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LUKE 9:38-62. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

 

A man sought Jesus to heal his son who was demon possessed who the disciples were unable to heal. He rebuked them for their unbelief and healed the boy. People were amazed at the mighty power of God.

We see that there is no single problem which Jesus scratched His head wondering what to do. He had a solution for every problem. The good news is that He is still the same, He has not changed. Whatever your problem is, Jesus has a solution to it. Take it to Him in faith and where there is darkness you will see light.

Jesus told His disciples that He'll be delivered to the hands of men. They did not understand this statement but they did not understand for it was concealed from them and they were afraid to ask.

 We learn here that unless God opens our eyes to His word, we read our bibles and listen to sermons and still get nothing out of it. It is God who opens our eyes and heart to understand His word.

It's always good to ask God to open our eyes to understand His word as we read or listen to it lest we remain blind with our bibles open.

The disciples began arguing who was the greatest and Jesus took a child by His side and said whoever receives the child receives Him and the greatest among them is the least. The main thing about a child is humility and sincerity. The humbler we are the greater we are in Gods eyes.

John said they had forbidden a man who casted out demons in Jesus name because he didn't follow Him and Jesus answered that He should not be hindered.

We can learn hear not to despise other disciples in other churches because they do some things differently from us. We need to learn to appreciate others who are serving God in different churches and ministries rather than judging and criticizing them.

Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem and the Samaritans didn't receive Him because He was going to Jerusalem. We see here that Jesus was never received everywhere and He never got offended, He had learnt to be content in every situation. His disciples asked whether they should call fire to consume them but He rebuked them saying that they never knew the kind of spirit they were. Jesus never came to destroy men's lives but to save them 

What about you. Do easily get offended because you were never treated as would have expected or given what you thought you deserved because of how important you think you are? Are you better than Jesus? He never got offended. Learn from Him and follow Him. Learn to bless even those who don't receive you and not wish them evil.

Even those who don't receive you and curse you, Jesus died for them.

They went to another village. Someone said that He will follow wherever He goes and Jesus said that foxes have holes and birds of air have nest ms but the son of man has nowhere to lay His head.

Have you decided to follow Jesus? Do follow Him only when it's convenient? What about when there is shame, will you still follow Him? When you get criticized and maligned and accused falsely, will you still follow? When things don't go your way, will you still follow?

Another asked to follow but be allowed to go first and bury his father and Jesus said the dead should bury tbeir dead. 

Jesus will not accept a second position in your life. He has to be first in everything. Family and others should not be a hindrance in following Jesus wherever He goes. Have you made up your mind that Jesus will have the first position in everything in your life and no family member or anything will come between you and Christ? 

He said that when you have made up your mind to follow Him, there is no turning back. Have you counted the cost. 

Are you willing to pay.

The song goes...

I have decided to follow Jesus*2. No turning back*2

The world behind me the cross before me*2 no turning back*2

Though none go with me, I still will follow*2 no turning back*2

Though I may wonder I still will follow*2 no turning back*2

You are blessed to be a blessing

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LUKE 9:27-37. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

Jesus said that some would not die before seeing the kingdom of God. Rom 14:17 says that the kingdom of God is righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of came in the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given that now He may live inside us and transform us from the inside out to be righteous, to rejoice always and to be at peace at all times.

He took John, Peter and James and went to pray and as He was praying He got transfigured and Moses and Elijah appeared and talked with Him.

God is able to transform us and change our lives and our hearts if we diligently seek Him. You don't have to be a slave of anything, any bad character, bitterness, anger, fear, ..... seek God to free you and He will set you free.

Moses and Elijah appeared talking to Him about what He must suffer to bring redemption. Thus, it is also in the place of prayer that God shows us His plan for our lives.

Are you in darkness concerning anything in your life? Seek God in prayer and He'll give you light. He'll tell you what to do, He'll guide you in His paths.

The disciples had been overcome with sleep and when they awoke and saw the glory, Peter said that they should build 3 tabanacles, one for Jesus, Moses and Elijah and immediately a crowd overshadowed them.

Moses and Elijah were God's faithful servant but Peter placing in the same level with Jesus was wrong. A crowd came. Even today, no matter how God uses any servant of His to bless you, if you adore Him and give all your attention to Him placing Him in the same level with Jesus, a crowd will always come in your heart and your spiritual growth will be stunted. It's good to honour God's faithful servants

Listen to the messengers, but do not hold

men’s persons in admiration or adulation

For many who shall anoint mightily with

signs and miracles shall become lifted up and shall fall by the wayside. If a servant backslides and your eyes were on Him, you'll also backslide with them but instead keep your eyes fixed wholly on your Lord. Our admiration should be on Jesus. Let our eyes see Jesus only.

Many are like bright lights and

the people delight in them and their ministries many shall fall because they become proud and think that they are very important people. They take credit for what God does through them and now God who was supporting them in the beginning begins to oppose them and they lose the grace of God and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. They once blessed the people of God but now they are misleading them. There are so many examples of such around us and that is why we need to carefully and diligently seek God seek to know God by yourself.

God makes provision so that we might stand if we humble ourselves and learn to acknowledge that what we have or what God through us it is Him alone who does it. We must learn to never take credit for anything that God does for us or through us and we must never think that we are such important people. God who once accepted us can reject us like Saul and choose another and His work will continue wonderfully without us. Let us therefore serve God humbly with reverence and Godly fear for our God is a consuming fire. Heb 12:29

A voice came from Heaven and said, this is my beloved Son, Listen to Him. It the same thing God is telling us today. Learn to listen to Jesus, look unto Him and see His beauty and glory and admire Him. Follow Him and don't allow yourself to be distracted.

They were left alone and they ent down the mountain the following day and they met the crowd. Our mountain top experiences are to make us a blessing to people down the mountain. 

You are blessed to be a blessing

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LUKE 9:18-26. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

 Jesus is pictured as a person of prayer and Luke shows us that is one of His secrets of why He fulfilled His assignment on earth. We also have an assignment which God wants us to fulfill. This will not be accomplished through us unless we become persons of prayer just like Jesus was. If Jesus prayed and yet He was a million times better than you and I, what other challenge to prayer do we need? Let's prayer become part and parcels of our lives.

He asked His disciples who people said he was and they guessed a prophet or Elijah but when He asked about their opinion, Peter answered that He was Christ the son of the living God.

Jesus immediately warned them to tell that to anyone. He told them what He must suffer and killed by the high priests and the elders and the scribes. It was the people who went to church and read their bibles and preached about the coming of the Messiah that killed Jesus who was the Messiah. This shows that going to church and reading the bible and even being a leader in any position in church does not mean that your spiritual eyes will be open.

You can be a preacher preaching to many yet you are blind, deaf and naked.

It is only God who can open our eyes but we must first acknowledge our blindness and our impotence in producing anything of eternal value in our lives.

If anyone wishes to follow Jesus, wherever they are at any given time, you must deny yourself, carry your cross daily and follow Him. For if you desire to save your life you'll lose it but if you lose your life for Jesus sake, you'll save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?

We see here that it is impossible to follow Jesus if you live the way you think your flesh tells you to. The cross has two bars, a horizontal and a vertical one. The vertical one is always longer than the horizontal one. The horizontal symbolizes my will, my desires, my wisdom, my, my, my,....the vertical bar symbolizes Gods will, God's ways, God's desires, Everything that is of God. When these two cross each other, i.e. God's will and my will, I take up my cross by denying my will to do the will of God. This I have to do it Everyday. This means that in all the decisions I make daily, in many parts, my will and my ways will cross Gods will and ways and I have to decide in everything that I choose to always deny my will and do God's will. This shows that today I can please God and tomorrow I can thoroughly displease Him. We cannot rely on our past obedience to God's will, we can backslide after a day after doing God's will for many years. Be watchful and sober. You are yet to arrive. Continue denying your self will and do God's will everyday.

The many things you can gain by not doing God's will but you'll lose your soul. What will it profit you. They are temporary fleeting pleasures of life but doing God's will has eternal value. You have a choice everyday whether to do God's will or go your own way.

For whoever is ashamed of Me and my words, the son of man will be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father and of angels. 

Are you ashamed of Jesus? Are you ashamed that you don't want to be known as a Christian by some people? Are you ashamed of His words? Are you ashamed to be true to Him who publicly died for you, humiliated without clothes before everyone, beaten beyond recognition? Are you ashamed of the one who gave His life for you? Are you ashamed of His words and try to modify them to suit your tastes or make them say what you feel they meant? If Jesus did not mean what He said, why then did He not say what He meant? You are ashamed of shame that comes for being a disciple if Jesus, whose approval are you seeking or who are you trying to please? Whose opinion do you consider, man or God's?

You are blessed to be a blessing

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LUKE 9:1-17. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

 

Jesus gave authority to His disciples to go and preach the kingdom of God and heal sick and cast out demons. He told them not to carry anything but wherever they were received to stay there. Wherever they were not received they were to shake dust off their feet as a testimony against them.

We see here that Jesus sent disciples who had stayed with Him and learnt from Him and saw his standard of life, His priorities, the way He handled different matters. He had been with them and taught them before He sent them. The Lord even today longs to be with us and that we may learn from Him before He can use us.

Herod heard all that happened and got perplexed thinking that John or one of the prophets had risen from the dead.

He had beheaded John and kept wanting to see this man who performed miracles.

When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done. Then he slipped quietly away with them toward the town of Bethsaida.

The crowd knew this and followed Him and He taught them about the kingdom of God.

The disciples asked Jesus to send the crowds away to but food themselves but Jesus told them that they were to feed them. The only had five loaves and two fish.

People sat in groups of fifty and Jesus took the breaded, looked to heaven broke it and gave the disciples to give to the groups.

We see here that the crowds were not fed by one disciple but all of them. They had first given to Jesus everything they had and Jesus received and blessed and broke it and only then could it be used to feed the people. 

In the same way today, it is not one ministry that will bless the crowds but it will take all the disciples. But they must first surrender everything they have to Christ and Christ to receive it and bless it by the and then break it.

We surrender everything to Christ, He takes us and blessed us by anointing if the Holy Spirit but that is not enough; we must be broken if we are to be used to feed the crowds. Our self-will and self confidence and pride must be broken so that we will not boast of anything God does through us and we'll not have confidence in the flesh; that is; we'll know left to ourselves we can accomplish nothing of eternal value. We'll not move unless God is with us 

Unfortunately it is the last stage of brokenness that God is unable to accomplish in us though He has succeeded in some by complete surrender and anointing with the Holy Spirit.

The difficult situations God allows to come in our lives are to break us and humble us but unfortunately we do not let patience complete it's work in us when we go through trials and thus God is not able to make is complete and perfect and lacking in nothing. See James 1:2-4

Will you ask God to help you that He will accomplish in you the perfect work He desires through the trials you face to make you perfect and complete that you will lack nothing? 

Many trials have been wasted in your life because you murmured and complained not realising that it was God who was breaking you that He may make you a blessing to many. So far God has not been able to accomplish much in you and through you but it does not have to continue that way. Allow patience to complete it's work in you and God will use you to bless many people and they will eat and be satisfied.

You are blessed to be a blessing

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LUKE 8:40-56. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

Many welcomed Jesus as they were eagerly waiting for Him. Jairus daughter had died and he requested Jesus to come to his house. As He was going, a woman who had haemorrhage touched Him and when He inquired who had touched Him, Peter told Him that many were pressing Him but the woman came and confessed it. He said unto her that her faith healed her.

We see here that many pressed Him but they had no faith. They were excited about the miracles done on others but didn't believe they also could have received their miracles. 

It is faith that moves God into action not just getting excited listening to the testimonies of others and wonderful sermons.

He went to the house of Jairus with three disciples and her parents and He raised her up and commanded that she be given food.

We learn that when people are raised from death spiritually, those who live in sin are converted, they need to be fed with Gods word so that they may grow and be strong.

Have you been feeding on God's word; there is no other food God has for His children. The living bread, who is Jesus, is found in the word. The Holy Spirit shows us the glory of Christ in the word of God and then transforms us to the same image from one level glory in being like Christ to glory. 2Cor 3:18, Rom 8:29, 1John 3:3, John 6:35

, 48-51

This means as you read God's word, you see the glory of Jesus and then you are transformed by the Holy Spirit to be as you've seen Jesus and as you continue reading you see more glory and then you are changed again in the same image. Thus the true direction that God has set for us, which is the race to which we are running is to become more like Christ every day, every moment, every week, every month and every year. Are you more like Christ today that you were at the beginning of this year? If no, you are on the wrong road. Are your attitudes becoming more like that of Christ, is the way you speak becoming more and more the way Christ would speak? is the way the react when provoked or in difficult situations becoming more and more like of Christ? are your values becoming more and more like Christ? are your thoughts becoming more and more like of Christ? What about your motives for doing things? What about the way you handle money? Are you becoming better or worse or just the same? Your testimony should be that I am becoming better and more Christlike at least at the end of every year and those who you live with should be able to see it. If they can't see it it's because it's not there. Christlikeness is like perfume, you have to smell it. Ask those who see you often, that is, those who live with you, whether you have become more Christlike in the last one year or not. A matter is established by a witness of two or three people. 

Have you been in the right path or not? You can start today, it's not to late to start. As you read God's word ask the Holy Spirit to show the glory of Christ and when you see that he lived or acted or valued in a certain way, ask God to to make you behave in like manner and don't be satisfied until you get there...do it every day 

2Cor 2:16, 4:11, 13:1,Heb 12:1,2, 1Cor 9:24

It's also interesting to see that Jesus told the parents not to tell anyone that their daughter was raised from the dead. He never wanted publicity, He hid himself and was satisfied that people were blessed. He never wanted a name for himself as the great healer or miracle worker. Let us follow Him here as well, that we can bless others and not seek to be known.

You are blessed to be a blessing

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LUKE 8:18-39. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPELS

Take care how you listen because whoever has more will be added and whoever doesn't have even what they have will be taken away.

How do you listen to God's messages? Do you listen with prejudices against the preacher or do you listen with a hunger to hear from God? If you don't have the desire to hear God, even that little hunger for God will be taken away.

His mother and brothers came and due to the crowd could not reach him. They sent a message and Jesus answered that His Father and mother and brothers and sisters are those who hear the word of God and do it.

His attachment was not more to relatives by blood but by those who did God's will. He couldn't stop preaching just because His relatives wanted to see Him. God was first in His life and He couldn't allow relatives to come between Him and God.

Let us follow Jesus here, in not allowing our blood relatives to come between us and God.

Jesus told His disciples to go to the other side of the lake and as they went and the boat was being filled with water and they were drowning. They woke up Jesus and Jesus rebuked the storm and it became calm. He asked them where their faith was.

We learn here that obeying God does not mean there will be no trouble but it means that we'll experience God stilling the storms of life as we are doing His will and crying out unto Him.

There met a man who was demon-possessed who lived in the tombs and He cries out not to be tormented and Jesus cast them out and let them enter the pigs.

We see here that the demons are aware of the final judgment and live in fear of it. What about you, do you live in fear of the final judgment? Are you aware that all you have been doing in secret and in public will be brought into judgement. Do you live in the awareness that God is watching everything you do, He listens to everything you say, He watches your motives and attitudes and thoughts. 

Be wise, live knowing that you will have to give a personal account of yourself to God.

When the people heard what happened and saw the man in his right mind, they implored Jesus to live.

This is the nature of man, they don't care if a person is blessed if they have lost their property. Property to man means more to them than a soul, but to Jesus it was the opposite.

Man loves things and uses people to their own advantage where Jesus uses things and loves people. It doesn't matter to Jesus if loss has to occur if a soul can be saved and blessed. Let us follow Jesus here.

Jesus told the man to go home and tell them what the Lord has done for him.

 It is good to share testimonies of what the Lord has done for us.

You are blessed to be a blessing

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@Blessed Mshindi Mambo