God’s word for today

by

Whats Does Jesus’ Sacrifice Mean For Me? I Am More Than A Conqueror

14th April

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution of famine or nakedness or danger or sword?. . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

Romans 8:35,37

In all things we are more than conquerors.. WOW. That is a big statement. Where is the foundation for such a claim? How can we be sure that we are victorious in all situations? Why? Because of the love of Christ that lives in you and because He was victorious over all things. Because He lives we live too. Because He loves us, we are loved. Because He defeated all things on the cross, we also live in victory. He is our God and we are on the winning side.

Yet what does it mean to be more than a conqueror? Does it mean that we never face persecution, famine, trouble, hardship, danger or nakedness? No, not at all. Paul himself, who wrote this text, said that he always felt in danger for his life; He constantly faced persecution and hardship. However, what he was trying to say is that, there is nothing in the world that is able to tear us away from the love that God has for us. It is because of this that we can find victory, even when we think defeat is before us; We can persevere until the end. We live in the resurrection power of Jesus which means we don’t have to stay beaten down, but can rise in the authority of the cross. We live as warriors for Christ, armed with the might of His power and equipped with His love to persevere!

If God is for us who can be against us?

by

Whats Does Jesus’ Sacrifice Mean For Me?

13th April

Authority

“One day Jesus called together His twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. Then He sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.”

Luke 9:1-2

As believers in Jesus’ resurrection, we too can have power from on High to heal the sick and share the gospel. Jesus says in John 14 that, ““I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in My Name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in My Name, and I will do it!”” Jesus Himself gave us the authority to access Kingdom power whenever we pray in Jesus’ Name. Yet note, there is a condition. Jesus’ power is not for us to build our own images, it is not for us to have a great ministry, is it not for our fame and it is not for our riches and earthly glory. It is to bring glory to the Father and to extend His Kingdom.

Faith in Jesus Christ leads us to a closeness with the Father. As we draw closer to the Father we experience more of His miraculous power in our lives as He slowly chisels away at our sinful nature and makes us more like Him. We then begin to live in the authority of who we are in Him and as we access this authority, it flows out of our lives and into our daily situations. That is what living in the authority of Jesus’ resurrection means. Living our daily lives in Kingdom authority! Bringing Heaven to earth. Showing Jesus in all we do and say. We have been given authority to make Jesus known to all.

by

Whats Does Jesus’ Sacrifice Mean For Me? Acceptance

12th April

“But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us, while we were still sinners.”

Romans 5:8

The Apostle Paul, in the book of Romans states that “…the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (6:23). When we sin we deserve to be punished. Since God is our creator, anything we do against His will, is called a sin and is punishable. In fact, everyone one of us falls into that category. Yet when Jesus died on the cross, He paid the debt that our sin owed and in doing so, made us clean and right before God.

The Apostle Paul words it like this, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins.” (Romans 3:23-24) We deserve death but instead we are given life and life in it’s fullness. Jesus didn’t wait for us to become good people or didn’t wait until we understood and accepted what He was going to do. Jesus died for us while we were still ‘sinners’. Jesus died for the very people who ordered His crucifixion. He died for the people who crucified Him. He died for all the religious priests who wanted Him dead. He died for us even in our lowest points.

So today, do not feel like you are distant from God because of your sin, or like you can’t talk to Him. Your debt has been paid, it has been paid in full. You are free and right in His sight. Accept His grace and love and let His view of YOU change your view of yourself. You are accepted!

 

by

The Message Of Christ

11th April

“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.”

Colossians 3:16

‘Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives’…. Well what is the message of Christ? What is the message of the cross? Simply put, it is about love. It is about a loving, Almighty God, sacrificing His own Son so that He can restore the severed relationship between God and mankind. It is about grace. It is about acceptance. It is about identity and purpose. The fullness and richness of the Gospel is not just Good News, it is Good News that changes lives.

You have been accepted to stand before the Holy throne of God because of what Jesus did for you on the cross. You have been filled with the grace of God who saw it fit to empty Himself for you and lay down His life in your place. His grace now accepts you no matter what you have done or what you will do. Our confession and His forgiveness is integral in that acceptance. Your identity is now not as a ‘sinner’ (although we still sin that is not who we are), our identity is now as a son or daughter of God, a royal priesthood, a chosen people and a loved bride waiting for our King to return.

Friends, the richness and fullness of the message of Christ is ‘life transforming’. That is why we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts. Let us continue to encourage each other with the fullness of His message and teach and counsel others too.

by

Receiving Power

9th – 10th

Weekend Edition

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1:8

Jesus said a lot of things to His disciples throughout His lifetime, but these words here in Acts, the final before His ascension, are arguably the most significant words He ever said to them. First, He spoke of the imminent baptism of the Holy Spirit, which would in fact change the dynamics of ‘evangelism’, then, He told them how the gospel would be spread across the world.

The most significant thing in sharing God’s word with others is the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads us, guides us, reveals God’s plan for ours and others lives and equips us with the tools (Spiritual gifts) to share Jesus with others. Well what do we share about Jesus? Answer: Everything. Jesus came and showed us how to live, He showed us God on earth and His teachings changed and continues to change the world. His wisdom, His love, His grace, His teachings and His life are a ‘prototype’ for our lives and an example we have to follow and teach others to follow too. Jesus’ own commission to the disciples was that they were to share about Him to everyone, everywhere.

Because of the above reasons, many today and in the past have committed to serving Jesus, following His teachings and making Him their God. The Holy Spirit’s power in equipping people with the tools to share about Jesus with others is as real today as it was on the day of pentecost. Many have been saved but there are still many more people in the world who need to hear about Jesus. May Jesus’ prayer be for you today .. . . .’Go and share Jesus with others: Be empowered by the Holy Spirit.’

by

Because He Lives..

8th April

“He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His ancestor David. And He will reign over Israel forever; His Kingdom will never end!”

Luke 1:32-33

The prophecy that Gabriel gave to Mary would have been great news to her and her people’s ears. Israel longed for a King that would endure forever. They longed for a King that would set them free from oppression. They longed for a King to lead them into Godliness and closeness with Yahweh, the One true God. Yet Gabriel’s prophecy was so much more than just an earthly Kingdom. This was a ‘forever’ Kingdom.

Jesus’ ascension into Heaven symbolised and signified that Jesus’ rule was not just limited to His earthly life but His rule was eternal. Jesus returned to Heaven in His resurrected and fully alive state so that we can have 100% assurance that the God we serve is not dead but alive. Isaiah also prophesied of these events, written in chapter 9 verse 7, “His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of His ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!”

What assurance we can have! Jesus’ resurrection was more than just a fulfilment of age old prophecies, but the hope and assurance that our God has passionately committed to us and committed to Jesus’ rule forever. This means that Jesus will stand as our intercessor, as our King, as Groom and as our God forever and ever and there will be no end to His love, grace and mercy for us! Amen, He is alive!

by

Why Did Jesus Have To Leave?

7th April

“But now I am going to the One who sent Me….Instead you grieve because of what I’ve told you. But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate (Holy Spirit) won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send Him to you.”

John 16:5-7

(Holy Spirit added)

A question that is often asked is ‘why did Jesus have to leave?’ To answer this question we simply need to look at Jesus’ own words, found here in John 16. If Jesus stayed in His physical body on Earth after His resurrection, then the Holy Spirit would not have been given to the believers. One of the Holy Spirit’s roles according to Jesus’ words in John, was to “convict the world of it’s sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgement”. It sounds intense, yet it is because we have been convicted of our sins that we can have an opportunity to be made right before God, through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, bringing us into a relationship with the Father. If the Holy Spirit was not sent, then we would never know the Father because we would remain dead in our sins.

On top of that, Jesus had to return to the Father to complete the purpose of His coming. For He is now “sitting in the place of honour at God’s right hand, pleading for us” (interceding for us) Romans 8:34. That is why Jesus came. He came to be the substitution for our sins and our great High Priest who continually pleads our innocence in front of the Father, using His own life as a sacrifice for our debt.

Yet there is more good news. Jesus in His bodily form ascended to Heaven, yet His presence still remains with us. In fact He lives in us. Jesus Himself said that when ‘two or three gather in My Name, I will be there in the midst of you’. The Apostle Paul in the book of Galatians also says that, “..it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”

Let us rejoice that Jesus ascended, sent the Holy Spirit and lives as our High Priest at the right hand of the Father. Let us also rejoice that Christ lives in us and we are carriers of His light and love to all. Finally, let us look forward to Jesus’ coming once again!

by

The Great Commission Includes Us All

6th April

“Jesus came and told His disciples, “I have been given all authority in Heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teach the new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the ages.”

Matthew 28:18-20

Matthew records, in his account of Jesus’ last days, what is probably the most famous of Jesus’ last words to His disciples. Yet the most exciting thing from this passage is that it includes us too. We too are also commissioned to go into the world and make disciples for Christ. Yet so often we reserve this particular passage for ‘missionaries’ who are being sent across the world to serve in gospel-deprived nations. The NLT translation of this text is so inclusive. It doesn’t say go to the nations and make disciples, rather it says make disciples of all nations. This is a more inclusive translation and when we think about it, in actual fact we can be God’s witnesses wherever we are. The rich man in our workplace who thinks he has life sorted because of his growing wealth and status on this earth needs someone to show him Christ’s love as much as the deprived, malnourished child in the war zone of Sudan.

So what message do we bring to the nations? How do we make new disciples for Christ? Well, according to Jesus’ words, it is by teaching them to obey God’s commands; the summary Jesus gave of all the commandments were these: “Love the Lord your God above all else” and “love your neighbour as yourself“. If we follow and teach others these commandments, then surely people will come to know Jesus’ love through our lifestyle and witness of Him. In actual fact Jesus has commissioned us all to do this. Whether that is through the way we live our lives in replicating Jesus’ commands or whether we actually verbally teach it to others, we are all called to be witnesses of Christ’s commandments to the world.

Yet the key to this passage is not ‘living’ and ‘doing’ in our own strength and authority but in rather in the authority given to us through Jesus Christ, the risen and resurrected King. Because He lives, we too can access authority in His Name as the sons and daughters of His Kingdom. Jesus is now and forever with us “even until the end of the ages”. All we need to do is draw on His strength, be His witnesses to All Nations, and show them Christ’s love through word and deed.

Go into the world and make disciples for Him!!

by

Forgive As You Have Been Forgiven

5th April

“Then He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.””

John 20:22-23

After Jesus’ resurrection, on the Sunday evening, Jesus revealed Himself to His disciples. After comforting them with peace, as they were afraid of being arrested by the Jewish leaders, Jesus breathed on them and gave the Holy Spirit to the disciples. Jesus then said the following words to His disciples…“If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” Why did Jesus say these words? He could have easily said, ‘now that you are filled with the Holy Spirit, go and do signs and wonders, go and use all the gifts of the Holy Spirit to bring people to Me..!’ Yet Jesus chose to speak words of forgiveness, not to belittle the above as they are important characteristics of a Christian, but rather because forgiveness is the essence of our salvation and our walk with Christ and can only take place through the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus didn’t say these words to give us power to forgive each others sins as if we are taking over God’s place, because as we know, only God can forgive sins committed towards Him. He spoke these words to give us power over holding on to bitterness and the hurts that people’s actions have caused us, so that we can release them from what they did and ourselves from holding on to it. How can we do that? Because Jesus did exactly that for us on the cross. He completely forgave us and released us from the guilt and condemnation that our sin brings. If we are forgiven to such a great extent, then we should as graciously forgive those who do wrong towards us.

Jesus chose to say these words because on the cross, He defeated all pain, bitterness and anger and after His resurrection empowered us to forgive others by giving us the Holy Spirit, and setting us the perfect example; so just as we are forgiven by Him, so we must forgive others. When we let go of un-forgiveness, we can be set free to live in joy and freedom. Let us this day ask God to reveal who we need to forgive and release from bitterness.

by

Simon, Simon

4th April

“Simon, Simon, satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.”

Luke 22:31-32

Today’s passage is written straight after Jesus has just introduced ‘communion’ with His disciples. As He prepares His disciples for His death, Jesus tells Peter that he would deny Him three times, to which Peter vehemently disagrees with, “No!… Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny You!” (Mark 14:31). Yet Jesus’ prophecy was correct and Peter did indeed deny Jesus three times. Yet what is interesting is the fact that Jesus was already planning Peter’s reconciliation before he had even denied Jesus. “..So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.” How utterly incredible is this verse. Jesus didn’t say ‘if’ you come back to Me but ‘when’ you come back to me. Jesus knew that Peter would deny Him. He knew, despite Peter’s protests. He knew, despite the passion and vigour of Peter’s faith. And yet He still did not reject Peter but made a way for Him to come back to Him.

The Bible is full of stories where God is already paving the way for sinners to come back to Him, even before they have sinned. This highlights God’s character and God’s plans for our lives. He wants us to be saved and He gives us every opportunity to help us realise we have made a mistake and every opportunity to come back to Him. He wants us to have a relationship with Him, so much so, that He gave His Only Son in our place. It’s never too late to turn back to Him. He has already made a reconciliation plan for you.