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Showing posts from May, 2020

The Lord who daily loads us with benefits

Believer, by God's grace, let's take our blessed brains to church. Psalm 68:19 shows us God's heart towards His children: "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, even the God who is our salvation." Our kids expect from us the benefits of good food, good clothes and adequate shelter, and they don't say "thank you" for these benefits. They take it for granted and we see it as our responsibility. But some of our daily benefits are so jaw-dropping and unexpected that they express their appreciation for days on end- e.g. when I buy them a 'phone that they have been craving or Playstation card. Even when they have been naughty, the daily benefits come. All of these daily benefits are given because they are my children, plus, their behaviour is a function of how we are raising them. The point being: DAILY, the Lord loads us with benefits. Not just one benefit per day, but benefitS. Some of the Lord's daily benefits in our lives a

How can a person make God angry?

Understand that the one who is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ can never experience God's anger. Christ's suffering and death for us made sure of this. Isaiah prophesied about His sufferings for us in Isaiah 53 and the glories that follow in Isaiah 53 and 54. See one of such "glories" in Isaiah 54:8-10 -- “”With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,” Says the Lord , your Redeemer. “For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” Says the Lord , who has mercy on you.” Because of Christ's sacrifice, we who are under the new covenant of Grace (having Christ as our utter Source of righteousness and strength and putt

The truth behind Matthew 7:20 - "Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

A quick background: The entire Bible is like a perfect embroidery with no loose ends, every detail interconnected, making sense and giving life as a whole to all who believe and only through God’s Wisdom for all who believe Grace Himself: Jesus Christ. Taking books, chapters and verses out of their context is quite dangerous. For example, here’s Christ’s response to the Canaanite woman who asked Him for healing for her demon-possessed daughter, right before He commended her for her faith and healed her child— Matthew 15:24 — “Then Jesus replied, “I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.”” The above word of Christ is the truth for that dispensation/time. Applying this truth to this now dispensation of Grace would mean that no Gentile (non-Jew) can be saved and this is simply not true. Context is very important when studying the Bible. So let’s see Matthew 7:20 in its context and subsequently, what the verse means: “ 15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you

Seeing Christ in the Old Testament.

Christ Himself taught us how to read our Bibles through the lens of Grace. He taught the Good News (the gospel of grace) from the Old Testament on the same day of His resurrection as He walked with the two depressed and despondent disciples (Cleopas and his companion) on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:27- “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." Christ taught them things about Himself in  all  the Scriptures. The New Testament hadn't been written at this time. That same evening, Jesus appeared to the disciples in Jerusalem (also in Luke 24;) Here’s what He did in verse 45 (MSG) - “He went on to open their understanding of the Word of God, showing them how to read their Bibles this way.” But what Bibles? The New Testament hadn't been written at this time. Paul who wrote most of the NT was not even saved yet. As He did with the two on the road to Emmaus, Christ showed the disciples how to see Hims

Why is Christ's resurrection so important?

Consider Romans 10:9–10, the condition for salvation: “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” A person can profess Jesus as Lord all he wants but he is not saved unless he believes that God has raised Him from the dead - this encompasses believing what Christ accomplished for us through His resurrection. But why was Christ raised from the dead? What did He accomplish for us through His resurrection? This is the key to right believing: God raising the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead was not just because He could. Christ's resurrection is the divine receipt showing that we who believe in Him have been forgiven of our entire lifetime of sins and made righteous by His "single sacrifice for sins, good for all time" (Hebrews 10:12.) This according to Romans 4:

Who was Rahab and what does her story represent for believers today?

Rahab was a harlot of Jericho who helped the two Israelite spies that came to spy out the land escape. But what’s even more important is the significance of Rahab and of this event to we who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament is all about Jesus Christ and our salvation in Him. Rahab who was saved from the destruction of Jericho is a picture of believers in Christ today. The Israelite army surrounded Jericho. God's wrath was coming full-force on the city. Before they escaped, the spies gave Rahab their word concerning her salvation from the then upcoming destruction of Jericho. She asked for her life and that of her loved ones to be spared, and the spies gave her their word— “17 So the men said to her: “We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, 18 unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, a