James 3:13-18
The world in which we live in is full of war and bloodshed. If history could count the total number of lives lost through this weapon of mass destruction, there would not be room on a conventional calculator to display all the digits! For all of fallen man’s efforts in trying to secure peace, history informs us that man is not able to live at peace with his neighbour!!
It’s one thing for the world to behave in this manner, but what are we to say when Christians behave like this? In the thirteenth verse of James chapter 3, a question is put; “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you?” The answer is given, “…let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom”. It is this wisdom that James describes as coming from above on account of its peaceable fruit that is contrasted with the wisdom descending from below which is earthly, sensual and devilish, tending to confusion and every evil work. May we be found in these last days walking in peace as the children of God!
1 Corinthians 13
End-days prophecy...Israel...hermeneutics/exegesis, Greek and Hebrew; for many who identify themselves as belonging to the “remnant Church”, they pride themselves on their great learnedness in these areas. Yet, as I observe with these two eyes, when I look to find this superior knowledge being matched with a superior life (character, fruit, godliness); I look in vain!! Am I missing something here? I thought that Christianity was about fruit as well as doctrine, in fact James tells me categorically that if I’m a hearer of the word and yet not a doer of the word then I’m deceived (Jms. 1:22).
This sermon is a call to the people of God; right doctrine alone will never cut it!!! It’s high time that God people set the arrow to the mark of love! Use the term “remnant Christian” all day long but if it’s not this type of remnant Christianity, then Brother, Sister for all our talk of remnant doctrine and remnant truth, we’ve missed the bullseye and the mark to which all truth tends, namely to remnant love!!
2 Samuel 20:8-13
I wonder, how many of us as Christians live in light of the coming judgment. How many of us walk in the shadow of this reality. Paul a thoroughly saved and blood washed man, in light of the judgment seat of Christ, sought to live and labour in such a way so as to be blameless, commending himself in the sight of God and before the consciences of men. My Brother, my Sister, when I look today in the professing Church of Christ, I see so little fear of God in the hearts of His people. Where is the fear of God in light of the judgment seat of Christ? Take just one area...Look at the way in which Christians treat one another, the callousness, the skullduggery and treachery. The bitter envying and strife, the false slander and assignation of character which all has its origins from the Prince of darkness, ascending from the pit of hell!! Who will take stock and recall to mind the terrifying words of our Lord who said “...That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Mt. 12:36). Who will remember the words of Jesus who said, “...whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Mt. 18:6). These are serious words that we must give due consideration of!!
I tell you my Brother, there ought to be a holy fear and reverence for the fact that one day we are going to have to give a personal account to Jesus Christ as to how we have spent our lives. This must and has to filter down into the reality of how we treat one another for which we shall MOST certainly give account!! We look in this sermon at the life of Joab and conclude with this; YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT!
Lamentations 3:21-23
There’s a chorus that well sums up the sentiments of this sermon message: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness, Oh Lord, Great is Thy faithfulness”. Although the chorus proclaims “Great is Thy faithfulness Oh Lord”, some if they were honest would have to change the words to “Small is Thy faithfulness”. You say how so? When you and I fall short in our personal lives in the area of sin, and miss the mark of the expected moral standard to which as Christians we are called to walk, how long does it take for us to recover and to come back into the love and friendship of Jesus Christ? Once godly sorrow has done its work to bring us to a place of true repentance, what then? Then we must look in unswerving faith and confidence to the crucified risen Saviour who stands with arms outstretched wide to receive us back into His presence!!
One can have a grasp theologically on the concept of forgiveness of sins, but without the personal ingredient of “faith”, the experience of forgiveness (a conscience which is at peace) will never be a reality but instead, hanging over your head will be a cloud of condemnation and doubt. Oh that we might rise up and draw near to our God in full assurance of faith and find for our souls a sweet relief!
Ephesians 5:18
Though as Christians our citizenship is rooted firmly in heaven, we nonetheless for the time being have a dual residency, being found also with our feet on planet earth. It is for this reason that the New Testament is full exhortation, urging us on to personal holiness. “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). Drunkenness is a terrible blight upon any society that has given itself over to liquor; yet I want to suggest that there’s a far more subtle form of intoxication that is engulfing the masses in our day, namely that of the corrupting influences of modern media. How many sway under the spirit of this age, drunk with the propaganda of filth that’s literally flooded into our homes via the satellite airwaves. It’s time that we got sober, had an old fashioned cleanout and got rid of some of that old leaven from out of our homes!!
Brother, Sister, have you oil in your lamp? Are you filled with Holy Spirit? Show me a man yielded to God in absolute obedience; show me a woman that’s shut up with God in the closet in prayer and the study of His Word; show me one that is taking careful watch over their soul, cultivating holiness in the fear of God; and I’ll show you a man or a woman that is filled with the Spirit!!!! May God help us to light a fire in our bosom that will never go out!!
Matthew 8:5-13
A sad reality that haunts our present day is that Christianity has been reduced to nothing more than a simple formula through which if a person can regurgitate a few words, giving mental assent to a few facts, then he’s admitted into this comfortable religion we call Christianity and promised the treasures of eternal life. What does this “comfortable” religion look like? Well...let’s just say, you’d never know that the people professing it were any different from the world if it were not for the fact that they went by the name of Christian!!!! Yet, here’s the thing...as we trace the history of the first century Church, they were not always called Christians; they were called Christians first in Antioch. What were they then known as before Antioch? “...the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch”. Hence we see, the name “Christian”, and the word “disciple” are synonymous!!
This sermon is a call for the rubber on the Christian wheels to meet the road. Who sits on the throne of your heart? Who is the supreme ruler of your life? Who’s pulling the strings? Who’s calling the shots? In short; are you a man under authority?
Proverbs 3:5-6
There’s a thought that so grips my heart, subconsciously hanging over my head like an appointment. What is this thought you ask? It’s this...my personal accountability to God for what I have done with the time He has given to me whilst on this earth. It is this...the purpose for which I expended my life; the reason for which I lived and moved and had my being; to what end and to whose glory did I spend this little passing moment called life.
This sermon is a challenge and an exhortation for the Body of Christ to press into the will of God. Who will enquire of the Lord and seek out His will for every area of their lives? May God grant us much grace that when our Lord appears, we would not stand before Him empty handed. May we be able to say that we were busy about our Masters business!
Acts 17:16-32
We are living in a post-modern generation where a new breed of thinking has invaded the imaginations of men's hearts and minds. Once upon a time, there existed something called objective truth which in turn set the parameters for objective morality. God was that objective truth and His Holy Word the moral standard which was brought to bear upon the consciences of men. God the creator dictated to man the created, what was right and what was wrong and the consciences of men bore testimony and approval. But now, we are seeing an altogether different scenario taking shape before our eyes, where man is fast becoming answerable to no one. science, we’re told has now explained away God and if there is no God and man is just an advanced ape with no God-given conscience, then it naturally follows that man is free on his upward journey of evolution to define his own truth and in turn his own morality without the baggage of accountability.
The call goes out in this sermon without reservation; REPENT!! God is one day going to judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath appointed. In that day the secrets of men’s hearts will be laid bare and no stone will be left unturned. Justice cries aloud to have its fill and unrighteousness will not be left unpunished but mercy cries louder, DO NOT GIVE THEM WHAT THEY DESERVE!! Hell opens wide its mouth to receive you but the arms of God are open even wider to receive you if you are willing to first repent and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus that you might be saved!! What will you do?
Every one of us has known at some point in our lives, the blessing of having the precious companionship of a good friend. Admittedly, acquaintances are very easy to come by but a good friend, a trustworthy and well-worn friend, a friend that sticketh closer than a brother, is hard to come by and when one finds such a friend, one finds a friend indeed!!
Whether we have any such friends or none at all, for the blood-bought child of God, we have a true friend and companion in Jesus Christ. Well we could speak of Jesus Christ our Saviour, rightly we could make much of Jesus Christ our Lord, but amongst these nouns surely ought to be found, Jesus Christ our friend!! Earthly friends will fail you and even companions as close as husband and wife will inevitably fail one another, but there is a friend, a trusted companion who cleaves to us through thick and thin, one who calls us friends!!
John 15:4-5
There’s a verse in Sacred Scripture that is the very engine of the Christian life, the very fountain of life, from which all spiritual vitality arises. You see, there are many today that have reduced Christianity to nothing more than a neatly packed formula; a convenient list containing few dos and a few don’ts! Is Christianity simply about following the example left us by our Lord? Are Christians nothing more than a human parrot left in our own strength to imitate the life of Christ? I say with resounding passion, NO!! What saith Paul? “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
The secret of the Christian life is found in our spiritual union with Jesus Christ. From start to finish and everything in between, Christianity is about a relationship with the Triune God of Holy Scripture!! Whether it be sanctification, Christian character or Christian service, there shall be no abiding or lasting fruit unless it be found arising out of an intimate union with Jesus Christ maintained and sustained by faith.