THANK YOU JESUS  

OUR ETERNAL DEBT PAID

As I am writing this, it is Easter Saturday for 2024, and once again, Christians around the world are remembering with gratitude the inestimable gift of God in sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to earth to live as "one of us," in a human body for thirty three years, having divested Himself of His Godly attributes of omniscience (all-knowing), omnipresence (being limited to one place at any given time), and omnipotence (all-powerful), expressed in the Greek word kenosis or 'self-emptying.'

Jesus was the God-man. Although limited to a human body, he was still divine - being fully man and fully God, as the second Person of the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

One of my very favourite worship songs in recent times is one that our church pastor introduced to the church probably about a year ago now, It is called: "Thank You Jesus For The Blood," and the singer is popular American worship leader/ songwriter, Charity Gayle, who with her husband, Ryan Kennedy and musicians David Gentiles and Steven Musso - all from Buffalo, New York state collaborated to write this Holy-Spirit anointed song:

I was a wretch, I remember who I was

I was lost, I was blind, I was running out of time

Sin separated, the breach was far too wide

But from the far side of the chasm

You held me in your sight

So you made a way, Across the great divide

Left behind Heaven's throne

To build it here inside

And there at the cross, You paid the debt I owed

Broke my chains, freed my soul

For the first time I had hope

Thank you Jesus for the blood applied

Thank you Jesus, it has washed me white

Thank you Jesus, You have saved my life

Brought me from the darkness into glorious light

You took my place, Laid inside my tomb of sin

You were buried for three days

But then You walked right out again

And now death has no sting, And life has no end

For I have been transformed

By the blood of the Lamb

Thank You Jesus for the blood applied

Thank You Jesus, it has washed me white

Thank You Jesus, You have saved my life

Brought me from the darkness into glorious light

There is nothing stronger

Than the wonder working power of the blood

That calls us sons and daughters

We are ransomed by our Father 

Through the blood, the blood

Glory to His name, Glory to His name

There to my heart was the blood applied

Glory to His name.

This song encapsulates the message of Easter. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that: All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. In other words, our sin nature inherited from the first man, Adam has separated us from fellowship and relationship with our Creator God.

The apostle Paul again expands on this in Romans 6:23 where he says:

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:7-11 tell us the Good News that:

Now most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God's condemnation.

For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son.

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends with God.

Under the Old Covenant, it was necessary for the children of Israel to continually make blood sacrifices of animals for the remission or forgiveness of sins. Indeed, Hebrews 9:22 tells us that:.....without the shedding of blood, there is no remission, or forgiveness of sins.

When Jesus, the sinless Son of God died on the cross at Calvary a little over 2,000 years ago, He paid the price required by our Holy God once and for all for the sins of everyone who would live from that time forward. HOWEVER, it does require a response from the individual of repentance from sin, and acknowledgement that Christ died for his or her sins, and an invitation from the person to the Lord Jesus Christ to become their Saviour and Lord with a willingness to commit to following Him.

Hundreds of millions of people around the world from many and varied ethnic, and socio-economic and cultural backgrounds have experienced the life-transforming power of the resurrected Christ in not only saving them from the eternal consequences of sin and rebellion towards God, but whose lives have also been healed from physical and mental illnesses and delivered from life-destroying bondages such as drug addiction, pornography and alcoholism. Truly, the Word of God can be fully trusted, when as Jesus stated in John 8:31,32. "If you continue in My Word, then are you My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." The truth of God's Word in you indeed shall be a liberating force.

I pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe Him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. Now He is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else - not only in this world but also in the world to come.

Christ's bodily resurrection is a well-documented historical fact. It has been stated that there is more proof for the resurrection of Jesus Christ than for any other fact or incident of Roman history.

HE'S ALIVE!! This Easter, in 2024, you who are reading this could make the most important decision of your life - to commit your life to Jesus Christ, and to invite Him to become your Saviour and Lord. Your life will never be the same again!

You don't have to say fancy prayers using long theological words. The most important thing is that what you pray is from the heart.

You could pray something like this:

Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that I am a sinner, and that my sin has separated me from knowing You. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sin, in my place, and that He rose again from the dead. Please forgive me of my sin, and i ask You to become my Saviour and Lord of my life. Amen.

As you begin your new life as a Christian, I encourage you to:

Start reading the Bible, and read some every day. Start with the Gospel of Mark or John in the New Testament.

Spend time praying to the Lord in your own words from your heart - and listen for Him to answer.

Find a Bible-believing church and start attending regularly, so that you can be taught the Word of God, and be built up and encouraged as you fellowship with other Christians

Tell someone of your decision to follow Christ. Your personal testimony is powerful and may lead those you share with to want to know Jesus too, as they see the transformation in your life.

God Bless! Jesus is the best friend you will ever have!

BIBLE READING PLAN SUGGESTION 

    From the time a person is born again of the Spirit of God and becomes a Christian, they are encouraged that one of the primary disciplines of the Christian if they want to grow and mature in their relationship with the Living God, is to regularly - preferably daily, read and study the Word of God, the Bible.

There are many verses in the Bible itself that speak to us of the vital importance of Bible reading, study and meditation.

Obviously there are also other disciplines for the Christian life that also are vitally important and necessary for the child of God to grow in the knowledge and grace of God. These include:

- A consistent prayer life

- Being planted in a local Bible-believing, Spirit-filled church home where they can not only sit under anointed teaching and preaching of the Word of God, but also 

- Fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are commanded in Hebrews 10:3-5

- Bearing witness to the reality of the Spirit of God working in our lives by testifying of God's goodness to us in specific ways. As the apostle John records in Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

- Becoming active in the local church, asking the Holy Spirit to show you your specific motivational gift as recorded in Romans 12:3-8 and then trusting God to enable you to outwork this gifting

- Be prayerful and open to the Spirit of God to use you for His glory and for the edifying of the church and individuals in the church by operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit as outlined in 1Corinthians 12.

The Word of God provides a sure foundation for everything undertaken by individual Christians and the wider church body. 

Although in church life, the Bible does not always give minute details about, for example how worship in church is meant to be conducted, or how church services are to be planned, the Word of God does give very clear instruction on matters such as leadership, the importance of celebrating Communion regularly, and the need for the five-fold ministry gifts to the church as outlined in Ephesians 4:11-13 to equip believers for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son Of God.......It must be said also that most of the ministry, especially in relation to evangelism should be undertaken in the market place, outside the four walls of the church. As Pastor Tak Bhana, Senior Pastor of Church Unlimited in Auckland, New Zealand stated recently on a series of his "Running With Fire" programs on Vision Christian Radio here in Australia - the title of the series being "Seek His Face For Your Workplace," in a sense, wherever our sphere of influence is, whether it be at work, home, your street and neighbourhood, etc., in those specific spheres, the Christian is in a sense the "pastor" to those he or she interacts with, shining the light of God's love by our lives as well as our words. As has often been said, for many people in our nations, we, as Christians may be the only "Bible" peope read - seeing Christlikeness lived out.

Back to the title of this short blog post: "Bible Reading Plan Suggestion," there are many good Bible reading plans available to help the Christian systematically read through the entire 66 books of the Bible in one year, or in other time frames. Some start from Genesis and work through from start to the end of Revelation, the last book in the Bible. Others offer readings daily from the Old and New Testaments. There are also chronological Bible reading plans which seek to take the reader through the Bible in the order that the events took place over time, which in some cases will see the order of reading of the books change from that in which they appear in the Bible compilation. There are also plans that seem to provide daily readings from Old and New Testament books which seem to be randomly chosen.

Over the decades that I have been a Christian, I have sought often to begin the year with a Bible reading plan that would take me through the whole Bible systematically in one year, the readings being allotted to each of the twelve months of the year, day by day.

To be totally honest, although my intentions have been good, I have always found that after a while, I have missed the odd day or more, and then given up the reading plan, thinking it is too hard to catch up.

A couple of weeks ago, at the beginning of this year, I prayed that the Lord would show me a good Bible reading plan I could follow and hopefully stick to. 

The Lord led me to a reading plan devised by The Navigators ministry, a trusted discipling ministry founded in 1933, whose mission has always been: "to know Christ, to make Him known, and help others to do the same."

The Bible reading plan has the months numbered, not named, Month 1 to Month 12. For each month, there are four readings for each day, but only for 25 days of the month. This is so that if the reader misses a day or so, they have time to catch up before the end of the month. Every day's readings consist of two from the New Testament and two from the Old Testament. Longer chapters are broken up into segments as shown in the Bible, so that each day's readings are quite easily doable.

I am looking forward to following this reading plan this year, and I firmly believe that I will be able to exercise the self discipline necessary to consistently progress through the year to finally read the whole Bible cover to cover. 

If you, like me, have found it difficult to stay with Bible reading plans that are designed specifically to be read from January 1 to December 31, then this Navigators plan may be just what you are looking for.

Another suggestion I would make is: If you find it somewhat daunting to read chapters of genealogies and other seemingly mundane details, as important as their inclusion in the Bible is, a suggestion I have is to listen to those chapters on a good audio Bible recording. There are a number of well-voiced audio Bibles in various versions. For me, personally, I cannot go past the wonderfully recorded and produced recordings of the King James Bible by Alexander Scourby - amazingly recorded back in the early 1950's. He has an authoritative voice and he reads with wonderful expression, and sensitivity to the text. I do not know if he was a committed, born again Christian, but to my mind, he certainly read as if he was anointed of the Holy Spirit. He was an actor, yes, but I believe he read with great conviction that what he was reading was worthy of his very best reading input.

BORN FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair............"  So commences the book "A tale Of Two Cities," by Charles Dickens.

With every passing day, it seems that the battle lines are being drawn, and increasingly, as Christians, we are being faced with choices which not only affect our own lives, but those of our families, and the wider communities in which we live, and beyond that, the nation - and nations of the world.

If Dickens was writing today, would he not say the same about our world, and society, which brings me to the passage in Isaiah 60:1-3

Arise, shine;

For your light has come!

And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.

For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,

And deep darkness the people;

But the LORD will arise over you,

And His glory will be seen upon you.

The Gentiles shall come to your light,

And kings to the brightness of your rising.

It is not a time for Christians and the church of the Living God to have a slumber party. We need to take a clear stand for the Lord in our lives, even it goes against popular society attitudes that are clearly in opposition to the non-negotiable teaching of the Word of God in the Bible.

The apostle Paul states in Ephesians 5: For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, ( for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord....

Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep,

                                 Arise from the dead,

                                 And Christ will give you light." (verses 8-10, 14)

I have always been challenged by the words of the Keith Green song "Asleep In The Light," where he says in one of the verses:

                                The world is sleeping in the dark,

                                That the church just can't fight    

                                'Cos it's asleep in the light

                                How can you be so dead

                                When you've been so well fed?

                                Jesus rose from the grave,

                                        And you, you can't even get out of bed! OUCH!

Jesus said of Himself in John 8:12............."I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

He also said of His disciples, then and now, in Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden."     

We are admonished by the apostle Paul to redeem the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:16

He again pleads with those who claim to be followers of Jesus in Romans 13:11,12: And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Can we also hear the anguished heart cries of Isaiah, Paul the apostle, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself to each one of us in the Church to: ARISE AND SHINE THE LIGHT OF GOD'S LOVE AND POWER, TO AWAKE FROM SPIRITUAL SLUMBER......... and in so doing, to help bring an eternal difference to individuals, to communities and to the nations as we glorify Jesus with our lives.

More than probably since wartime, people are living in such fear, anxiety and uncertainty, and confusion and do not know where to turn. The pressure coming on those in the world who are living by the world system, and are being fed by the negative doom and gloom of mainstream media and social media is seeing a rise in mental illness, suicides, marriage tensions, and domestic violence, and a multitude of other destructive societal trends.

THERE IS ONLY ONE ANSWER TO THE WORLD'S WOES! It isn't in a political party or charismatic political leader. 

The LORD God tells us in Isaiah 26:3,4 

                                        You will keep him in perfect peace,

                                        Whose mind is stayed on You.

                                        Trust in the LORD forever,

                                        For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.                          

2024 is set to be a wild ride for many whose trust is not in Jesus, but in the world governments, and whose minds are molded by the secular mainstream news cycles, designed to instill fear and anxiety in the masses. The Bible refers to Satan in Ephesians 2:2 as.......the prince of the power of the air - a fitting title for the unseen evil being controlling the lies and manipulation of the secular news cycles, increasingly biased towards presenting propaganda and untruths.

Jesus, in the Sermon On The Mount in Matthew 7:24-27 speaks about the necessity of building our lives on the firm foundation of God's Word, so that we can STAND up under the storms of life. He said: "Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell. And great was its fall."

COMING NEXT: IT'S HARVEST TIME!

As the crowds emerged from the village, Jesus said to His disciples, "Why would you say, 'The harvest is four months away'? Look at all the people coming - now is harvest time! Their hearts are like vast fields of ripened grain - ready for a harvest."

                                         

STILL THE SAME GOD 

All over the world the Spirit is moving,

All over the world, as the prophet said it would be

All over the world, there's a mighty revelation

Of the glory of the Lord

As the waters cover the sea.

This is a Christian chorus that was popularly sung in Pentecostal and Charismatic churches back in the seventies onwards, declaring the truth that the Holy Spirit was indeed moving mightily in many nations around the world, seeing the restoration of the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that characterized the early church - in churches across many different denominations, including the Catholic Church.

After Jesus' triumphant resurrection from the grave three days after His crucifixion, for forty days He appeared to hundreds of people, proving that He had indeed risen from the dead. 

Before ascending back to heaven, He told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for "the Promise of the Father," the baptism with the Holy Spirit," as foretold by John the Baptist, that would be a significant part of the ministry of Jesus. In fact, in two of the accounts in Matthew and Luke, John the Baptist said Jesus would baptise His followers with the Holy Spirit and Fire.

The church was birthed on the Day of Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus' resurrection, when the 120 in the Upper Room in Jerusalem were all baptised in the Holy Spirit, as Luke describes in Acts 2:1-4

And when the Day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. KJV

The chapter continues to convey that there were Jews present there from "every nation under heaven," and the miracle was that they all heard them (the 120 Galileans) proclaiming the wonderful works of God in their own languages.

Peter addressed the crowd, explaining that this was the fulfillment of a prophecy by the prophet Joel, probabably around 800 BC.

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,

That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, 

Your young men shall see visions,

Your old men shall dream dreams.

And on My menservants and on My maidservants

I will pour out My Spirit in those days;

And they shall prophesy.

I will show wonders in heaven above

And signs in the earth beneath;

Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.

The sun shall be turned into darkness,

And the moon into blood, 

Before the great and awesome day of the LORD.

And it shall come to pass

That whoever calls on the name of the LORD

Shall be saved.  Acts 2:17-21 NKJV

In verses 38-39, Peter said to them: "Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." Peter categorically, and unambiguously stated that the promise of the Baptism in or with the Holy Spirit to empower believers in Jesus for effective service in the kingdom of God was for ALL TIME until Jesus returned.

In chapter 3, Peter again gives a call to repentance, stating: "Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." verses 19-21

We see in the Book Of Acts that the early church was noted for outstanding miracles - signs and wonders that followed the preaching of the Word of God. As with the earthly ministry of Jesus for three and a half years, the blind received their sight, the lame were made to walk again, dead were raised back to life, and all manner of other healings and miracles took place through the hands and the faith of the apostles.

BUT, the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit was not intended to be the sole domain of the apostles. In the Great Commission declared by Jesus in Mark 16, He said: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover."

So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. Mark 16: 15-20 NKJV

Jesus said the signs of his power and authority would follow those who believe - NOT JUST THE APOSTLES.

It is true when looking at church history that the church went through a period of a thousand years or more, when the five-fold ministries of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher were all but absent - and the church was led by a priestcraft that had little resemblance to the ministries designed by Jesus to lead and equip the people of God for Christian service.

Then beginning with Martin Luther in the 1500's, the ministry office of pastor began to be restored to the church. Some two hundred years later with the Wesleys, the evangelist ministry was restored to the church. With the Charismatic Renewal bringing revelation of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and the present day operation of the Gifts of the Spirit to many mainline denominations, the ministry of Teacher was prominent in the 60's and 70's.

Earlier, at the turn of the century, in 1906, the worldwide Pentecostal church movements were born out of the Asuza Street Revival, led by William J. Seymour, the black son of slaves - who oversaw a revival drawing thousands from around the world to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues. Outstanding healings and miracles were also hallmarks of this revival.

The twentieth century was also remembered for hugely significant mass evangelists such as Billy Graham, and Reinhard Bonnke, and a number of powerful healing ministries such as Kathryn Kuhlman, Oral Roberts, Jack Coe and A.A. Allen, and others to this present day who have proven outstanding testimony to their "signs following" giftings from the Holy Spirit, as they boldly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Over the past roughly thirty years, the Lord has raised up many men and women who function in the ministry gifting of prophet, and increasingly the office of the apostle is being restored to the church - to help fully equip believers in Jesus to be effective in ministry in each one's sphere of influence.

For the church of Jesus Christ to effectively proclaim the gospel, the Holy Spirit indwelling believers equips them with both the Fruit of the Spirit, as well as the Gifts of the Spirit. Paul the apostle admonishes Christians in 1 Corinthians 14:1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. The preceding chapter is what is known as the Love chapter, highlighting that everything we do and say as ambassadors for Christ must be motivated by God's love for people. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul lists nine "gifts" or manifestations of the Holy Spirit that were in operation in the early church. Their use by and large waned through the Dark Ages, and have seen a wonderful resurgence of demonstration since the Asuza Street Revival, and onto the Charismatic Renewal, and to the present day.

Romans 12 also lists seven gifts from the Holy Spirit to all believers - what have been called Motivational Gifts. Every Christian will be motivated by at least one of these gifts, but they may also operate to a lesser extent in others of these. In other words, most will display one of these giftings in their lives as the dominant Holy-Spirit led motivation in their service in the church, the Body of Christ.

As Paul states in Romans 12:3-8 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, se we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Although there is and has been clear evidence of the mighty demonstrations of the power of the Holy Spirit confirming the Word of God with signs and wonders over the past 120 odd years, and as stated above, there has been a restoration of the five-fold ascension-gift ministries of Jesus stated in Ephesians 4:11-13 of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher - sadly, there are prominent Christian leaders in what is known as the Cessationists, who firmly believe the Bible teaches that the gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased with the passing of the original apostles - and that the ministry gifts of apostle and prophet are not for today either.

A new movie called "Cessationist," was released in America in September this year, asking the question: "Are the miraculous gifts of the Spirit for today?" - tongues, prophecy, healing, miracles etc. The conclusion portrayed in the film affirmed by a number of high profile cessationist Reformed Christian leaders is: NO! 

In a trailer for this movie, Stephen J. Lawson, a prominent pastor says boldly:

"No one has the gift of healing today"

"No one has the gift of prophecy today."

"No one is hearing a word from God."

I HAVE TO ASK: REALLY!

Stephen Lawson holds a Master's degree in theology from Dallas Theological Cemetary - oops, I meant Seminary. He also holds a doctorate degree in theology from Reformed Theological Cemetary - oops, I did it again, I mean Seminary, in Jackson, Mississippi.

He has written about thirty books and ministered extensively in the USA and a number of countries outside America.

YET, he says that, basically, the Holy Spirit's "hands are tied today," from using Bible believing Spirit-filled Christians from demonstrating the power of God, motivated by God's love to impact the world for Jesus.

I well remember, while a student at Bible College in New Zealand back in the seventies, the Director of the college saying that the Assemblies in God in America at one point had a conference to discover what had gone wrong with their movement, because the power of God had gone out of their churches. They soon realised that it was because they had put so much emphasis on theological education at the expense of relying on the Holy Spirit, that they were "dying by degrees," so to speak.

As the church age is drawing to a close, as we anticipate the soon return of Jesus for His blood-washed church, more than ever, we are being called to see the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 60: 

Arise, shine;

Four your light has come!

And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.

For behold the darkness shall cover the earth,

And deep darkness the people;

But the LORD will arise over you,

And His glory will be seen upon you.

The Gentiles shall come to your light,

And kings to the brightness of your rising.

Jesus said to His disciples in John 14:12 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

This was a promise to all believers, not just the original apostles, that they would move in the same anointing and power of the Holy Spirit that He had to rely on during His earthly ministry.

DO NOT GIVE HEED TO THE FALSE TEACHING OF CESSATIONIST CALVINIST REFORMED TEACHERS! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is still working miracles, healing sick bodies, prophesying hope to a world filled with a sense of hopelessness. Speaking in tongues of men and of angels is still very much a valid provision of the Holy Spirit for all believers baptized in the Holy Spirit. 

All over the world, the Spirit is indeed moving. Revival fires are breaking out in some of the most unexpected places. Repentance from sin, and a new awareness of the fear of God is gripping the church, and God's great love for humanity is being demonstrated in ways that attest to the demonstration of God's healing, miracle-working, saving, restoring, prophesying power and authority - through people, giving glory and honour to Jesus!

Say YES to THE VOICE...........of GOD 

 The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

"Prepare the way of the LORD;

Make straight in the desert

A highway for our God;

Every valley shall be exalted

And every mountain and hill brought low;

The crooked places shall be made straight

And the rough places smooth;

The glory of the LORD shall be revealed;

And all flesh shall see it together;

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

The voice said, "Cry out!"

And he said, "What shall I cry?"

"All flesh is grass,

And all its loveliness is like the flower

of the field,

The grass withers, the flower fades,

Because the breath of the LORD blows upon it;

Surely the people are grass,

The grass withers, the flower fades, 

but the word of our God stands forever."

O Zion,

You who bring good tidings,

Get up into the high mountain;

O Jerusalem,

You who bring good tidings,

Lift up your voice with strength,

Lift it up, be not afraid;

Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!" Isaiah 40:3-9 NKJV

The prophet Isaiah spoke these words some 700 years BC, foretelling the ministry of John the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

The ministry of John the Baptist was that of a forerunner preparing the way for the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. His VOICE was lifted up, calling his listeners to repentance from sin and wickedness, and to be baptized by full immersion in water as an act of surrender to the will of God for their lives. In lifting his voice in preparation for the ministry of Jesus, John said of Jesus: "He must increase, but I must decrease."

The Bible tells us John the Baptist had a diet of locusts and wild honey.

To be fair to the Scriptural record, I do not think this food was commercially produced as above! 😊

In a discourse about John the Baptist, Jesus honoured the prophet with these words: " Truly, I tell you, among those born of women, there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist." Matthew 11:11

The "greatness" that Jesus refers to concerning John has to do with his unique position in history, not with any special talent, holiness or personal merit. In fact, immediately after stating that John is the greatest "among those born of women," Jesus says, "Yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." John died without seeing the fullness of God's plan in Christ. He never saw the crucifixion of Christ or His glorious resurrection. Yet even the "least in the kingdom of God" knows of these events and understands their meaning.

Jesus called John the Baptist the greatest of those born among women because:

-he held the honour of being chosen by God as the forerunner to the Messiah. His mission was to personally prepare the world for Christ's arrival. Malachi 3:1 says of him: Behold, I will send My Messenger,

And he will prepare the way before Me.

After Jesus came, John introduced Him to the world as the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. John 1:35-36

Following His death on the cross and His triumphant resurrection three days later, Jesus appeared to His disciples and told them to wait in Jerusalem "until you be endued with power from on high." On the Day of Pentecost fifty days following Jesus' resurrection, as the 120 were gathered together in the Upper Room, the Holy Spirit was poured out on them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and "began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."

Jesus had told the disciples that: "You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses........." Acts 1:8

The first century church grew exponentially as the apostles and their converts moved from Jerusalem literally to the ends of the then-known world. The apostles came under severe persecution. The apostle Paul, writing to his son in the faith, Timothy, warned that: In the last days, perilous times will come. He went on to list the characteristics of godlessness which would be seen in men (and women) in the last days, when to be a Christian would bring much opposition from wicked men.

 In 2 Timothy 3:12, Paul says to Timothy, and to us today.......all who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

Just as the prophets in the Old Testament, and indeed John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus' ministry, called people to turn from sin and wickedness, and from idol worship, to follow the living God - more than ever, today there is a need for Godly men and women to LIFT THEIR VOICES to declare the truth of the Word of God - to take a stand boldly for righteousness and righteous causes.

I read recently where a survey in America showed that ninety percent of church leaders were silent concerning some of the looming social issues of our times, such as sexuality from the Biblical perspective, and associated with that, issues such as same-sex marriage, and homosexuality, abortion and euthanasia. Because of a lack of teaching on these topics, something in the order of forty seven percent of Christian youth and young adults say they support same-sex marriage.

There are many voices vying for our attention, many of whom are speaking lies, deception and untruths. Mainstream media is one of the enemy's main vehicles for the dispersing of lies and "half-truths," with the hope that the gullible masses will swallow these lies hook, line and sinker.

Here in Australia, we are less than a month away from the date when all citizens enrolled to vote will be asked to indicate by way of a referendum whether they want an Indigenous Voice to Parliament enshrined in the nation's Constitution. It seems to be becoming increasingly more apparent as time passes, that the proponents of the YES campaign, led by the Prime Minister, have either lied about the reach of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament and its consequences for all Australians - or have "put their foot in their mouth" so to speak, and have in fact, disclosed some of the dire consequences of this Voice, such as requiring reparations, "paying the rent," and formation of a Treaty.

There has also been much unnecessary and disturbing "name-calling," again particularly from those supporting the "YES" campaign to seek to override the genuine concerns of the leaders for the "NO" campaign. In all fairness, probably neither side of the debate has been totally squeaky clean, but it does seem that a majority of Australians are waking up to the reality that enshrining an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, even at this point in the debate, poses more unknowns than known outcomes if successful.

Jesus said of Himself in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through Me." 

In  contrast to the voices we are bombarded with every day through media, including social media, radio and television and print media - depending on which side of the left or right of the political and philosophical fence you are on, we can have total and unwavering confidence that the Voice of God, as presented in the Word of God, the Bible is the Truth, the Whole Truth and nothing but the truth.

In the final analysis, this is the one voice we all need to take heed to, and to say a resounding YES to His call to repentance and acknowledging our need of a Saviour, as we open the door of our hearts to Jesus, the sinless Son of God, who took our place on a Roman cross, dying for our sins to save us from the power and penalty of sin. As the Bible says in Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

WILL YOU SAY YES TO THE VOICE OF GOD CALLING YOU TODAY?

POSTSCRIPT: In case there is any ambiguity about our intentions concerning the vote for the upcoming referendum in Australia to determine whether there is to be an Indigenous Voice to the Parliament, we will unequivocally be voting NO to the divisive, racist, expensive and deceptive referendum.

THE CROSS HAS THE FINAL WORD

     In my previous blog post, "What Is Happening In Canberra," I sought to sound the alarm concerning the forced takeover of the Catholic-run Calvary Public Hospital by the Labor/Greens government of the Australian Capital Territory to become a totally secular institution. The Clare Holland Hospice, also a Catholic faith-based end-of-life care institution associated with the hospital was also in the government's crosshairs, and it too has been forcibly acquired by this totalitarian-style government. These actions have seen widespread alarm, and condemnation by, not only Christians, but many tens of thousands of citizens across the nation who have signed online petitions and who have written to politicians to voice their shock and disapproval of this unprecedented action in Australia.

    The above graphic photo shows the removal of the iconic blue cross from the front of Calvary Public Hospital in Canberra last Sunday, a day before the official start date for the government's control of these health services. Last week, even before the official takeover date, crosses were being systematically removed from inside the hospital and hospice displays. 

From the Daily Mail Australia article headed: "How this single photo of a crucifix being removed from a hospital by a crane has sparked outrage among Christians," Veteran Christian activist and National Director of the Family First Party, Lyle Shelton likened what he saw to the actions of Communist China. 

"The forced removal of the cross of Christ from a Christian-owned hospital compulsorily acquired by a hostile secularist government," he tweeted on Sunday.

    "These are the actions of a totalitarian regime, the likes of which exist in Beijing, not normally associated with Canberra. Time to wake up!"

Canberra and Goulburn Archdiocese Archbishop Christopher Prowse also described the removal of the hospital's main cross as the actions of a totalitarian authority.

"The very first thing a totalitarian government does, when it seizes Christian assets, the very first thing they all do...... they take down the crucifix," he said.

"And right now today, over at the public hospital - today is Sunday, of all days they picked is the Christian gathering time - they're taking the very big blue cross from outside the public hospital today.

"There was a collective wrenching going on, but there was a sense of hope because they realised you can take down our physical crucifixes (crosses) but you'll never take away the cross, Jesus's cross, inside my heart."

At the heart of this action by a Godless, evil overreaching secular government in Canberra, there is an ideological clash that sees the Catholic Church's caring, life-affirming Christian ethos as "problematic," with particular disregard for the hospital's refusal to carry out abortions on healthy babies in utero, and up to full term, and to consider the possibility of euthanasia, when this becomes a legal reality in the A.C.T., as is expected to be the case later this year.

The Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, a Catholic, at least in name, has smirked his way through a press conference, when asked about the takeover of the Calvary Hospital, saying he does not see this as being a precedent for similar actions in other jurisdictions. Does he have the power to overrule the actions of the A.C.T. Labor/Greens government led by Andrew Barr? Probably, but he is obviously happy to sit back and just let this evil action take place without even a hint of displeasure.

As each day passes in Australia, and in other western nations, it seems that the evil tide of oppression and repression of Christians and all that Bible-believing Christians stand for, is being eroded and spiritual darkness is increasing exponentially.

Is there hope that the light of the Gospel will shine through the darkness, and the evil tide be turned back from our nation, and other nations that seem to be succumbing to evil legislated by Godless leaders and their governments?

The Bible tells us in Proverbs 14:34 "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."

Prophetically, Isaiah proclaimed some seven hundred years before Christ:

So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him" Isaiah 59:19

The reality is, that crosses have been removed from many churches also, with the erroneous logic that non-Christians will be more attracted to these churches if the crosses, that they may see as offensive are removed.

The cross of Christ is the central reality, though of God's loving provision for humanity - the means of reconciling sinful man to an all-loving merciful Father God, who longs for individuals and nations to find salvation and hope fulfilled in a world that offers nothing but hopelessness and promises unfulfilled.

The cross of Christ indeed has the final word for humanity. 

Contemporary Christian music group, Newsboys recorded a song several years ago, written by Cody Carnes, called "The Cross Has The Final Word."

Some of the lyrics are:

The cross has the final word

The cross has the final word

Sorrow may come in the darkest night

But the cross has the final word

The cross has the final word

The cross has the final word

Evil may put up its strongest fight

But the cross has the final word

The cross has the final word

The cross has the final word

The saviour has come with the morning light

The cross has the final word

There's nothing stronger, nothing higher

Nothing greater that the Name of Jesus

All the honour, all the power

All the glory to the Name of Jesus

A Senate Inquiry into the forced takeover of Calvary Public Hospital in Canberra is being held later this month. It will be interesting to see the outcome of this parliamentary inquiry, but whatever the outcome, it is clear that this is not a time for Christians to be silent in the face of opposition, but to 

:Arise, shine;

For your light has come!

And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.

For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,

And deep darkness the people;

But the LORD will arise over you

And His glory will be seen upon you.

AUSTRALIA! GET READY! REVIVAL IS COMING!