FORESIGHT OF THE MASTER PLANNER - Journey From Mere Dust To Divinity

THE ORIGINAL PLAN – The Glory of God Eph.1:3-6


Christ In You, The Hope Of Glory – Journey From Mere Dust To Divinity

Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Col.1:26-27.

I remember when I was a child and I used to have this fascination about the hidden secret, or cryptic truth that makes a human being function. I used to stare continuously at people to try and ascertain what made them speak, see, hear, breathe. Although these are simple biological processes to someone who has a bit of knowledge of biology; to me as a child it was something that needed to be discovered. So knowing then that God was the creator of every human being I tried to analyse, I would raise up my index finger when my analysis hit the boundaries of the knowledge I was equipped with as a child. I raised the index finger to confirm that, there is only one Almighty GOD, and he is the only supreme being and the creator of the world (Being brought up in a Muslim family and this I believe was a Muslim thing). I have since then asked untold number of questions and had untold mysteries concerning This Almighty God that now as an adult (due to so much curiousity as a child) I have gotten used to not using my right index finger for anything other than what is directly connected to God. (Please if there are any religious folks reading this post; this is not a doctrine – just a personal thing).

There is nothing in this world that man knows everything about; the dictionary describes mystery as anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown: the mysteries of nature. Or, as any affair, thing, or person that presents features or qualities so obscure as to arouse curiosity or speculation. Ray Stedman explains it thus:

God understands us so thoroughly that he has hidden mystery in everything in life. We do not know anything fully. There is always an element we don't understand. Even terms we commonly use, such as love and joy and life itself, are basically mysterious to us. We know they are absolutely essential to our existence, but we don't know what they are. We struggle constantly trying to understand what are the great realities they represent.

This is true in every area of our lives. Even physicists tell us that, hidden away in every physical manifestation of the world and universe around us, is mystery. The quantum theory, upon which much of modern physics is based, and which has unleashed the whole realm of nuclear fission, has at its heart, say the physicists, a principle of indeterminism, a hidden principle. It states that we never can discover fully the truth about anything; there is an element of hidden information about every subject we go into.

We are ever confronted with mystery. It is mystery which makes life entrancing, fascinating. And God understands this. It is why the Scriptures say, "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing; but the glory of kings is to search it out," {cf, Prov 25:2 RSV}. God knows that we all want to be kings, that we are made to reign. And the glory of kings is to discover that which has been hidden.

Apostle Paul got some of these hidden information this time concerning our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ (Eph. 5:32) and made it known to the Church:

How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ): Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; Eph.3:3-5

That this mysteries, this many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects, through the church, might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) in the heavenly sphere.

And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Eph.3:9-11

We as Christians have to vigorously seek to know and in turn pass on these mysteries {1 Cor 4:1 RSV}; Ray Stedman continues:

The "mysteries" are the sacred secrets that God knows about life, which men desperately need to know. Think of this! This is what Paul says we Christians are -- beginning with apostles, and including everyone who names the name of Christ -- we are servants of Christ, and stewards, responsible servants, given the responsibility of dispensing the mysteries of God, of helping people understand these great secrets which explain life and make it possible to solve the difficulties and problems of our human affairs. To us is committed this responsibility. This is how Paul sees himself -- as a steward of the mysteries of God.

To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles

Now as Apostle Paul goes on to tell us in verse 32 of Romans 3 – “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” sin is supposed to qualify us for the wrath of God; but He has instead of wrath prepared us unto glory. Watchman Nee explains:

“In Romans 3:23 we read: “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God”. God’s purpose for man was glory, but sin thwarted that purpose by causing man to forfeit God’s glory. When we think of sin we instinctively think of the judgment it brings; we invariably associate it with condemnation and hell. Man’s thought is always of the punishment that will come to him if he sins, but God’s thought is always of the glory man will forfeit if he sins. The result of sin is that we forfeit God’s glory: the result of redemption is that we are qualified again for glory.

God in His omniscience, have total and absolute control concerning His purposes. From the beginning to the very end

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory. Rom. 9:21-23

Ray Stedman explains:

What Paul is saying in all this is that God may have purposes and objectives that we do not see. And doesn't he have the right to do it? And what if one of those objectives is not only to display his power and his wrath by allowing and permitting man to oppose him and to resist him, but also to display his amazing patience and longsuffering this way? Did you ever think about that? Did you ever think of how, for centuries and centuries, God has put up with the snarling, nasty, blasphemous, accusing remarks of men, and has done nothing to them? He has listened to all the cheap, shoddy, vulgar things that men say about him, and allowed them to treat him with hostility and anger and never does a thing but patiently endure it and put up with it. Paul says, "What if God does all that. What if it takes that kind of a display of the wrath of God and the patience of God to bring those of us whom he chooses to himself?" Something has to appear to us that makes us understand God. We are not being forced to come to him, we are drawn to him. Therefore we have to respond, and something must make us respond. Is it not the wrath of God and the patience of God that draws us on?

It is relatively easy to teach or listen to these mysteries of God but they don’t easily bear fruit. Apostle Paul prayed that - “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints”. Eph.1:18.

Ray Stedman observed in Turned On By Prayer:

It isn't enough simply to teach truth. It isn't enough to spread doctrine. It isn't enough to have a Bible class in which you are getting the students to learn certain facts from the Scriptures. The Apostle Paul, and the other great leaders of the early church, understood man much better than that. You never get the whole man until the heart is moved, until the eyes of the heart are enlightened, until truth is moved from the head down to the heart, and thus it has gripped the emotions. Then the will is properly motivated. Then the person begins to grow tremendously.

So what an encouragement this is to a ministry of prayer! Pray for one another. Pray for the class that you teach. Pray for your children -- that the truth they are learning, both at home and at Sunday school, will become vivid to them. How many times have we allowed them merely to learn factual matters, and have never prayed about it, and then wondered why the truth doesn't seem to affect them very much. Pray for your father and mother -- that the truth they are learning may change their hearts so that they will be easier to get along with. Pray for your husband, pray for your wife -- that this enlightenment of the heart may come. See how Paul understands this and how he stresses it with us. He says, "For this reason ..." there is no use teaching you this truth unless I also pray for you, unless prayer changes your life so that you are 'turned on,' so that your hearts come alive with the truth of God." And, if we do the same, we will understand that God has designed truth to make its appeal to the whole of our humanity, the whole being, the whole man, and we will become whole in Christ.

It is these prayers that we pray for one another concerning the mysteries of God especially that strengthens us internally -

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man Eph.3:16.

It is this prayers that also bring in the comfort that is the fruit of unity –

“That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”. Col. 2:2-3.

Christ in you, the hope of glory

Prayer:

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this revelation of the way we are made. Thank you for the wisdom of the Apostle Paul, who knew that you can't simply pour out so many facts, write them down in a letter, and expect to have people grasp them and live by them. There must be the bending of the knee, the opening of the heart, the imploring of the Spirit, the bathing of the truth, the Word, in prayer, so that it becomes vital, living, attractive, compelling. Lord, help us to pray for each other. We need this truth greatly today, and we pray that you will drive it home to us with clarity and with power, in Jesus' name, Amen.

Enough is REALLY Enough

All things work together for good to them that love God.


“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28.
 
Apologies, we have not had another post since 03/01 due to the fact that some urgent issues had to be addressed, we will get back on the Roman Highway this week.
 
How great is our God, last Friday, I had to travel out my city to London for a protest march against injustice and bad governance in my country and due to the fact that on my way back I needed to catch the last bus at 3.00am from my city centre to my place, I decided to leave London earlier. As my ticket was for 11.30 pm to arrive at 3.30 am (by which time the last bus from Manchester city centre would have left), I decided to see if I would be allowed on an earlier coach from London; but despite there being some space on the 6.30 pm coach, the ticket lady declined to let me on and even marked my ticket so that there was no way I could leave before 11.30pm.
 
I felt so bad and decided to hang around for 5 hours. And then just about 1 hour later all the passengers on the coach I was not allowed on were brought back into the station because the coach that was taking them had broken down; so they had to be brought back for another coach to take them. As the new coach was bigger than the one that broke down they had to allow me to travel with them (with free coffee as well).
 
This was around 10.00pm which meant I could still make it back to Manchester for around 2.30 to catch the last bus. But a change of drivers and some traffic on the way delayed the coach and we didn’t get to Manchester until 3.30am (30 INUTES LATE FOR THE LAST BUS). Although the delay presented me with the chance to discuss the gospel with the passenger sat next to me.
 
But guess what! On arriving at the bus stop, the bus was still there – some guy from somewhere had done something that broke the window of the bus and the controller had to call for a replacement bus which meant every one have to wait for like 30 minutes for the replacement bus to arrive.
 
As I got on the replacement bus I just thought “HOW GREAT IS THIS OUR GOD” and just “HOW MUCH IN CONTROL OF ALL THINGS HE IS” “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28.
 
I could say sorry to those that were delayed on the coach from London and bus in Manchester but:
 
"The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." Proverbs 10:22 

"WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE"

 

What a mighty God we serve

What a mighty God we serve

The angels bow before Him

Heaven and earth adore Him

What a mighty God we serve.

God  Bless

“Come to me”

http://www.sabaothmin.org/page_1256606716398.html

Come unto me, ALL YE that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

As the Holiday period has drawn past and we find ourselves in another decade and year; with so many people haven already broken New Year resolutions made 48 hours ago; one cannot help but think about the inability of man to live a morally just life by himself.

Just before the holiday we saw in Copenhagen, the plotting and scheming of men in another phase of their quest to make us believe that man can exist without God; that instead of man worshipping God (The Creator), he should instead (indirectly) worship the earth (the creation); thus in the process hand over more reign (in this case sovereignty of nations and peoples) to the enemy of God; the serpent as Adam and Eve did in the beginning.

“Worshiping the earth” not necessarily just in the sense of worsening climate conditions and decimation of natural resources (all which need to be addressed as we even have to account for our stewardship of these gifts): But also the ever worsening rat race of self centred aggrandisement; "me myself and I" – The ever increasingly deadly pursuit of wealth, fame, knowledge, power and position that is dangerously wearing man out.

I just want to briefly say something about man’s deviation from the lofty and free provision of the Master planner as evidenced from the invitation made by our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ in Matthew 11:28 - “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” - much needed rest from the rat race so many in our world today are trapped in; rat race that makes the people that are supposed to be led and even more worrying those that are supposed to lead the people engage in a perpetual shadow chasing of wealth, fame, knowledge, power and position that is or in most cases stripped them of every pinch of personal convictions.

Our world today is in dire need of a prompt acceptance of this straight forward invitation like Charles Spurgeon puts it in the sermon Powerful Persuasives (No. 3502) {Click here to read sermon}:

So sweet an invitation demands a spontaneous acceptance. Come just as you are. "Come unto me," saith Christ. He does not say, "Come when you have washed and cleansed yourself." Rather should you come to be cleansed. He does not say, "Come when you have clothed yourself and made yourself beautiful with good works." Come to be made beautiful in a better righteousness than you can wear. Come naked, and let him gird thee with fine linen, cover thee with silk, and deck thee with jewels. He does not say, "Come when your conscience is tender, come when your heart is penitent, when your soul is full of loathing for sin, and your mind is enlightened with knowledge and enlivened with joy. But ye that labour, ye that are heavy laden, he bids you to come as you are. Come oppressed with your burdens, begrimed with your labours, dispirited with your toils. If the load that bends you double to the earth be upon your shoulders? just come as you are. Take no plea in your mouth but this—he bids you come. That shall suffice as a warrant for your coming, and a security for your welcome. If Jesus Christ bids you, who shall say you nay?

Charles Spurgeon in further went on to say:

This must be your cry if you are to be accepted at all. Come, then, ye that labour, ye horny-handed sons of toil. Come ye to Jesus. He invites you. Ye that stew and toil for wealth, ye merchants, with your many cares, labourers ye are. He bids you come. Ye students, anxious for knowledge, chary of sleep, burning out the midnight oil. Ye labour with exhausted brains; therefore, come. Come from struggling after fame. Ye pleasure—seekers, come; perhaps there is no harder toil than the toil of the man who courts recreation and thinks he is taking his ease. Come, ye that labour in any form or fashion; come to Jesus—to Jesus alone. And ye that are heavy laden; ye whose official duties are a burden; ye whose domestic cares are a burden; ye whose daily toils are a burden; ye whose shame and degradation are a burden, all ye that are heavy laden, come and welcome. If I attach no exclusive spiritual signification to these terms, it is because there is nothing in the chapter that would warrant such a restriction. Had Christ said, "Some of you that labour and are heavy laden may come," I would have said "some" too. Howbeit he has not said "some," but "all" "that labour and are heavy laden." It is wonderful how people twist this text about.

It not surprising that someone could say “what makes Him think he can give anyone rest?” or even “who is He to give anyone rest?” These Questions, as they could be asked by the morally deficient individual, or even the morally astute person; can also be asked by those who want to please God by their own works.

For the believer who want to please God by their own works Spurgeon says point them to Christ and nothing else; he went on to say:

To trust in a crucified Saviour is the way of salvation. Let him leave everything else and fly away to Christ, and look at his dear wounds as he hangs upon the cross. I am afraid many people are detained from Christ by becoming entangled in the meshes of doctrine. Some with heterodox doctrine, others with orthodox doctrine, content themselves. They think that they have advanced far enough They flatter their souls that they have ascertained the truth! But the fact is, it is not the truth as a letter which, saves anybody. It is the truth as a person—it is Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life, whom we need to apprehend.

ANDREW MURRAY deals more with this in ABIDE IN CHRIST

{Click here to read ABIDE IN CHRIST}:

Spurgeon answers these questions with these points:

1. HE IS THE APPOINTED MEDIATOR.


The Father hath delivered all things into his keeping. He is the authorised Saviour

All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Matthew 11:27

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth. Rev. 3:7

This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:11-12

2. A WELL-FURNISHED MEDIATOR


Sum up all that the sinner wants, and you will find him able to supply you with all. pardon; change of heart; be purged from the love of sin; wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. It is all in Christ.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14

3. HE IS AN INCONCEIVABLY GREAT MEDIATOR.

He is too excellent for our puny understanding to estimate his worth. None but the infinite God can comprehend his value as a Saviour

All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Matthew 11:27

4. HE IS AN INFINITELY WISE MEDIATOR.

He is a mediator who understands both persons on whose behalf he mediates: He understands you And He knows God's requirements.

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. John 3:36

Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Romans 7:12

5. HE IS AN INDISPENSABLE MEDIATOR.


Christ knows the Father; no one else knows him, save the Son. There is none other that can approach unto God. It is Christ for your Saviour, or no Saviour at all. Salvation is in no other; and if you will not have Christ, neither can you have salvation.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6


Meanwhile, seek to be set free trap of the rat race today and seek the righteousness then the REST that really counts:


The Spirit of God is working; in all the devastation we see before us, the love of Christ remains a constant tangible presence of compassion and love. He sends His angels to comfort us, a gift from the Father above. So rest in the comforting knowledge in the promise that always rings true: That God the Father is ever present, protecting and ministering to you.

You might say – "Why do I have to know and experience this Father you are going on about" Here is why, when and how you can be ready by getting to know Him.

Admit your spiritual need.

We all are sinners: nobody likes that title “SINNER”, but the bible says in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”.

What is the result of sin?

In Romans 6:23 we read “The wages of sin is death…” in other words, every sin is another step towards death. One thing that we need to remember is that God never sends anyone to hell; one can send himself there by rejecting the truth.

Since we can never measure up to God’s standards by our own strength; God has reached out to mankind.

John 3:16-17. In Romans 5:8 we read, “God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. It is Jesus, after all, who is the source of life’s greatest high.

What must a person do to accept this gift?

Simply receive it! Matthew 11:28 states –“come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…for my yoke is easy and my burden is light”.

Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me” Jesus stands at the door of your heart and knocks, seeking entrance into your life to give you peace, change you for the best. John 1:12 says: “For as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God”.

If you haven't already received Christ as your Saviour, don't put it off another day! Take time right now to invite Him into your life. Confess your sins. Receive His forgiveness and the gift of eternal life. You might pray something like this:

Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner in need of a Savior. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. Thank You for giving me eternal life. Help me to live my life in a way that pleases You, for whatever time You give me here on earth. I look forward to living forever in Heaven with You. Amen.