#EVERYDAYJESUS is the party

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Because of the Truth which lives and stays on in our hearts and will be with us forever: Grace (spiritual blessing), mercy, and [soul] peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ (the Messiah), the Father’s Son, in all sincerity (truth) and love.

And now I beg you, not as if I were issuing a new charge (injunction or command), but [simply recalling to your mind] the one we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.

And what this love consists in is this: that we liveand walk in accordance with and guided by His commandments (His orders, ordinances, precepts, teaching). This is the commandment, as you have heard from the beginning, that you continue to walk in love [guided by it and following it].

For many imposters (seducers, deceivers, and false leaders) have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge (confess, admit) the coming of Jesus Christ (the Messiah) in bodily form. Such a one is the imposter (the seducer, the deceiver, the false leader, the antagonist of Christ) and the antichrist.

Anyone who runs on ahead [of God] and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ [who is not content with what He taught] does not have God; but he who continues to live in the doctrine (teaching) of Christ [does have God], he has both the Father and the Son.

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine [is disloyal to what Jesus Christ taught], do not receive him [do not accept him, do not welcome or admit him] into [your] house or bid him Godspeedor give him any encouragement.

For he who wishes him success [who encourages him, wishing him Godspeed] is a partaker in his evil doings.
 Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]

So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?

Remember your leaders and superiors in authority [for it was they] who brought to you the Word of God. Observe attentively and consider their manner of living (the outcome of their well-spent lives) and imitate their faith (their conviction that God exists and is the Creator and Ruler of all things, the Provider and Bestower of eternal salvation through Christ, and their leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness).

Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is [always] the same, yesterday, today, [yes] and forever (to the ages).

Do not be carried about by different and varied and alien teachings; for it is good for the heart to be established and ennobled and strengthened by means of grace (God’s favor and spiritual blessing) and not [to be devoted to] foods [rules of diet and ritualistic meals], which bring no [spiritual] benefit or profit to those who observe them.

So let’s go outside, where Jesus is, where the action is—not trying to be privileged insiders, but taking our share in the abuse of Jesus. This “insider world” is not our home. We have our eyes peeled for the City about to come. Let’s take our place outside with Jesus, no longer pouring out the sacrificial blood of animals but pouring out sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus’ name.

Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship—a different kind of “sacrifice”—that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets.

#EVERYDAYJESUS is (skin deep)er with me!

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He is with me

When shame covers me until I am choking

When it leaves me feeling like trash

When contempt cuts through my heart

Such that I am bleeding to death

He is with me

 

He is with me

When I suffer prejudice

When bias makes me question my own good intentions

When the words of my love vocabulary

Appears to fail me

When I am sorely misunderstood

That I even fail to understand myself

He is with me

 

He is with me

When ‘neglect’ is just not good enough to say how I feel

When I feel as though I am an ‘after-thought’

When I feel rejection and humiliation

Such that I have a perfect blend of a distasteful ‘emoconcotion’

When the sharp sourness of this emoconcotion cuts through my pride

Sharper than a diamond sword

Until pain makes me weak and speechless

That I fail to rise above the lethargy within

He remains just there with me

 

He is with me

When human words fails my heart expressions

When I know just a few words to tell exactly how I feel

He groans within me with Words deeper than words

Because He forever remains with and in me

 

He is with me

When pain dries the fountain of my tears

Such that my greatest need becomes to weep

So that my pains might be washed away

I know He is yet with me

 

He is with me

When I feel lonely and all alone

When I feel as though I have just ‘me’

When ‘me’ is not sure if she should remain with me

He will never fail me

Because He is right there with me

 

He is with me

Even when I am wrong

When I am unmerciful and finger-pointing

When I stray from the love lane

Such that I feel as though I have failed

His love will never fail

Because He loves to be right with me

 

He is with me

When the seeming cold hands of death come for me

When I know that my time has come

I warm up in child-like excitement

For I know that death has lost its sting on me

So I need not fret or fear

Because He will as always wrap me in His love consuming

Such that my heart quakes and my spirit blushes

In earnest expectation for my great hibernation

Which ushers me to the redeeming consummation

Away from this fallen home that I live in

To that incorruptible home, the kind that Man Jesus lives in

That body which has no limitations and barrier

I know my rejoicing would know no bound

For again He will be with me

 

He is with you

Even when guilt seems to be blinding your sight

When you are clueless and running away in blind shame

Such that you appear to have fallen into the strong arms of the enemy

Just quit your packing to the ‘no home’ place

You see, He never gives a quit notice

Because even if you still choose to leave

He just can never ever leave you

 

Jesus will ever be with you through the thick and the thin

He is that friend who sticks closer than a kin

Because He is indeed closer and deeper than your skin

And it definitely will not depend on what you feel or think

He will never leave you or abandon you

 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? …No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord– Romans 8: 35-39 (NIV)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: AND THE SHOFAR BLEW- By Francine Rivers

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Title: And the Shofar Blew
Author: Francine Rivers
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Reviewer: Chinwendu Emenike

And The Shofar Blew is a work of fiction that teaches humility, patience, temperance and forgiveness. It centers on a church and the community in which it is situated.
We’ll sink our teeth into this review with a look at the book’s main characters:

Eunice Hudson: Wife of Paul Hudson, mother of Timmy. A prayerful, quiet and humble wife. She helps to appease members of the church that her husband had unknowingly angered. However she almost fell into sin with

Stephen Decker. But her tenacity is admirable. Her strength of character is borne out when she, confronted with the fact that her husband was cheating with Sheila Atherton, is able to forgive him.

Paul Hudson: Pastor of Centerville Christian Church. Dedicated firebrand who loves the work of God; a good husband and father- until he is called to pastor Centerville Christian Church. He does well initially, but his pride and pursuit of material things gets the better of him. His fall comes as a result of his trying to measure up to the perceived success of his televangelist-father. His involvement in some unsavory things is portrayed as resulting from this.

Samuel Mason:  One of the first three elders of the church, he brought Paul in to pastor the church. He’s a careful man, wise, prayerful, patient, and loves his wife Abby very much. He brings to light what “old-age romance” feels like. Also a persistent intercessor.

Stephen Decker: Mason, architect, carpenter, Jack-of-all-trades, rehabilitating alcoholic, a divorcee with a runaway daughter. Gives his life to Christ while listening to one of Paul’s preachings from his early pastoral years. Falls in love with

Eunice Judson. He fights the lustful temptation, gets close to Samuel Mason, who helps him grow in the Christian faith. Falls out with Paul because of Paul’s changing values. Leaves Centerville and relocates to another town. Reunites with his daughter. Starts up a bible study, and eventually, a church.

This book has helped me understand how important it is to talk to God, and wait patiently for his still, small voice. I’ve also gotten, through this book, some good strategies of how to curb some of my excessive appetites. Like when Stephen was faced with the urge to drink, he took a jog, sang, or prayed, just to distract his mind. He also rightly acknowledged that only Jesus could save him from his addiction- strategy was a mere demonstration of a will to be free, not the solution to addiction.
Two characters in this book whose experience I would relate to are Stephen Decker and Paul Hudson. Stephen Decker, because of his ability to overcome his internal struggles, and Paul, because of his impatience and his ever present need to impress his father which he obviously did wrongly. The book’s description of Paul’s case rings out as a warning to the reader to not get caught up in pursuing so-called standards of accomplishment. What matters in the end is God’s opinion of us as individuals.
My favourite quote from the book is a statement made by Samuel to Stephen at a picnic: “Growth in numbers is a blessing as long as spiritual growth and maturity comes along with it”. Pertinent words which should inspire, but sadly indicts much of Christendom today.
This book speaks to a great number of people and the relevance of its themes makes it a good novel for church leaders, wives, mothers, fathers and people struggling with addiction, to read and learn from.

WWF- The Name Of Jesus Christ!

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John 3:30

He must increase, but I must decrease.

The saying was declared by John the Baptist, when being interrogated concerning Jesus Christ. And how these words must really daily permeate our whole being again and again. How they must control our thinking, if we must always enjoy the evident manifestation of the supernatural of God in our life, just as God has determined for us in Christ Jesus.

This is it, the more you are daily yielded to Jesus Christ, the more the Name of Jesus Christ will be power-commanding in your mouth and life. The Name of Jesus Christ is surely above all names, people, kings, presidents, nations, continents, spirits, devils, sicknesses, situations, weapons of war of all kinds, hoodlums, kidnappers, terrorists, gods/deities, religions, just name it, both in this world and in that which is to come. But this Name can only sufficiently and effectively work in your mouth, in your life and through your life, to the extent that you have been surrendered to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

2Cor. 4:10-11

10

KJV:Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

11

KJV:For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

Beloved, you must see to it that you daily die to self, your own will and things of this world, that the power of Christ may readily flow in and through your life, especially when you call the Name of Jesus Christ.

Shalom.

-Adebayo Funmi
The Simple Life of Christ Ministry