IF JESUS SAID IT, BELIEVE IT!

Source: Google Images

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” - Mark 4: 35 NIV

They set out to go to the other side and Jesus went with them in the boat, we all know what happened, a storm arose and “waves broke over the boat”, now mind you, some of these disciples were fishermen, so it’s safe to assume they had spent many hours at sea and had had to face storms at some point but this time around they were all terrified, this fact alone speaks volumes of the magnitude of that particular storm. Interestingly, right in the middle of that anxiety and panic riddled situation, Christ was comfortably sleeping in the stern of the boat.

Jesus never panicked about anything. He was fast asleep in the boat when the storm hit. The disciples were in such a state of panic that they woke Him up accusing Him of not caring about them...that's what doubt and unbelief will cause one to do - to accuse God! 

Jesus wasn't woken up by the storm, He wasn't bothered by it, He had already told them they were going "over to the other side" His words were absolute – not “Let’s try and see if perhaps we might be able to get to the other side” NO! He said what He meant and meant what He said and He never changes so we can confidently take Him at His Word today.

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” - Mark 4: 39 - 40 NIV

Jesus rebuked the winds and ordered the waves to behave, He then wondered why they STILL didn't have faith, they had seen Him perform many many miracles. He expected them, at least by that time, to believe His words for faith comes by hearing the Word of God. (Romans 10: 17)

Up to that point, none of Jesus’ words had failed, so the disciples didn't have an excuse not to believe Him, they should have believed Him all the way…and so should we today. How many times do we listen to the lies of the enemy of our souls and find ourselves doubting God and His Word and in some cases even going as far as to accuse Him of not caring about us. The devil uses doubt and unbelief to get us to cast away our confidence in the Father’s love for us. Let us not be ignorant of his devices.

The Word of God has been tried and tested and it is forever settled in Heaven. Whenever you are tempted to doubt your Father’s Word or His promises to you, may the Holy Spirit quicken Romans 3:4 within you.

⁴ ·No [Absolutely not; May it never be]! ·God will continue to be true even when every person is false [^LLet God be true and every person a liar]. As the Scriptures say:

“So you will be ·shown to be right [justified] ·when you speak [^Lin your words], and you will ·win your case in court [^Lprevail when you are judged; or prevail when you judge (sin)].” – Romans 3:4 EXB

Source: Google Images

Beloved, when you are in the midst of a seemingly bleak situation remember that He who has promised is faithful and He will do it. Hold on to His promises to you knowing and believing that His words will never fall to the ground. 

God upholds ALL THINGS by the Word of His power (Hebrews 1: 3) so if He says something, it's as good as done - let's trust Him.

Blessings! 

 

ONE BODY, DIFFERENT MEMBERS…

Source: Google Images

4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, - Romans 12:4 NKJV

In our zeal to serve the Lord, we may end up being overwhelmed with all the activities and stuff we've taken upon ourselves simply because we think it is how we are to serve God. But that may be what someone else is called to do, not us. And in most such cases, we think we are pleasing God in doing so, a notion that subtly insinuates that we are not as pleasing to Him when we are not busy doing ministry activities.

The truth is, we are well pleasing to Him whether we are busy ministering or not. We are well pleasing to our Father solely because of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice of Himself for us on that rugged cross, not because of anything we can do on our own.Even before Jesus preached His first sermon or ever did His first miracle, the Father said:

¹⁷ … “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” – Matthew 3:17 ESV 

As members of the Body of Christ, God in His wisdom has already prepared good works for us to walk in, and as we do, we will be fulfilling our respective functions in the Body, automatically! I mean think about it… you don’t tell a hand to be a hand, neither do you need to tell any body part to be that particular body part, it is already that part, you just let each part function as it was created to functions, let fingers do what fingers are supposed to do, legs, feet, arms and everything else likewise and voila… the body works in perfect harmony.

Now take that analogy and apply it to the Body of Christ with its different members, each functioning as it was graced and equipped to function, what love, what power, what grace and all so effortlessly, or so it would seem!

You see beloved, just like Archippus was instructed (Colossians 4:17); we’ll do well to take heed to fulfill our ministries. Now how do we TAKE HEED to fulfill our ministries?

One way we take heed to fulfill our ministries is by simply sitting at the feet of Jesus and receiving from Him, by just enjoying Him and hanging out with Him, just like Mary, Martha’s and Lazarus’ sister. While Martha was busy serving, Mary was relaxing, receiving from the Lord. Martha ended up blaming Jesus and her sister, you see when you try serving God at the expense of your relationship with Him, you will end up blaming God and other members of the Body as well. Being “worried and troubled about many things” while serving God is a sure sign that we've got our priorities mixed up.

But the Lord is ever so gracious:

⁴¹ And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. ⁴² But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” – Luke 10:41-42 NKJV

Mary ended up ministering to Jesus by anointing His feet with a very expensive perfume at the right time; Martha who had been busy serving, missed out on the opportunity.

Source: Google Images

Remember, Jesus said He only did what He saw the Father doing. How did He see and hear the Father? He was in constant fellowship with Him, that’s how! He is now calling us to do likewise. We are in Him and He is in us, we are one with Him already, so fellowship with the Godhead is as natural as breathing to us!

There’s no formula, just do it, speak to Him and expect Him to speak to you, share your day with Him, talk to Him about stuff you’re facing, discuss things with Him, get to know Him and to know His voice intimately. He is extremely interested in what’s going on in your life.

Follow His leading into the good works He has already prepared for you!  

UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES

Source: Google Images

For three and a half years Jesus preached, taught, healed, forgave sin, performed miracles, cast out demons, prophesied etc but He never did this one thing until after His resurrection from the dead.

⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. – Luke 24:45 NIV

This fact tells me that before their minds were opened, they couldn't understand the Scriptures, it’s not that they didn't know the Scriptures, no! This reminds me of another place where Jesus rebuked the Pharisees who were busy searching and studying the Scriptures. This is what Jesus said to them:

³⁹ You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, ⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to me to have life.– John 5:39-40 NIV

Even though the Pharisees, the Priests and the Scribes could cite, paraphrase and quote the Scriptures every-which-way, they still didn't get it. They lacked an understanding of what they were reading, their minds were closed. They professed to live by the Scriptures but as it turns out, they were clueless.

You will recall that the Priests even showed Herod from Scripture, where the messiah would be born, but they didn't clue in that He was already born, they had information but hardly any revelation. Outside of Christ our minds are closed to the truth and revelation of the Word of God.

There was a time earlier when Jesus wanted to tell His disciple some things but He couldn't – not He wouldn't – because they were not ready to hear what He had to say; they simply wouldn't have understood Him. He was in a way limited in what He could share with them; so instead, this is what He said to them:

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. – John 16:12-13 NIV

In Christ, our minds are opened to understand the Scriptures. He opens our minds to see Him in the Scriptures, just like He did on the road to Emmaus. Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus actually explained to them everything concerning himself (Luke 24:27), most likely they had heard all those accounts of Scripture before but never really knew what they exactly meant. No wonder their hearts burned as He unveiled himself to them through the Scriptures.

Source: Google Images

Jesus is the Word of God that became flesh, so when the Holy Spirit opens our minds to understand the Scriptures, He is essentially revealing Jesus to us. May Christ, the Living Word, fill us with revelation and understanding in knowing Him, for it is His desire to continually reveal Himself to us as we spend time in the Word. The more we see Him in the Scriptures, the more we are transformed into His image and likeness and the more we reflect His glory.

When we study the Scriptures, let us determine to see Jesus in them and nothing else. It is my prayer that the Holy Spirit will continue to reveal Jesus in a fresh and relevant way to us for He delights in revealing Jesus to us, in us and through us to the glory of God!

ETERNAL LIFE, NOW!

Source: Google Images

The Word of God is clear, we are spiritually dead until we come to faith in Christ and the moment we do, our dead spirits are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and we became born again. The Word of God makes it abundantly clear that at one point we were spiritually dead in our sins.

¹ As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, - Ephesians 2:1 NIV

And again,

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, - Colossians 2:13 NIV

And yet again,

…made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. – Ephesians 2:5 NIV

When we hear the Good News of what God has done for us through Christ and we believe that Jesus was raised from the dead and we confess Him as our Lord we become a brand new creation. On the outside we might still look the same, have the same physical features and all, but inwardly we have been transformed into a brand new species that has never existed before. Our spirits are alive and joined to God, we've become one with deity!

¹⁷ Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! – 2 Corinthians 5:17 AMP

We receive His life in us, through His power, we become partakers of His divine nature, we can now relate to God as our Father for our spirits are now alive and joined to His, we've become one with Him. We get to know, commune and fellowship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. How awesome is that!

¹⁷ But the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him. – 1 Corinthians 6:17 AMP

We now have the privilege of knowing the Father and knowing Christ intimately; and that my friends, is eternal life, which shouldn't be limited to or confused with living forever, because everyone will live forever – either in heaven or in hell. Knowing God is now our never ending pursuit and delight and will be throughout eternity. The Apostle Paul with all the revelations he'd received, his one desire was "that I may know Him..."(Philippians 3:10)

³ And this is eternal life: that people can know you, the only true God, and that they can know Jesus Christ, the one you sent. – John 17:3 ERV

Source: Google Images

Put your trust in Jesus today, if you haven’t already, and start enjoying your Heavenly Father and all He has for you, you’ll be glad you did!

The Word of God says:

I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). – John 10:10b AMP

In Christ and through Him abundant life is ours to enjoy, not only that but we also have this wonderful opportunity and privilege to share it with others around us.

Blessings! 

WANT TO PLEASE GOD? LIVE BY FAITH

Source: Google Images

Because of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice for Himself on the cross for our redemption, today when we believe in Him and in what He has done to reconcile us back to Himself, we become children of God. The Word of God declares:

¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: - John 1:12 NKJV

Now, as children of God, we are declared holy and righteous by faith in what Jesus has done, not because of anything we have done. Now that we are just and righteous before God, we are not to live our lives relying on or being limited by our five senses – we are to live by faith. The just or the righteous shall live by faith as Romans 1:16-17 declares.

We cannot please God by our performance, willpower, determination or by anything else we can produce on our own, the only way we can please Him is by having faith in what He has already done for us through Christ, no wonder the Word of God makes it plain that “without faith it is impossible to please God” Hebrews 11:6 and the same Word reminds us of this truth:

        … for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. – Romans 14:23b KJV

Contrary to the popular definition of sin in many circles, under the New Covenant which is based on better promises than the old, sin is anything and everything that is not based on faith in Christ and His finished work, however noble or righteous it may seem. Think about that!

Having faith in what God has already done for us through Christ will result in us doing what He said we can do through Him. In other words, our faith in Him will empower us to act accordingly. We may claim, confess and proclaim that we have faith all we want but if there’s no corresponding action to demonstrate our faith, then our faith is as good as dead, remember what James the Apostle said?

¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. – James 2:17 NIV

Now, how do we acquire this “faith”? Do we fast and pray for it? Do we get some anointed minister to lay hands on us and impart faith into us? Absolutely not! If anyone tells you they can pray for others to have faith, you may have just found a customer for this mountain I’m selling, Mount Kilimanjaro – you’ll get your commission as soon as the transaction is complete. I jest of course… :)

For starters, faith is always in the present tense "Now faith is..." Hebrews 11:1 defines it. Faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8) and He has given each one of us the measure of faith (Romans 12:3) and faith also comes by hearing the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17).Every believer has faith already, nowhere in the New Testament were believers ever told to pray for faith, they were believers, so logically, they already had faith. Instead they were encouraged to fight the good fight of faith, to contend for the faith, to stand firm in faith, to live by faith etc.

Source: Google Images

When Jesus prayed for Peter, He didn't pray that Peter would have faith, but that his faith, which he (Peter) already had, would fail not.. (Luke 22:32) When the disciples asked Him to increase their faith, He essentially told them they had enough faith already, they just needed to use it, remember the mustard seed example He gave? (Luke 17:5-6)

So beloved, rest assured since Jesus is your Lord and Savior, you have been crucified with Him, you now have His faith in you, live your life by it and echo Apostle Paul’s words “the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20)

Blessings!

THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE - Part 4 By Daniel J. Musokwa

Daniel J. Musokwa

Here is the Fourth and final (at least for now) installment in this series titled, “The Christian Doctrine” by a good friend and dear brother of mine Daniel J. Musokwa, Founder and General Overseer of The New Testament Ministries Tanzania. 

I would strongly encourage everyone to read the preceding three installments in this series. They can be found at these links. Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

*******************************************

Let us see the total sum of the DOCTRINE OF CHRIST, other than teaching people to accept Him as their personal Saviour and Lord:

• Titus 2:2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and SOUND in faith, in love and in endurance.

• Titus 2:3-5 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

• Titus 2:6-8 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. IN YOUR TEACHING show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

• Titus 2:9-10 Teach slaves (workers) to be subject to their masters (employers) in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the TEACHING about God our Saviour attractive.

• Titus 2:11-14 For the GRACE OF GOD that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to:

• Say "NO" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to
• live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, EAGER to do what is good.

Source: Google Images

Grace is NOT that thing that says “just sin, it’s ok, I’ll cover you!” NO. Grace is that thing that says “say ‘NO’ to ungodliness and worldly passions. Live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age!”

Titus 2:15 These, then, are the things you should teach. ENCOURAGE and REBUKE with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

According to Paul, those above (Titus 2:1-15) are the things we should teach (our doctrine). He further says that we are to ENCOURAGE and REBUKE with ALL authority within the safety of these doctrinal parameters! Then if that is, in fact, your doctrine he says “do not let anyone despise you!”

You will not understand the doctrine of Christ if:

1.       You cannot distinguish between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

2.      You do not understand the Old Testament sacrificial system which ended with Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice.

3.      You cannot distinguish between LAW and GRACE.

4.      You cannot understand that the words of Jesus in the FOUR GOSPELS and the Book of REVELATION are “spiritual words.”

5.      You cannot understand the analogy of the “Body of Christ” to the anatomy and physiology of the human body.

6.      You do not understand the concept of God as the personification of LOVE and JEALOUSY.

7.      You still erroneously think that man is a FREE MORAL AGENT! 

a.      If you think man that is a “free moral agent” or that he has a “free will,” then your ‘understanding’ of GRACE rests on a faulty and false assumption of God’s sovereignty! Yes God is sovereign, but if your will to sin is out of God’s sovereign control, then our God is in trouble – don’t you think?

b.      Man is ACCOUNTABLE for his sins, but God is ultimately RESPONSIBLE for man’s sin! (How can you say that Dan? How can you attribute evil to God? Shouldn’t you at least blame it on the Devil? As you will see, it is not about “blame.” God never blames anyone, not even the Devil! Ouch! We’ll see what the Bible teaches).

8.     You do not understand the HOLY SPIRIT as the SPIRIT OF CHRIST.

9.      You do not understand the utter NECESSITY and REALITY of the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT in a believer’s life.

10.  You do not walk in LOVE.

1 Corinthians 4:16-17 Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of MY way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.

You gotta love Paul! He said “mind your LIFE and DOCTRINE” because the two are inseparable! Your life is equal to your doctrine which SHOULD BE equal to the doctrine of Christ!

Your Life = Your Doctrine = The Doctrine of Christ

Source: Google Images

Paul was so confident and comfortable with Christ’s Doctrine in his own life that in the above verse he says “I urge you to IMITATE ME.” That is quite a statement! ‘Yeah Brother Daniel, but that was Apostle Paul.’ So what? Did he receive a different Holy Ghost from us? Was he being conformed to a different image of Christ than we are being conformed into? Pastors, live your lives such that you can truly be able to say to your parishioners “I urge you to imitate me!” That’s not bigoted; it’s just good doctrine, bless God! Then he says “I am sending you Timothy… he will remind you of MY way of life in Christ Jesus… which AGREES with WHAT I TEACH everywhere in every church!” 

We need to percolate and marinate in that for a while, it doeth the heart good.

Here’s more…

Hebrews 6:12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to IMITATEthose who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

And more…

Hebrews 13:7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of THEIR WAY OF LIFEand IMITATEtheir faith.

In fact the DOCTRINE of any man or woman of God MUST be such that you can IMITATE them without being ashamed when you stand under the scrutiny of the Doctrine of Christ. Is the life of the one you are listening to characterized by sacrifice or selfishness? Do they fear God or man? Are their lives an illustration of total devotion to God or are they hedonistic and sly? Can you imitate them with total scriptural confidence? Better still, what about your own life? Knowing that you are the salt of the earth and all; can you confidently tell new believers to imitate your way of life and see you as an open letter to the world? Just food for thought for all of us. Remember; don’t beat yourself up over the head with a giant spoon, we all need to grow. The most important thing is; how thirsty are we? How much do we desire Christ-likeness and the sound Doctrine of Christ in our lives? 

Are we ready to pay the price?

Finally my friends…

“Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange(alien) teachings…– Hebrews 13:9

Source: Google Images

I was talking about “The Christian Doctrine.” Be careful how you hear friends. There are so many traditions of men looming large in the church which have no foundation or insinuation whatsoever in the Scriptures. We couldn’t even try to learn to be equal with Christ in mind and likeness if we do not understand and assimilate into ourselves, the Doctrine of Christ. Otherwise we would remain just good Christians; healing the sick here and there in His name… may be a few dead raisings and miracles… and that’s about it… we’ve missed it. Watch your LIFE and DOCTRINE my friend, that way you will save yourself and your hearers.

Shalom friends.

<<<THE END>>>

Daniel can be reached at: 

Daniel J. Musokwa,
General Overseer,
New Testament Ministries - TZ,
P.O. Box 2590,
Mbeya,
Tanzania
0715-905001 (SMS only)

kainos.diatheke@gmail.com