Jan | 14 | Twitter this, Twitter that!

INTEGRITY

Twitter this, Twitter that!

John 1:15
John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'" NKJV

John was of course born before Jesus. In terms of birth then and also of starting his ministry, John was revealed to Israel before Christ. However, he was not ‘the main event’ and he knew it. Indeed, John knew that it his ministry was given to him by the Father of sacrifice and his message was about the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world. John was the primary plough sent to churn up the soil and make it ready to receive the Seed. So, John brought with him a purposeful cutting and churning, a great disturbance and with it, the exposing of clods and worms to the light. Yes, his ministry was truly a ‘turning’ and a ‘turning over’ ministry. Even so, with sweat and pushing perseverance like a good servant taking care of His masters field, John proclaimed his message knowing that the Seed which was honored before both him and everyone, was He who had eternal life in Him and was ready to be sewn into that same turned over earth and in the so doing would sprout such goodness, that it would redeem all who might feed on Him.

John knew the purpose of his ministry, you see, and he also knew intimately that great truth which not only empowered his ministry but would also soon so greatly offended the religious scribes, Pharisees and other associated hypocrites, and he captured and proclaimed this truth of Christ’s superb superiority in a simple but all encompassing statement, declaring that: in place, space and John’s personal point in time, “He was before me.”

John knew he had a beginning in God and he also knew that the Christ had no beginning and no end.

Now, if I might put it like this: Every Christian and especially every preacher should have this particular ‘baptism of John’ which makes the proclaiming of Christ both the object and objective of all that we say and do. In doing this, especially the preachers, we must become ever diminishing. Now then, in this age of global marketing, when a preacher and his success is strangely measured by the size of his social media following, his book sales, and his app downloads, we find the devil of the all encompassing religious industry reaching into every area of church life and, God help us all, Satan’s main sales representative is more often than not the preacher himself, ever toting the next new thing. I tell you, un-friend the man who protects himself, promotes himself and projects himself, for with just a closer squinty eyed look, every elect saint should be able to read the branding embroidered on every piece of his smart clothing and perceive most easily that strange watermark embedded in every page of his writing. Do you see it Christian? It reads: “I never knew you.”

I say to you then, that if Christ does not know such men, then neither should you. The great purpose of the church on earth, and its preachers in particular, is to hold up the Savior in all His superb superiority, and to do that, we must all somehow keep ourselves out of view by always directing all men to Jesus as being the undivided object of all our focus, affection and honor.

This is how to truly WITNESS to Christ. Twitter that!


Listen:- John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.' He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:27-30 NKJV

Pray: -  Father, let the projection and proclamation of Your Son forever increase in us and in the so doing, may we be eclipsed by his greater glory shining forth from us. Amen and amen.

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Dec | 26 | Blinded By The Light

Dream Word -INTEGRITY

Isaiah 42:16
.......I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, And crooked places straight. NKJV

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT

In the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, for centuries, this day after Christmas has been called ‘Boxing Day.’ The etymology of this term is mostly concerned with employees of various sorts, receiving what can only be termed as a ‘Christmas Bonus’ which was given in compensation for their work during the last year or, their work of just yesterday. In any event, these goods, be they brand new or sumptuous left-overs, were given in a box to the less fortunate, hence the name, Boxing Day! I do hope you get a bonus gift this Boxing Day.

Boxing Day in my time and culture is almost as important as Christmas Day, in that it is a continuing of family get-togethers and yes indeed, another meal as big, if not bigger than Christmas day, has been served, incorporating most fully the tastier left-over’s of Christmas lunch! For the chefs of houses, the constant cookers at Christmas time, having the means to produce new dishes and reheat those of yesterday is very important then, so you will understand my disappointment of today, when late last night I had to turn off the AGA, because for some unknown reason, it was popping and overheating. I did of course turn it on again today, however because of its design, the AGA took some 8-10 hours to get up to usable heating speed.

The ‘AGA’ is more of a living creature, or more of a way of living and is a Swedish ‘stored-heat stove and cooker’ invented by Nobel Prize for Physics winner, Industrialist, Dr. Gustaf Dalen. Now, although Acetylene was discovered in 1836 by Edmund Davy and was rediscovered in 1860 by French chemist Marcellin Berthelot (who in fact coined the name ‘acetylene’) it was in fact Dr. Dalén, who whilst working with this most explosive of gases, invented ‘Agamassan (Aga),’ a substrate of Acetylene, to absorb the gas itself and thereby allow safe storage and hence commercial exploitation. So, in 1906, the good Doctor became Chief Engineer at his Gas Accumulator Company (manufacturer and distributor of acetylene) which industrialised the gas and commercialised its use!

Not only was acetylene used in small old fashioned motor vehicle carbide lamps, but also in the vast setting of lighthouses! Indeed, many ‘Dalén lamp’ lighthouses are still in operation today. It was his invention of the ‘solar flow control valve’ that allowed the acetylene lamps used in sea buoys and unmanned lighthouse, to automatically turn themselves off when it was daylight. This invention not only saved 80% of fuel, but also got Dalén his Nobel Prize for Physics. It was his brother, a most famous ophthalmologist, who collected Dalén’s prize that year, because Dalén himself, had been injured and permanently blinded in an acetylene explosion earlier in the year. So, the man that discovered the brightest of lights in his time, was in fact made blind by it!

Whilst Dr. Dalén was recovering at home, he was exposed to the vast amount of work his wife did in trying to prepare and cook for the family. From this now well informed and well cared for position, whilst blind remember, he invented the AGA cooker! Gustaf Dalen, a remarkable philanthropist sharing his Nobel Prize money with his staff! A great optimist and humanitarian, he left inventions in the world which are still being used in both large scale commercial arenas and in the home even today. What he discovered and utilised both hurt him and blinded him, but it did not stop him being a blessing to his family and to others both in his own time and there on after. Admittedly he had help from his family and friends, but Dalén did not allow his handicap to destroy him.

Many of us are going into a New Year handicapped in some way. Maybe the handicap is all the more bitter because it was gained whilst trying to do good, whilst trying to pursue and utilise the light? As far as I can ascertain, Dalén was not a Christian, but you are! The Father said to Israel, the apple of His eye, that He will bring them by a way and lead them in paths not previously known and in doing so He will make the crooked places straight. This is a great promise for the New Year. Take it, it’s a bonus gift for you this Boxing Day.

Listen: - These things I will do for them, and not forsake them. Isaiah 42:16d NKJV

Pray:- Lord, please be my Keeper, be my leader, be my light this coming year, in Jesus name I pray, amen!

Dec | 14 | Mizpah Monuments

Dream Word – INTEGRITY


Genesis 31:48-50 And Laban said,"This heap is a witness between you and me this day." Therefore its name was called Galeed, also Mizpah, because he said, "May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another.” NKJV

Mizpah Monuments

Mizpah is a most misunderstood word. Of course over the centuries it has become at times more of a money-making word than a mystical one, as jewellers and retailers have taken their share of sales from trinkets and lockets, coins and bracelets all bearing the out of context, but cute little phrase of, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent from one another..Mizpah.” It’s all very ‘lovey dovey,’ it’s all very nice, it’s very sweet and it’s all very romantic, but friends, it’s all very wrong!

The context of the covenant cairn of Mizpah was built on one of danger, threat and cursing. You will remember that after over twenty years of well reaped abuse, Jacob finally gets the green light from God to flee away. His old uncle 'Fagin' Laban pursues after Jacob and his family with the total intent on doing him great harm and recovering everything Jacob had taken, which quite frankly, he regarded as his to take! Laban would have done this if it wasn’t for the dream intervention from God which in brief said “Laban, shut it! Laban, watch it.” It was after Jacob and Laban vented to one another their thoughts, that an irreconcilable difference of opinion was finally vocalised. That being the case, there was clear need for separation and a covenant promise not to return into the other person’s life with a desire for revenge and hurt. This was the true context on the cairn at Mizpah. It was in effect a line of demarcation drawn in the deep desert sand which underscored the past life, which was now never to be revisited without a consequent curse of judgement and retribution from God on high.

There is a need today for many a Mizpah cairn to be erected upon the mystical mountains of our minds and our hearts. There are lifestyles which we have previously held openly, but now carry in secret habit; thoughts and pernicious practices into what should be the peaceful places of our lives. Yes, there are 'Teraphim’s' of many kinds, which we have carried from the past into our present promised lands, that have been the cause of all kinds of pursuant guilt and condemnation, even threat of death. Despite the accompanying fear of both discovery and loss, sin still causes us to sit on our idols and protect them under the lying excuse of a monthly menstrual flow.
Not a few of you tonight, MUST set up some Mizaph cairns on the mystical mountains of your own hearts and minds. It’s time to leave the past, it’s time to draw under it a line of demarcation. Yes, under all thoughts and practices habits and lifestyle that continue to be destructive and binding to you in the here and now, you must finally draw a line. Build that cairn and then NEVER again return to do yourself harm! Build that cairn and then NEVER allow a visit from there to do you harm! Yes! Once and for all time, mark it with the word MIZPAH!

Listen: - Then Laban said to Jacob, "Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me. This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father judge between us." And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. Genesis 31:51-54NKJV.

Pray:- Lord, I cast away my idols. Lord, I am sick of the dark pursuers, the intrusion of the black Nazgul’s of my sinful past. Help me set up this night, some Mizpah cairns over issues in my life, which I declare tonight, shall no longer bring me death, or be sought after by me for their oh so dark a sustenance. Find me some rocks O Lord, and then together, let us build me a Mizpah cairn. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Nov | 09 | God The Grandfather and N.O.M.A.N.

Dream Word – INTEGRITY


Malachi 2:13-16 So He does not regard the offering anymore, Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands. Yet you say, "For what reason?"Because the Lord has been witness Between you and the wife of your youth, With whom you have dealt treacherously; Yet she is your companion And your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. "For the Lord God of Israel says That He hates divorce, For it covers one's garment with violence, "Says the Lord of hosts." Therefore take heed to your spirit, That you do not deal treacherously." NKJV

God The Grandfather and N.O.M.A.N.

In the Coen brothers 2003 film, ‘Intolerable Cruelty,’ George Clooney stars as Miles Massey, the cynical attorney who is highly specialised in breaking marriages apart and making the divorce as profitable as possible for his client, regardless of their own personal culpability in the divorce! The leading lady in the film is Catherine Zeta Jones who plays Marilyn Rexroth, a woman choosing to marry men who are exceptionally rich and astonishingly silly and therefore very likely to commit adultery, thus giving her the excuse to divorce them, so she can in turn then win a massive financial settlement, that will make her independent of all men! The dialogue, the acting, the timing, the humour of the movie are in my opinion, all quite brilliant and very Coen-esque.

The main speech of the ‘Intolerable Cruelty,’ concerning all the possibilities and vulnerabilities of true and selfless, sacrificial love is made by the character ‘Miles Massey’ at his key note address which is given at the annual convention of his professional association. The association is cleverly called: The National Organization of Matrimonial Attorneys Nationwide. I remember watching the movie and seeing their organizational logo and motto in the background of the main dialogue and emblazoned underneath it was the fictional association's most hilarious tag line, here it is…. "What God hath joined, let N.O.M.A.N. put asunder." It was a most clever and hilarious contrivance and I laughed considerably!

In the real world however, divorce is not funny and it remains exceptionally painful for many, many years, often times even a lifetime. There is very little laughter in it, I can tell you that. Divorce remains financially painful, it remains emotionally painful, it remains relationally painful, and in my Pastoral observance of it over the years, it remains painful for the rest of a person’s life. Friend there is no condemnation in my writing this tonight because the saying “There but for the grace of God go I,” most certainly applies to me and my wife. God has been very gracious to us. Indeed, I say to all people who are still married to their first spouse, “God has been very gracious to you!” Be careful then in your often unwarranted and sometimes very ignorant judgment of others, for none of us really knws what goes on behind closed doors.

Never the less in our text for this evening God says several important things to us and hangs them all on one massive nail! “I hate divorce!” Listen to how ‘The Message’ brings this climactic statement to our attention ‘And here's a second offense: You fill the place of worship with your whining and snivelling because you don't get what you want from God. Do you know why? Simple. Because God was there as a witness when you spoke your marriage vows to your young bride, and now you've broken those vows, broken the faith-bond with your vowed companion, your covenant wife. God, not you, made marriage. His Spirit inhabits even the smallest details of marriage. And what does he want from marriage? Children of God, that's what. So guard the spirit of marriage within you. Don't cheat on your spouse. "I hate divorce," says the God of Israel. God-of-the-Angel-Armies says, "I hate the violent dismembering of the 'one flesh' of marriage." So watch yourselves. Don't let your guard down. Don't cheat.

Divorce is indeed, the violent dismembering of the 'one flesh' of marriage. So watch yourselves tonight. Don't let your guard down. Don't cheat on your mate. To help you and heal you, I have three things for your consideration this evening:

Firstly, if you are divorced, there is no need to keep adding to your existing pains. Self condemnation, anger at your former spouse and a multitude of other leather tails of self flagellation, will only fan the flames of hurt and keep the blood flowing and the wounds from healing. It’s time to heal. Get with God and get it sorted. Forgive yourself.

Secondly, I want to tell you, especially those of you struggling in your marriage, that God is interested in marriage. Indeed, God is interested, immersed and inhabiting ALL aspects of your marriage. Be aware of that. Prayerfully seek Him then in every part of your marriage; every part of it I say, for He will indeed help you in every part of your marriage.

Thirdly, don’t mess up the covenant and if you’ve messed up, then please don’t keep messing up. The Bible here I think is particularly speaking to men and I wonder if it is speaking to older more well-off men especially. I mean older men who compared to their wives are more well-off financially, more well-off opportunistically, more well-off physically, more well-off health wise maybe? I wonder? In any event, to men in particular the Scriptures clearly speak tonight: DON’T BE A TRAITOR. DON’T CHEAT ON YOUR WIFE!

Listen:- And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." Matthew 19:4-6 NKJV

Pray:- Mercy Lord, please forgive us our many sins and our traitorous hearts. Mercy Lord, and despite our many sins, we ask that you wash us and make us clean, that You change us from traitors into people of honour and integrity and courage. Make us new Lord and make us stronger too. Yes, make us a testimony to Your grace and to Your love and to Your redemption and do it in such a renewing, regenerate and revitalising way, that our offspring would rise up amazed! Indeed, they would rise up refreshed and call us Godly parents! Mercy Lord, mercy, for we wish to be Godly and to give You the Godly offspring of Your
heart’s desire. In Jesus name we ask it, amen.

 

Sep | 30 | The Sound of The Chamberpot

Key Word:- INTEGRITY

Title:- The Sound of The Chamberpot

1 Chronicles 16:25-27 For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is also to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens. Honour and majesty are before Him; Strength and gladness are in His place.

The Great War (1914-1918) devastated Britain and France. The loss of life in unceremonial and industrial slaughter, was overwhelming and later marked in every city, town and village by memorials with multitudes of the inscribed names of the dead. These two countries never again wanted another European War.

Signed today in 1938 the 'Munich Pact' seemed to ensure that Anglo-German relations would never again break down and disturb the peace of Europe. Sure, Czechoslovakia was to be carved up piecemeal and Hitler given his piece of silver but never the less, peace was ensured, and no more would tens of thousands die unnecessarily. Chamberlain, the then British Prime Minister, returned to England from Munich, rested, relieved and triumphantly waving the signed paper pact, declaring both, “Peace with honour” and “Peace in our time.” Later at 10 Downing Street, he is reported to have added, “My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time... Go home and get a nice quiet sleep.” In less than a year, Hitler's invasion of Poland would plunge Europe and the whole world, into years of total war.

There are two hard lessons for us to learn here. These lessons not only apply nationally but individually; not only apply materially but spiritually as well. Remember then:

Firstly, that those intent on bloody conquest can never be appeased. Never!
Secondly, that there is no peace without righteousness.

Fatigued and recovering warriors need to take note of this. Knowing our desire for peace and our need for recovery and space, the Devil will come and speak an alluring peace to us even attempting to make pacts of peace with us. I am personally familiar with the 'Draw back and I'll leave you alone' offers of the enemy. However, be the offer of withdrawal ever so subtle, be it ever so tempting, let us remember the lessons of history and pursue righteousness giving no place to the Devil. I wonder sometimes, if the peace of the whole world depends upon the righteous stand of often tired and weary warriors?

Friends, never be deceived by the Devil’s offers, nor think that on accepting them, that a nice quiet sleep will ever follow. When the Devil speaks peace, do not rest but keep on resisting! For all you are really hearing is the sound of his urine wizzing down the sides of a chamber pot and quite frankly, that’s as much as his words are ever worth. A pot of pee. Never forget that.

Listen:- Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 5:8-11

Pray:- Lord. Give us Your peace. Help us to settle and even sleep well upon the roaring seas, because we are cradled in the hammock of Your great righteousness and might. Oh let righteousness and peace always be the bed fellows of all my weariness. Amen.

Sep | 19 | How To Behead Yourself

Dream Word – INTEGRITY


Ezekiel 30:6 'Thus says the Lord: "Those who uphold Egypt shall fall, And the pride of her power shall come down. From Migdol to Syene Those within her shall fall by the sword," Says the Lord God. NKJV

How To Behead Yourself

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, jumped and mugged coming out of a bar in Sicily, is so savagely beaten, that he is reported in Rome as being dead! When the report came that he was alive, it was also reported that he was never the less, severely disfigured, seemingly having had the attempted removal of his head from his body. Many artist historians say that this was Caravaggio’s darkest hour, and during his recovery, whilst trying to gain pardon for a murder he had committed during a duel in Rome, in 1606 Caravaggio painted ‘David With The Head of Goliath.’ Caravaggio, a fleeing murderer had a reward on his own head. Literally if anyone brought in his head, they would get a reward.

The painting, ‘David With The Head of Goliath,’ is in fact a Caravaggio self portrait. The young David is Caravaggio as a younger man and the miserable dead head of Goliath in the sad hands of David, is Caravaggio in the here and now. Charlie White, American Artistic Photographer in his series ‘Everything is American’ and the photograph called ‘Champion’ uses the same David and Goliath theme and artistic trick in substituting his features for the younger David and the severed head of Goliath. '

The difference in the two works of art is substantial. The photographic art of White shows the self portrait trick but Caravaggio most certainly shows the event itself, the slaying of the giant, and in particular his deep involvement in the same. What most separates these two pieces of art work, is neither material nor method, neither background nor distance in time, but rather the presence of David’s sword. In Caravaggio’s work, David still holds his sword and on it is inscribed ‘H-AS OS,’ that is, ‘Humilitas Occidit Superbiam,’ or ‘Humility Conquers Pride!’

Tragedies of life can many times move us out onto the field of battle to meet our own personal giants. Giant pride is one which we shall meet again and again. Whilst most of the time we are content to deal with the disposal of cobwebs, personal tragedy invites us to deal with the spider and that spider often is called 'Pride'. Carravagio had a multitude of personal problems, emotional and most definitely psychological. What would we expect? For what else is giant pride but pure, blind madness. It needs dealing with friends so tell me, what tragedies have come upon you, come upon you continually? Tell me, what truth, what bad, sad, malevolent and self-murdering truth have you been running from within your soul? Tell me, within you, has David got Goliath’s head, or has Goliath got David’s head?

Produced by the B.B.C., Simon Schama’s eight-part serial on the ‘Power of Art’ so wonderfully tells the story of Carravagio. “For me” he says, “The power of his art is the power of truth, not least about ourselves, for if we are ever to have a chance of redemption it must begin with an act of recognition that in all of us, the Goliath competes with the David.” How very honest!

In finally summing up the story of the maniacal genius of Caravaggio, Schama, visibly moved by this particular portrait, wonderfully deciphers the sullen art work as being painted in colourful braille, shadows, light and half light, remarking that it tells of the artists plea to the Roman authorities. "Here I am” says this dead face which seems still alive, “They said whoever delivers my head will get a reward, well, I am turning myself in, will that do, can I have my reward, can I have my pardon?”’ Sinner, you must turn yourself in to God. Confess your head right off and turn yourself in to God.

Listen:- Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18.NKJV

Pray:- Lord, here is my head. Please forgive me my sin and this spider in Your court. Lord, please renew me into my right mind, in Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Sep | 16 | Equations on Character & Capacities

Dream Word – INTEGRITY


1 Chronicles 21:14 So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell. And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was destroying, the Lord looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, "It is enough; now restrain your hand." And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces. And David said to God, "Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O Lord my God, be against me and my father's house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued." NKJV?

Equations on Character & Capacities

I was thinking tonight, musing if you will, about the old adage that ‘Choices determine our destiny and character determines our choices,’ and therefore as Laurel said to Hardy “Ipso Fatso, character determines destiny.”

I must say that I have always found this phrase of 'character determing destiny ' somewhat lacking in truth. After all, it was David, the man after God’s own heart, who made many good and an awful lot of bad choices in his life, even to choosing national deceit, murder and adultery. These three were but a few of his bad choices! For some of his other bad choices would result in thousands upon thousands of his fellow countrymen being killed by God Almighty Himself. King David may have been a man after God’s own heart, but some of David’s choices were not good ones and our text for tonight clearly shows that. Yes indeed, the devil might have made him do it, but do it he did! Maybe the devil stirred but David chose and his destiny was greatly tarnished in the so doing. Even the best of men sometimes choose wrongly and that with disasterous consequences for themselves and others. Tell me then, has their destiny now been destroyed?

I have come to the conclusion that although character does shape choices and choices do determine earthly destiny, that this is only part of the equation. You see we consider our destiny, as our destination this side of heaven, however, I do not believe our present destination is God’s ultimate destination for us; it is not God’s destiny for us if you will! God has an eternal and infinite destination for us, and it’s much more than position, power and place, and so because of this, this side of heaven, I believe His destination, His destiny for us, is always in the profound forging of character. There is a reason for this and I believe it is because character = capacity. The forging of our character is our destiny this side of heaven.

That however, is not enough for us, no, destiny for us this side of heaven, is a determined destination of position, power or place. Yes, it is for us a destination of goals accomplished, of feats achieved, of races that are run and fights that are won. Whatever it is, we want to stand atop our own Everest and say, “I have done it, I have finished the task given to me.” Now there is nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong at all. However, I wonder if that declaration is in the end, a simple statement of our own felt perspective. Yes, unless God definitely confirms to us otherwise, I think it often most probably is. God’s destiny for us you see, is bigger than any Everest of position place or power this side of heaven, for it is Godly character, built for ever rest. This side of heaven, all our own climbed Everest’s prove to be so very tiring and unfulfilling.Our earth side equation for the fulfillment of power place and position can be split into ten parts. Let’s take a look at the developement of our destiny equation. here we go then:

1. Meta-Genetics (building material provided by The Creator God) + Simple Genetics (building material provided by earthly parents) = Temperament. (That is, the beginnings of quality of heart, our natural constitution if you will, our mouldable and innate tendencies)

2. Temperament + Social Station and Social Situation + Pressures and Pleasures = Character (The Provings, of heart quality, the expression of AQUIRED FEATURES, whether good or bad )

3. Character + Hungry Temperament (or DESIRE) (that is, our innate tendencies made hungry by want, by need, by anointing maybe or even by gifting) = Pressure of Expression

4. Pressure of Expression = Persistent Pursuance.
5. Persistent Pursuance = Made Opportunity
6. Realized Opportunity = Expression of Self
7. Expression of Self =Fulfillment
8. Fulfillment = The feeling of acquired destiny and therefore the fact of acquired destiny.
9. Acquired Destiny = Satisfaction
10. Satisfaction = Rest / Peace

It’s all very complicated isn’t it, but as many millions attest, when you get to the top of your Everest, this seeming satisfaction of completion and posession, rarely results in rest for the soul. Yes, our earth side equations of destiny all fail miserably when we arrive at the top of our not so ever rests.

Our destiny this side of heaven is simple. It is to sacrifice ourselves in serving the Lord Jesus Christ. When we serve Christ, He will mould our innate tendencies and then shall, in our pursuance of such sacrificial service, add to them great embellishments of shimmering golden traits of God-like characteristics. It is this Almighty moulding of the self, it this holy addition of golden wonders, that make CHARACTER our destiny this side of heaven. Make no mistake about it, the formation of Christ-like character this side of heaven is Gods desired destination for us all. Why?

Before I answer that question, may I say that I do not believe this formation of character, this sanctification, halts when we are transformed from earth to heaven and that once there, what is here, is sealed there forever and can never be improved upon. No, not at all! If that were the case then frankly, what a very large and sorry bunch of individuals would walk the streets of gold. Maybe the rewards and therefore the capacities of the enjoyments of God, are sealed in us at the Judgment Seat of Christ, but sealed only in their capacities for exponential growth. In other words, sealed in growth that is proportional to the starting size. I think so, maybe.

Know this tomorrow then, that God is interested in your character because therein lies the key to all future eternal capacities. Yes sir, in this context then, the answer to my opening equation is correct. Character does indeed, determine eternal Destiny. Character does indeed, determine ETERNAL Destiny.

Listen:- Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:2-9 NKJV

Pray:- Lord, add to my faith and increase my eternal capacity to enjoy You and glorify You forever. Amen.

Sep | 06 | She Devils, Sponging Males & The Jerry Springer Show

Dream Word – INTEGRITY


Amos 4:1,2 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, Who oppress the poor, Who crush the needy, Who say to your husbands, "Bring wine, let us drink!" The Lord God has sworn by His holiness: "Behold, the days shall come upon you When He will take you away with fishhooks, And your posterity with fishhooks. NKJV

She Devils, Sponging Males & The Jerry Springer Show

Linophryne Lucifer! What a name for a fish. It is however, these Leftvents, these small, deep sea, angler type fish, occupying the sea depth some three to four thousand meters below the waves, that I would like to consider this evening. I am telling you friends, these triangular-headed, elongated, scale-less but gelatinous-bodied creatures, are the most ugliest looking pieces of work I have ever seen. Indeed, if I ever took the view that Satan attempted to create beings in the material world, then I would most certainly say that this was one of his freaky Frankensteinien experiments gone wrong and is rightly hept hidden in the darkest depths of the deepest seas. The female of the species are the ugliest of the sexes and are often four times the size of the males, having dagger like teeth surrounding their ever open mouths and are able to swallow prey at least twice their size. These females rarely move, but wait fat and motionless for both their mate and their prey to arrive.

Now here’s the interesting bit regarding these monstrosities and Wikipedia puts it like this “Once a female is located, the male latches onto her with his otherwise useless teeth. Through enzymatic processes, the tissues of the male gradually begin to coalesce with the tissues of the female, resulting in a permanent attachment and a shared circulatory system, forming a hermaphroditic chimera. The development of the male's large testicles, which were delayed prior to this point begins, and all other organs in the male's body degenerate. Several males may thus attach to the same female with no apparent ill effects befalling her.”

Before I continue, I want to tell you that I have nothing against fat females or small underdeveloped men; I am one of them myself! However, there is something spiritual for us to get hold of here. Unfortunately, to see the spiritual, I also have to point out its manifestation in the material world. Bear with me now, for you will agree with me no doubt, that in this strange world of ours, there are a large number of fat devil women lounging about, with a well-hidden ability to lure little men to them and absorb them into themselves. This is very strange, but very true and I have seen it for myself, many, many times. In addition to my own personal experience, if you have ever had the peculiar punishment of being witness to that modern day freak show hosted by Jerry Springer, you will see that these fat devil fish and the very, very little men that attach to them, are together with their freaky offspring, the bread and butter of that outrage we have come to regard as entertaining television.

Like it or not, these fat and open-mouthed devil women abound and the simple little men whose testicles only grow when they attach to them, seem to abound yet more and more! It is also of note that amongst these little men, as their virility increases their other organs do indeed diminish and chiefly that organ in between their ears!

Surely, God has created these devil fish for us to observe and wonder at. Surely, these Lucifer fish, waddle in the dark depths with a living message in their mad and massive mouths? I think so and to add to your nightmares tonight may I make the following three observations:-

Firstly, that society is crumbling beneath our very feet. When I have to counsel so many young men to get a court action to ensure that the offspring from the large woman they have attached themselves to is theirs, (and it rarely is by the way) then society is crumbling beneath our very feet. Unless we take action now, then it is only a matter of time before it all comes crashing down.

Secondly, that there is a problem with masculinity in our land. When a man cannot become a man without being attached to a woman, then he has nothing to give, but everything to have taken from him. Men must learn to become men in and of their own right. Men must become strong of stature, stout of heart and steady in purpose and provision before they ever allow themselves the consideration of approaching a female. Yes I mean it! Strong men, stout-hearted men; men of substance would never go near a fat devil fish. Many of our men need a good swift kick in the pants to get them off the road to hell and the temporal dissolution of themselves.

Thirdly, there is a problem with femininity in our land. Let me say first , that if you are a wife and a mother, then you have the most important job in the world! It’s not very politically correct for me to say that, but it is Biblical and it is true. However, you should not be a mother before you become a wife, and may I say, you should not be a wife before you get yourself a life! Get an education! Get a job! Get some money behind you! Buy some land even! You see, you can set your sights high and still make a plan to get a man you know and yes, it is a man you need, it is a man who already has got his masculinity developed, his manhood in full sail, pulled tight against the wind and steaming ahead into his destiny. Get yourself a man woman! Someone who already has his testicles fully developed and not some underdeveloped little boy!

Our text for tonight, refers to the well-off, well-heeled Samarian women of power. God calls them fat cows! Rich or poor it doesn’t matter, because it's the same fat cow disease and produces the same sickness at every level of society. There is a sickness in our land, silently rotting the foundations of our society. The Linophryne Lucifer have come up from the depths and are flapping around on our shores. It’s got to stop friends and we haven’t got long to stop it before the fat cow fishhooks are cast toward us once again. It's worth thinking about, that's for sure.

Listen:- "I sent among you a plague after the manner of Egypt; Your young men I killed with a sword, Along with your captive horses; I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the Lord. "I overthrew some of you, As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the Lord. "Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!" Amos 4:10-12 NKJV

Pray:- Lord, to us belongs shame of face, for we have failed to teach our young boys to be men and our young girls to be women. Can this be redeemed O Lord? Help us all tonight Lord to be better examples tomorrow of what it means to be a man and a woman before Your face O Lord. Amen.

Jul | 02 | The Many Legged Vampire

Dream Word – INTEGRITY



Proverbs 15:2 The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness. NKJV

The Many Legged Vampires

It was early in 2007 when country music star Brad Paisley brought out two very successful songs. The first was. “When I get where I’m going,” a powerful and evocative country music duet with Dolly Parton. The accompanying video produced with this song will move anyone who has lost a loved one to healing tears! In Brad’s second song, he moved from the sublime to the ridiculous by producing a Benny Hill style, multiple double entendre little song, the title of which was simply, ‘Ticks!’ Of which that never to be forgotten chorus says:

"Cause I’d like to see you out in the moonlight
I’d like to kiss you way back in the sticks
I’d like to walk you through a field of wildflowers
And I’d like to check you for ticks!"

What can you say to that!

When living in the hills of Kentucky we were fortunate to have a couple of Killer Cats as our feline protectors! They culled the rodent population and kept us safe in our beds at night both from gangs of marauding mice and malicious moles who invaded our kitchen for food. For this fine work we would allow them to join us on our bed where they purred the night away.

Unfortunately, those fine felines had the tendency to bring onto our beds and consequently into our sheets, some tiny travellers that often attached themselves to their fur. Both my wife and I have discovered these horrible little monsters with their heads buried into the most private parts of our anatomies literally sucking the life out of us. Brad Paisley’s lunatic of a lyric, “I’d like to check you for ticks!” became for us, for a wee while anyway, an absolute necessity.

You see the problem with ticks and black legged ticks especially, is that they can be infected with the bacterium, ‘Borrelia Burgdorferi,’ which in turn, can then be passed on to humans, producing what we know as Lymes disease. This disease is particularly nasty, in that it attacks the joints, heart and nervous system. It’s a deceitful little disease because its symptoms initially manifest themselves as the comparatively harmless flu. Because of this, the serious nature of the bite and its consequences can be easily be ignored, leaving in your body a ticking time bomb which will slowly explode in the years to come. Ticks are nasty little buggers.

What blood sucking accusation, what life draining condemnation, what disease ridden lie, what ticking time bomb, have you gotten into bed with tonight? Nasty!

Why not take a few moments to have the Holy Spirit check you for ticks tonight. Then in quiet confession, in gentle encouragement, in prayerful and driven determination, get the tweezers of the Word of God and grab those little buggers around the middle, rock their little heads out of your skin and then crack them to death between your forgiven little finger nails.

Finally my brethren, no matter how useful your acquaintances, how warm their fellowship, how comforting their presence when they purr the night away, if they are bringing ticks into your bed, THEN THEY JUST HAVE TO GO. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Listen:- He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed. Prov 13:20 NKJV

Pray: -Lord tonight, check me for ticks. Lord, forgive me for allowing fools into my life and forgive me for being a willing companion to them and their blood-sucking parasites. Give me peace tonight O Lord my God, even though Your cleansing stings me. Lord tomorrow remind me when I awake, to choose to walk with the wise. Lord from now on, my inner chamber is mine and Thine and nothing and no one, shall be allowed between the cleanness of our sheets. I promise You this O Lord, I promise You this, amen.

Jun | 16 | Designed for Dignity

Key Word:- INTEGRITY

Title:- Designed for Dignity

Acts 19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” .

Glasgow band ‘Deacon Blue,’ brought out an amazing song some years ago now, called ‘Dignity’.’ I wish I had the space to write out the whole of the lyrics but I haven’t, so I encourage you to go and find them on the web! However, the last few lines of the song ‘Dignity’read:

And I’m thinking about home
And I’m thinking about faith
And I’m thinking about work
And I’m thinking about how

good it would be
To be here some day
On a ship called Dignity

Dignity. More men need to grapple with this very subject. More of the people of God need to set sail on their own ship of personal Dignity.

Arthur Miller in his marvellous play, ‘The Crucible’ (based on the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials of 1692) so wonderfully presents us with the dilemma of the sinful, but honest Puritan, ‘John Proctor’. After wrongly confessing to his participation in witchcraft, he like Latimer of old, later takes back his false confession that would have saved his life, tears it up and cries out “How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name.”

In desperation the character ‘Hale’ tells Proctor that he shall hang for not confessing to the sin of witchcraft and even though they all know it will a bogus confession, he should never the less, confess! Hale says in effect “How can you indulge in sinful pride, how can you exchange your life for your name?” The writer Miller, at this point then has the character of Proctor in the crucible of his interrogation, discover the long lost gold of his personal dignity when he replies to Hale saying, “I can. And there's your first marvel, that I can. You have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs.” Proctor then strides aboard his own ship of Dignity, regarding his own personal integrity more than his public reputation. This stand allows Proctor the redeeming of his own character just as much as his true confession, then allows God to redeem his own lost soul.

Truth and honor, Proctor’s rediscovered dress of dignity, became more important to Proctor than life itself. As John Proctor goes to his death, his wife Elizabeth weeps in acknowledgement of his rediscovery of his own lost gold, saying: “He has his goodness now. God forbid I take it away.” Yes, there is something shining, there is something good, there is something most valuable in personal dignity!

Many of us need to dig deep for this gold of personal dignity, long lost and hanging somewhere in the discarded and dark wardrobe depths of our personal being. You will never be a man without personal dignity and you will never be a beautiful woman without adorning yourself with the same.

Christian friend, what is your name today? What value has heaven and hell set by its exultation or its fall? Consider this today: Who are you? What fragrant scent follows the saying of your name? What value is it both to you and to others? Tell me, what shape is the sail of your dignity when it is unfolded upon the lips of others by the uttering of your lovely name?

Listen:- Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth; Therefore the virgins love you. Song of Solomon 1:3 NKJV

The syllables of your name murmur like a meadow brook. No wonder everyone loves to say your name! Song of Solomon 1:3 (from THE MESSAGE )

A good name is better than precious ointment, Ecclesiastes 7:1

Pray:- Lord! Let courage, strength, honour and dignity mark the people You name O God; Lord today, show me more of who I am supposed to be, show me how You see me in the depths of Your heart. Jesus please, help me clothe myself in the dignity and truth, of understanding of who I truly am in You. Amen and amen!

Jun | 09 | Baby Got Babylon

Dream Word – INTEGRITY


Revelation 17:1-2 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication." NKJV

Baby Got Babylon

In 2008 whilst walking down the cool streets of little London, full of sashaying women with Sacral Chakra tattoos curled on their flesh in Celtic-Klingon style, all with bared browned mid-rift, and pierced belly buttons touting silver studded birth stones, highlighting hipsters, all hanging precariously just above their pubic mound, it caught my attention regarding the vast number of them that also seemed to be wearing leather belts with the words “Jesus loves you” emblazoned on them in studded silver! Upon investigation, it seems that London Spitalfields, ‘All Saints’ fashion designers, had given Jesus some popular ‘street cred’ amongst folks who knew absolutely nothing about Him. All they had hanging from their anorexic hips was an anorexic religious phrase, whose only value was a fashion titter that even Tetzel would have refused to utilise! Something meaningless, something quaint, something from a bygone age. While looking at this, (the belts I mean) it got me thinking just how good a job the devil had done in reducing the message of the Gospel to the equivalent of a smelly, little, low-level, flatulent emission, and how dastardly complicit the church had been in helping him.

If I was thinking positively tonight, I would probably comment on the wonderful opportunity we have in walking up to said ladies, blokes and those who aren’t quite gender sure and saying. “Hey, Jesus does love you! Let me tell you how!” However, I think in this day and age, you could get maced, thumped, arrested for sexual harassment, or picked up by a 'Tranie.' You need wisdom when you’re evangelizing in the early 21st Century, that’s for sure.

When the church has so devalued the central core of the Gospel, the love of God in Christ Jesus, that a company called ‘All Saints’ can take it and market it as a fashion accessory then my oh my, I reckon all the old saints will be turning in their graves! Yet, we have only ourselves to blame, for even now we are offering Christ as a life-fashion accessory, a daily supplement to make you feel good, a way to achieve your dreams, the means to discover God’s great plan for you (prosperity guaranteed for sure). Good grief my friends, even as I write, I know of two hip Post- modern Youth endeavours coming out with their own brand of Gospel clothing. Of course in sarcastic answer to such crass Christian marketing, the “What Would Jesus Do” thong is already available on-line and let’s not scowl, for it is we, the church, who have brought the Gospel down to this consumerism, for we have created a religious industry with more crass and shallowness than the world would ever stoop to. New Testa-Mint candy on sale in Christian bookshops with all the other tut! I mean for goodness sake!

If you need a lapel pin to proclaim the gospel, a rubber bracelet to bind you to His cross, New Testa-mints to make your breath smell nice and whole bunch of other crap to keep you on track, then my friend, get the hell out of it and get out fast, because all you have done is bought into the religious industry and the 1st church of Ichabod that empowers the whole great Laodicean machine. I tell you, you are probably still lost and getting ‘loster’ by the minute, because all this whore will do is take your 10% as a down payment, then fleece you for the rest of your days. Strong words, but necessary ones, for hundreds of thousands are being converted to Christian culture instead of being converted to Christ and every day as a Pastor, I deal with the aftermath, the returned goods of disappointed buyers.

Christ, His forgiveness. Christ, His presence. Christ, His power. Have you got Him? Have you got them? Nothing else matters.

Listen: - So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. NKJV.

Pray:- Lord, strip me bare! Take away all my accessories to the Gospel and just give me the real deal. In Jesus name I ask it, because I believe He loves me. Amen!


                                                                                                         

May | 28 | Humane Humanity?

Key Word:- INTEGRITY

Title:- Humane Humanity?

Genesis 9:5,6 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. “Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.
 
In Germany between 1942 and 1943 as many as 20,000 people fell to this particular form of political execution used by the Nazis. Hitler considered it to be a most demeaning way to be dispatched. Indeed, more people were killed using this method in Germany than during it’s use in revolutionary France and interestingly, it was last used in Europe as recently as 1977!

The family whose name became associated with this instrument of death, (though it was not a new invention) begged the French government to change the name of the machine. When they refused to call the instrument of death something else, in great shame, the family changed their own name! The French Doctor who is attributed with its invention was in fact against capital punishment and instigated the design to more humanly dispatch the guilty and the condemned. Joseph Ignace Guillotin, was born today in 1738.

I have no wish to fuel the fires of the controversy of capital punishment. No, let the Word speak for itself. However, no matter which side of the argument you may be on, I do wish to encourage you today regarding the great encouragement contained in these particular Bible verses. At the very least we can say this; that God puts an enormous value on human life, on human blood. Friends, God’s most used colour in the painting of pictures is the colour red. Red gets our attention you see, for the colour red is a flying flag of danger and destruction, of devastation and death. David says God takes note of each tear that is shed and every one is kept in His bottle and so in light of that alone, I can tell you today that God takes note of every drop of blood that is shed as well! Each red drip, dropped unjustly into the hungry ground, cries loudly to its creator for justice and one day, it shall receive its desire for revenge and retribution as everyone gives an account for the mauling and marking of the image of the Maker.

You are the image of God! Don’t forget it. Honour one another for this at least, even, for this alone. For we all bear the ‘Imageo Deo’. Every single one of us. You shall not murder!

Finally today, may I point out that many of our cities now have an abortion rate which is higher than the birth rate and the screaming, red blood prayers of the millions of unborn, cry out for vengeance against us. Do you honestly believe that God will not avenge such carnage such desecration of His image? The silence of the church against such genocide is a pox on our face of worship. The inactivity of the church against such mass murder makes us as complicit and as guilty as all the neighbours of Auschwitz. Think about that today.
You shall not murder.

Listen:- “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground. Genesis 4:10-11

Pray:- Lord, give us clean hands, give us clean hearts, let us not lift our souls to another.


 

May | 26 | Set The Juice----Loose! 'Serve it Like Sushi'

Dream Word – INTEGRITY

Mark 12:37 And the common people heard Him gladly. NKJV

Set The Juice----Loose! Serve it Like Sushi

I remember performing some poetry for about forty very rough, 'rough sleeping' homeless folks in the city of Brighton. It was surprisingly well received. Afterward, a very well spoken, silver-faced, Einstein-like figure came over to me and said, “I just wanted to say how much I appreciated your poetry and especially your delivery. You know of course, that you are following in the footsteps of the great Englishman, Chaucer, who also communicated so well in the vernacular of his day.” I was really pleased with this. Sure he was raving tooting bonkers, but I was really pleased with his comments. So, when I arrived home I immediately shared my grand comparison with the proud bubble burster of my home, my wife, who simply said, “Hmmm, yes, Chaucer. He was crude as well.” Typical. What does she know anyways?

Unfortunately we have upwardly diminished the power of the Bible in making it palace worthy rather than pavement worthy, making it a book for the studious instead of a book for the sidewalk. The common people heard Jesus gladly and I can guarantee you, He wasn’t received in the majestic language of the King James Version. The common people. They heard Him. They received Him. Gladly! I am not talking about dumbing down here either, but rather about tooling up with the words of the day.

We need to regain some street credibility in the delivery of the Scriptures. Before that happens however, we need to let loose the so long now muzzled, powerful jaws of the lion and allow it to roar once more. I wonder if the hidden and diluted Word of God which we are peddling from our pulpits now, which over the years we have also so tightly dressed up like a gay and mincing, little white and pink padded poodle-ette, is quite frankly too embarrassed to be taken out doors? It's embarrasing, for our misuse of it in this way, and that is what the diluting of the Word of God is, a gross misuse, has robbed it of its awesome power and thoroughly embarrassed it. God help us please! For this Word in its undiluted form is the very life giving juice dripped from the leaves of the squeezed out tree of life! So, yes indeed, we need to let the juice loose even if it does cause so many letters to be written by ‘Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells!’ I say again, Let the juice loose!

However, before we can let thus juice loose once more, I wonder if we need to let loose most of the Christians who read the juicy book and especially those frightened little folk we have sent to seminary dentistry, where they have had their teeth removed and the rough and ready garments of the prophet replaced by a smart and casual respectability. Lord God! (and that’s a calling prayer) I hate respectability. With a vengeance! You see, I reckon that nice speaking, polite little Christians, have done more damage to the Kingdom of God than the devil could ever do.
I have two things to leave with you tonight.

First an equation and frankly, maybe it’s just me, but I do find that in my life, that the more righteous I experientially and practically become, the less outwardly, pretentiously respectable I both appear and act. How’s your life adding then up in terms of middle class, middle England respectability tonight? Are you above all things, nice?
Secondly, that when a clawed and sharp beaked, sharp eyed hawk even gently glides past the settled nests of the starling colonies, the little birds attack it. Prophet. Jesus street preacher. Watch out for the darling, little starlings for they are not as sweet as you might think and I tell you, they do not want their nice little nest much ruffled, especially if their religion gets in a state. If you are not nice, they will peck you to death.

Even so then and never the less, do remember to drink the Bible in its undiluted form, yes remember to simply let the juice loose and always preacher, I mean always serve it like sushi. Raw!

Pray:- Deliver us O God, from all the darling, darting starlings and all the ‘Disgusted’s of Tunbridge Wells’, yes deliver us from all the pale pulpit pansies planted in graveyard flower pots and placed neatly in old varnished pulpits, who hate to be disturbed and loathe to disturb others. Don’t give us gold fillings O Lord! No, You can keep all that useless rubbish Lord, but rather, please grow us a new set of sharp canines and grant us that deep and guttural, testosterone-filled roar of the prophets of old. Lord set the juice loose and give us some “street cred” once again, in Jesus name we ask it, amen!

May | 16 | The Sentiment of The Slashing Sword

Dream Word – INTEGRITY

Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" NKJV

The Sentiment of The Slashing Sword

Someone has told us, a professor maybe, a social and society guru, that post-modern man requires an unpressured journeying choice of non-judgemental spiritual experiences. So, all our church advertising media trots out the same invitational tosh ‘Come and enjoy the sweet spot of God’s presence!’ Or. ‘We warmly invite your consideration to come to our worship experience.’ And God forbid we offend anyone because the bottom line is to keep the punters happy, keep ‘em coming and keep ‘em giving, cause the mortgage on this church property is heavy and the personnel and programmes budget is bigger than any comparable business! Yes sir, all this safe and satisfactory, experiential Christianity, is mighty expensive stuff so we have to keep the golden geese, excuse my mix of metaphor here, for we have to keep them, the golden geese, very pleased to be well-fleeced!

In the same deceitful way, we have been told that post-modern man, especially post-modern Christian man, cannot stomach a message that exceeds more than twenty minutes. Oh, they can watch a football game or maybe Arsenal v’s Manchester united for a couple of hours or more, or a not so decent movie, or attend a bland meeting at work which lasts more than a few hours minutes, or...well you get my drift. The problem is, that someone has told us that a twenty minute message, a talk even, a soft- stroking multi-media, personhood-affirming and life-enhancing, non-judgemental, invitational and above all inspirational coaching session, is all we need to make ‘em believe. The sermon, like a rust-potted, old barbers knife, has been folded away and placed in a draw, the leather strap of sharpening prayer and practice has in its turn been removed from its hook on the wall, rolled up and placed along there with it. The problem is that no-one’s getting saved now! Oh we get the conversion to cultural Christianity, but no-ones getting saved, not really. No, I am afraid, salvation is becoming as rare as rocking horse poop.

The Latin roots of our English word SERMON means ‘to stab, or to thrust through.’ Certainly our text for tonight shows Peter’s sermon was of soul bloodied, spirit cutting and surgical precision. There was no massaging of a message here! There was no soft caressing adjectival prefix to the words delivered from a drip-drooled, dancing and effeminate, inoffensive little tongue. No, though the listeners had not prepared for surgery , surgery was what they got and my friends, there was no anaesthetic. (Oh and by the way, you can always tell when there has been a leak in the massive heavy bottles of this inhalation sedation of nitrous oxide, after all, it is called ‘laughing gas’ for reasons you are no doubt very familiar with).

So, listen up you leaders, you speakers, you ear- tickling talkers all! Listen up you sissified choir boy, hair-combing, cheek-squeezing and head-patting chumps! For it is time to get the knife back out again. Go on, reach in, right at the back of your study desk drawer and pull out that rusty old, straight razor shaving knife again. Unroll that strop found next to it, hook it on the wall and get to praying and to a practicing once more, for Sunday is surgery time and I tell you right now, if your sermon isn't sharp, isn’t cutting, isn’t putting people on the spot of eternal choosing, then you had better pack it in, pack it up and go get yourself a job as a bingo caller or a used car salesman! Go and give talks to the Women’s Institute man for it’s all your good for now. For I tell you, there is no sentiment in a slashing sword my friend, and each of us teachers, each of us preachers, will give thorough accounting for each sharp slash, and especially the lack thereof! So, stop talking man! Stop tickling ears and patting heads, and start preaching again for goodness sake. Stop listening to all this post-modern hogwash which is producing nothing but pale consumers and commit yourself to let the Lion loose once more. Oh and if your offended right now - good! Stop your winging and go and get God's sharp sword and go do some swinging.

Listen: - For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:12-13 NKJV.


Pray:- Lord, may Your Word and Your Spirit both cut me and create me, in Jesus name I ask it, amen.

May | 08 | Ichabod

Key Word:- INTEGRITY

Title:- Ichabod

1 Samuel 2:30 for those who honour Me I will honour, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.

Who could forget the scene in that great film “Chariots of Fire” where the main character, Eric Liddell, preparing to run in the Olympic final, which by the way, was a race he had not trained for, just before he gets on his mark, is handed a piece of paper with the text above written upon it. Marvellous! You see, having forfeited the opportunity to race the 100 metres because it was on a Sunday, Liddell faced down an earthly king, and the howling press all baying for his blood, indeed, he shouldered pressure from all quarters to compete in the 100 meters final, and despite the weight upon him he did not cave in, but instead said "No", and put God first. Now, according to the note, God would honour him for his stand. Of course, like all great stories in history, Liddell went on to win the 400-metre final!

Eric Liddell was undoubtedly an honoured and true champion in every sense of the word, but whether he was given the piece of paper with that text, is highly unlikely. Never the less, the truth and fulfillment of those words, stands as certain and as immovable as the Mount of the Most High God.

However, I do need to tell you friends that the Biblical context of this verse is couched in horror rather than in glory. You see, Eli, the then High priest, had not put God first with respect to his two sons Hophni and Phinehas. No, this dirty duo had consistently coerced from the congregation the best and largest portions of food and by religious bullying, had made themselves rich, licentious and odious. Eli in turn had compounded their sin in allowing them to continue to abuse their office and the people they were serving and in so doing, had caused Israel to hate the worship and offering commanded by God. Eli had honoured his sons before God and God was not well pleased. In return for this ‘lightly esteeming’ of the Lord, God then ‘lightly esteemed’ Eli and cut short His original promise of honour and blessing to Eli’s family line. God was going to kill his sons you see, and in the future, all of his male descendents would die in the prime of their life; their offspring, consuming their parent’s eyes and grieving their hearts, whilst they languished in poverty, begging to serve as priests just for the smallest portions of food. Truly, God’s glorious blessing had departed from the family line of Eli. Why? “for those who honour Me I will honour, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.”

Tell me, how are you maybe lightly esteeming the Lord today? Shape up and sort it out. This is serious stuff.

Listen:- Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will? Hebrews 2:1-4

Pray:- Living God, help me to put You and Your kingdom and You and Your honour, first in my life. Indeed, help me to put You and Your glory even before ‘the very desire of my eyes’. Amen.