Jan | 22 | The leashing of Castor and Pollux

VICTORY

The leashing of Castor and Pollux

Acts 28:1-6
Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta. And the natives showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live." But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. NKJV

Paul is a prisoner on his way to Rome. His watery prison, that shaking ship of a jail has most recently been through an horrific storm and Paul, escaping being put to death on board the salt spray and vomit covered wood splitting hull, has recently, together with the ship been smashed in pieces upon the black rocks of Malta’s open jawed shores. The devil has been at work here and he ‘aint finished yet.

 Just when you think the enemy has spent his last bullet, there often times comes the very bad twist at the end of the film that has what looks like a final happy ending. This is life and the obedient Christian workers life in particular. May I also say, that this serpent from the rising fire, is a also picture of the devil himself biting the hands of the messenger of God who comes as prisoner, yes, comes wet with a present salvation, utterly destitute of this worlds goods and on his way to judgment. These messengers of the Most High will always be attacked; viciously, repeatedly and from every angle, and their bodies shall bear those marks, as will their wardrobe, their family life and their bank account. Suspect those smarty, well suited, and so called apostles. Yes, I tell you, check underneath the bonnet of those bed reclined old ladies, those fat cows of Bashaan, and you shall surely find some fangs: “All the better to eat you with my dear.”

The devil is unrelenting here and so must we be too. Look now at our text at four great pictures for us today:

First, the apostle smarts at the surprise attack as the devil fastens upon the object of those very appendages, which shall surely be used to bless so many. Look at that! What the devil fears he attacks. What will bring the coming blessing, the devil fastens onto to poison and to atrophy. Do not be surprised at a double fanged attack, especially when you begin to generate some heat.

Secondly, look at how the apostle responds. He shakes it off. Just like in Luke 9:5 where the dust off a rejected messengers feet is also shaken off, wiped off, vigorously brushed away back to the ground with irritated and cleansing strokes full of visual intent, the serpent here is also shaken off, not onto the ground through where it might attack both him and others again; not into the sea to drown, for that judgment will not be repeated, but he is shaken off into the fire, where that attacking serpent so rightfully belongs. So shall each messenger of God deal with the viperous attacks of the enemy.

Thirdly, look now at the blessing that came through those fang-punctured hands. Big chief Publius, fevered by a bloody flux is healed and along with him a great many more from the island who came to be healed.

Fourthly, look now how that all necessary things which were lost in the storm, where restored to them by grateful and healed people.

Fithly, see how Castor and Pollux, the Gemini twins of the underworld are leashed like dogs to pull the watery sledge of Paul onward to His divine destination.

I tell you today dear hearts: BE UNRELENTING!

Listen:- And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him. So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed: Who also honoured us with many honours; and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary. And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux. ……. And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him. Acts 28:8-12 &16 KJV

Pray: - Father, turn us all into movers and shakers, into undaunted history makers at the end of all these lightening fired days. Amen and amen.

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Nov | 21 | The Ruined Truth

Key Word:- VICTORY

Title:- The Ruined Truth

Job 3:14 …..With kings and counsellors of the earth, Who built ruins for themselves,

The prefix to our text today, is the extreme trial and testing of Job.  At this point in the narrative, after sitting in suffering silence and in communal mourning with his good friends, for seven whole days and nights, Job finally opens his mouth, cursing the day he was born and wishing he was dead. He is utterly despondent and without hope. Many of you can say now, “been there, done that, seen the video, got the T-shirt!”

It has been my observation that often times in the extremities of our depressed and suffering states, we speak out extreme words of observations and conclusions. They are either pin-point accurate assessments, that maybe previously a living ‘hope and desire’ had clothed with possible change, or they are absolute self pitying lies! This particular observation of Job is however, neither of those things.

His exclamation concludes with a statement of comparative and universally agreed support. In other words, this truth stands alone, no one will contest it. It's not just his depression and despondency speaking, no, it's the truth! Kings and counsellors may build kingdoms and empires for themselves and stud them with glittering diamonds of palaces for both the winter and the summer months, but in the end, they build for themselves, ruins.

This at the very least should jolt us into refocusing our eyes. As I write today, I remind myself that libraries are filled with thousands upon thousands of forgotten books. As the dead are brought back from current wars and interned in the earth, I remind myself that even Arlington cemetery was once a house for the living, and now looks out over ¼ million dead and will no doubt have its real estate expanded even further. Some of these forgotten corpses even now lay in unmarked graves and tombs, but no matter, for in the end no one will remember even those presently marked in the dirt, once loved and known, when all their left behind worldly estates, be they vast or miniscule, are possessed by someone else's driven dreams and eaten up by some one else's consuming progress, until they are like them, in the end, gone and never to be thought upon! We must remember that each of us building in this world, build for ourselves, ruins. It's all very depressing isn't it?

And so it should be. It takes countless repetition to knock it into our thick heads that THIS IS NOT IT! Matter is the MOST real illusion that you will ever come across. Take a piece of wood and crack yourself over the head with it and BAM! You’ll find it real. Yet catch it on time lapse photography over the years and watch it disintegrate. Throw it on the fire and watch it burn, introduce it to some termites and see it get chomped and collapse into dust. Do you get my point? Dear friends what will you make of these things and the ruined truth that Job leaves you with today? How then will you live? What will you be building today?

Listen:- According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 1 Corinthians 3:10-15

Pray:-Lord, help me to build enduring works in heaven. Show me real treasure, for all I see that glitters is not gold at all. Show me the precious diamonds, for most shiny things that I lust after, do not last forever. In Jesus name I pray, Amen!

 

Sep | 28 | Watchwords for Warriors

Key Word:- VICTORY

Title:- Watchwords for Warriors

Joshua 1:18 “Whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words, in all that you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage.”

It was Russel Crowe’s ‘General Maximus’ in Ridley Scott’s film ‘Gladiator’ that coined the phrase “Strength and Honour.” Watchwords for warriors that’s for sure, appealing to both men and women, summoning up senses and desires for both, no matter what the cost. “Strength and Honour.” I like that.

However, the victories and glory of ‘Maximus’, pail into insignificance when placed alongside those of General Joshua. In our verse today, from the lips of the leaders of the two and one half tribes settled already on the East side of Jordan towards the rising sun, we see reference to what I might suggest, are the Watchwords of the Warriors of God. “Strength and Courage”

Paul as a prefix to dressing the Christian in the armour of heaven, begins with encouraging us to “be strong”. Being a Christian is no easy thing. This side of heaven, it is not a call to ‘wimpage,’ it is not a call to ease, it's not a call to rest; it is a call to vicious and blood spilling battle. It is a call to the most violent of conflicts, it is a call to the clash of arms, it is a call to conquest. Such a call will not go without resistance but with the utmost ferocity, it will in turn be attacked. No wonder then that Paul prefixes his battle dressing with “BE STRONG!” Resist, exert, endure, effect, energise yourself, be unmovable, “BE STRONG!”.  Lean into the Hurricane if you will, grit your teeth and snarl but whatever you do, don’t turn, don’t run, “BE STRONG!” We must take heed of this exhortation, for I tell you friends, we are truly in a battle royal where the stakes are higher than we can ever conceive. To remain standing against such onslaughts you will need to be strong and you will also need great courage.

The English word ‘courage’ has it’s roots embedded in the old French word ‘Coeur’, that is ‘heart’. Courage is a matter of the heart. If you are to stand and be strong in the face of such fierceness you must have courage, inner firmness, ingrained fortitude, desperate determination, terrible tenacity, a screaming resistance that roars back at the enemy and dares to bear it’s own teeth in terrible display.

I do think that there will come a day when we shall roll up our sleeves and show our scars and say “I got this when….,” or “this happened as…..,” or maybe “this is to remind me of….” For I wonder, if those who aspire to be God’s true generals, like His own Supreme Commander, the Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ the Lord, King of Kings, Prince of Peace and God over all, shall along with Him, also walk the streets of heaven bearing ‘red badges of courage’, even all the marks of their own involvement in conquests, battles and victories?

O Christian, is the Holy Spirit saying to you today, “Prepare yourself! For in three days you shall go over this Jordan. Only be thou strong and very courageous.”

Listen:- You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ….. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. ……… Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. … This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. If we endure, We shall also reign with Him…2 Timothy 2:1-12

Pray:- Lord I pray for the fixed heart of Queen Esther, to be kept from for the lacking determination of King Joash, to be given the swinging arm of Elijah, the blind strength of Samson, the wiliness of Jael, the wisdom of Joshua, the eyesight of Moses, the mouth of Peter, the loving and embracing arms of John, the courage of the thirty and the dedication of the three. O God I pray that I would at last, be true, be true, be true, be true to Thee. Amen.
 

Jun | 25 | Who’s Your Daddy?

Key Word:- VICTORY

Title:- Who’s Your Daddy?

1 Chronicles 12:22 For at that time they came to David day by day to help him, until it was a great army, like the army of God.
 
You may have heard the old joke of the soldier who instead of receiving a rifle when visiting the quartermaster, is given a stick instead. “It’s no problem” says the quartermaster, “It’s a magic stick, just point it at the target and say “bang” and the enemy will fall” Sure enough, he enters battle with his magic stick and points it the enemy soldiers loudly shouting, “Bang! Bang! Bang!” Astonishingly, with each shout an enemy would fall down dead. All accept one of them that is, who despite not holding a weapon himself, never the less continues to walk steadily towards the soldier bearing the magic stick. As the enemy walks by, his hands held out in front of him as though he is clutching an invisible steering column, he is heard repeating constantly, “Tanka, Tanka, Tanka, Tank!”

Before ‘D Day’, to give the impression that the assault was coming from elsewhere, a great deal of time was spent by the allies in positioning wooden tanks and wooden mock up aircraft in their thousands, at points far away from official loading zones, thus deceiving the enemy as to the Allies true intentions. Indeed, in the darkness and during dire conflict, it has been known for soldiers to take the exhausts off jeeps and drive them slowly up and down, again thus giving the far greater force of the enemy the perception that heavy armor was now maneuvering for position against them. These tactics of deception are not new for humans, animals or insects! Indeed, the insect world is replete with tricky little decoys to stop the smaller and the weaker, from falling into the hands of the bigger and stronger prey.

Enemy deception against the Christian often acts in reverse and so friends, we have been deceived into thinking that we are the puny ones! I am not calling for blind stupidity in the face of the enemy here folks, but I am calling for an open heaven and some open eyes for the people of God to see who they truly are and to see what they have truly got! Honestly, the chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of thousands and the Lord is among them. His forces, our forces, are massive and He is the greatest warrior of all!

Today the great King amidst His forces still shouts loudly saying “As I live forever, If I whet My glittering sword, And My hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to My enemies, And repay those who hate Me. I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword shall devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the heads of the leaders of the enemy.” Deuteronomy 32:40-42. Now let me ask you today Oh wimpering one, “Who’s your Daddy Christian? Who’s your Daddy?”

Unless you want cheese with that whine, I suggest you stop that little pity party the enemy’s deceit has caused you to invite all your friends to, and begin to see things as they really are, for YOU, HAVE BEEN DECEIVED!

Listen:- And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6:17-18

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4

Pray:- Little me, stands in the middle of the Mighty and the Almighty. Let me see it today O Lord. Let me see it today and then let me grow into the warrior You have called me to be. Amen.

Jun | 19 | Jam Tomorrow

Key Word:- VICTORY

Title:- Jam Tomorrow

Matthew 6:19,20 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Whilst having coffee with a friend who managed his own portfolio, I was fascinated to find out the vital need for attentive care, the spreading of risk and the daily monitoring of rise and falls in the market. One of his comments really struck me though when he remarked, “Investments have a fixed and certain return, but all of this stock market ‘stuff’ is speculation, there’s nothing certain about it at all.” He’s right of course.

Thomas Friedman (Foreign Affairs correspondent for the New York Times) in his amazing book on Globalization ‘The Lexus and the Olive Tree’ makes the same point consistently. When what happens in Taiwanese markets can the next day disastrously affect jobs in the U.S.A, this speculative and interconnected market becomes a serious taskmaster to be either mastered or bowed down to afresh, each and every day! Speculation is like that, go to any gamblers anonymous meeting and ask them. Nothing is certain in the speculative world. Absolutely Nothing!

Many years ago as a young Christian in the Royal Navy, I was always defending charges that “Christianity has no relevance in the real world, it’s all ‘Jam tomorrow’, it’s a just ‘a crutch’ for sick people.” My answer to Christ being a crutch was simple, “Jesus is more than a crutch for me, He is a wheelchair! I can have nothing without Him. Absolutely nothing!” It’s still true today of course.

To answer this charge of ‘Jam tomorrow’, you know, ‘Pie in the sky by and by’, I could and would point to a multitude of historic and present precedents in the miraculously changed lives and directions of peoples and even nations who have turned to Christ. Today however, rather than getting into verbal conflict, I just let it lie. “‘Pie in the sky?’” I reply, “‘Jam tomorrow?’ You bet yah baby! For all we see now is passing away and therefore everything, to some extent, is but a temporary impostor on the eternal stage and yes indeed then, concerning much of Christianity, it is most certainly and most absolutely, ‘Jam tomorrow!’”

I am increasingly becoming futuristic in my outlook. By faith, I have ceased to speculate but rather, for the first time maybe, I am investing in CERTAIN futures. How about you today dear freind? How about you? Do you fancy some Jam tomorrow?

Listen:- For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21

Pray:- 'Dust and air' O Lord, just 'Dust and air' and be it all ever so wonderful, it is passing away, just passing away. My Lord Jesus teach me today the true worth of Your heaven, the value of Your treasure and the timeless nature of Your reward. Keep me from trinkets I pray today. Amen.