What Christmas Means!

What really comes to your mind when you hear or think of the word Christmas? Does this festival season mean anything to you? Do you think of your friends, loved ones and family, perhaps bonus and shopping or like the good majority- party time? Rarely do people ponder deeply about the essence of Christmas- the Birth of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus.

Believe it or not that time of the year is here again; the Christmas festival! People will for a moment forget the politics, the economy, and the uncertainties of tomorrow, but will purely celebrate in style. Goats, chickens, turkeys and many other delicacies will lay prostrate on braii-stands and dining tables. New shoes, clothes and the ‘wanna-be-cloths’ (tummy tops, skinny Jeans, and the 50cm high heeled shoes) will be worn. Those wonderful Christmas gift packs, flowers and cards will float the atmosphere of the shopping complexes, Malls, and Tuntembas (Zambian makeshift shops). For Lusaka dwellers Acades, Manda Hill, and Levy Junction will be hotspots. Furthermore, fathers and mothers, uncles and aunties of all walks of life will make their way around loaded with the Christmas bonus and shopping coupons. And not forgetting the pick-pocketers and thieves will also celebrate in style. With so much activity, honestly, what sort of meaning would Christmas have? Will Christ even be in the picture?

The world gets so crazy about Christmas that one wonders whether it is truly about Christ. Conceivably, it is just another world wide carnival jammed with staff, food and gifts. Essentially, it has come to be a moment to spoil yourself, friends and family with parties, disco, and adventures followed by days of hung-over, bruised bodies, empty pockets and of course not forgetting accidents and deaths. Surely speaking is that what Christmas has come to mean? What sort of memories can one have year after year?

What is the authentic meaning of Christmas? I believe not all think and celebrate in a Christ-less fashion as described above. Yet still, on the other hand, there are always a good lot who demonstrate a minimal conscious of Christ. These people will be filled with memories of the last time they were in church. They will come to church again to register their presence since Easter, the last funeral or wedding they last attended. They will be satisfied with the lie that God is honored by them being in church again. Well, the truth is, their presence will be worth as much as their absent unless they finally come to Christ.

Please pause and ponder with me for a moment as the big question still lingers; what is Christmas, and what exactly does it mean? Only if people knew, their memories would be delightful. Let me try to explain. Though coined by the world and with a pagan origin, Christmas Day was adopted by the Christians to commemorate the birth of Christ. Due to the influence of Christianity, the day was Christianized to glorify the true God in heaven. However many centuries later, which is today, the world seems to be claiming the Day back. It has been highly commercialized, and Christ is almost out of the picture (no longer is it Christmas but Xmas). This leaves the church with no grip on it at all. Do not be surprised, it is just a matter of time (sooner or later) if we start to hear that the Christian fraternity wants to disassociate itself from the commemoration of Christmas Day as the birth of Christ.

Nonetheless, the true Christian looks at Christmas through the Scriptures. Consequently it is a time when we focus on the story of our Savior’s birth. During this time, we stand in admiration of the virgin birth, the accurate fulfillment of the scriptural prophecies, the appropriateness of the time, the worship rendered by the Angels, the Magi and the Shepherds, and eventually the pronouncement of the purpose of His birth and death, by the Priest Simeon. All this reverence bundled together points us to the final work of our Savior at the Cross of Calvary.  As a result, it brings to mind that Jesus’ birth was purely the beginning of His journey to the Cross to redeem fallen man for the glory of God the Father. The Scriptures are full of the amazing number of witnesses to this story. Unlike today, these witnesses pondered in their hearts the things said of Christ; Joseph and Mary, the sermons of angel Gabriel; Zacharia and Elizabeth, the leaping of John in the womb; Simeon and Ann, the sight of Him at the purification; the shepherds, the hymns of the angelic host; and finally the wise men at the compass of the bright star. We surely stand in awe of this King born in a manger in the little town of Bethlehem. These are the memories that fill the hearts of true believers and define the meaning of Christmas.

Therefore, the birth of Christ is not only the fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah in 7:14 (“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel...”) but also the beginning of all that was spoken of Him in the Law, the Psalms and the Prophets. Truly we commit to memory the king who shall rule the world with the government upon his shoulders.

Dear friend, what do you perceive of all these things? Please open your eyes for once this Christmas and see that it is Jesus Christ the King of Kings and Redeemer of mankind we celebrate! May this Christmas cause you to be excited about Him? Pause and ponder again of your redeemer and fill your memories with Him. Rejoice therefore, for there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus! Merry Christmas to you all!

That's all!

Meditation- Psalms 119:15

One Thursday morning, I woke up at my usual God and I time to prayer, read the Bible and read my devotional book (Morning and Evening by CH Spurgeon).

The reading in my devotional book gripped my attention in an unusual way. Mr. CH Spurgeon talked about a subject that has become so rare in our today and age; seeing the place and essence of meditation in our walk with the Lord. A virtue spread across the pages of the Psalms and in the lives of many godly people in the Scriptures and in history. It was David’s treasured asset and also Our Lord’s delight when He walked among men.

I have come to observe that this is a virtue that is missing in many of the Christians I talk to. Week after week, we have been so disciplined in attending to the challenging teaching of God’s word, but rarely do we take time to pause and meditate on the truth we gather. Instead the majority of us are so quick to depart from the word faster than we came to it.

In this devotion, Spurgeon has explained meditation in a very simple and colorful manner. Please take a moment and learn from Mr. CH Spurgeon:

“There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word, spiritual strength for labor in His service.

We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. Truth is something like the cluster of the vine: if we would have wine from it, we must bruise it; we must press and squeeze it many times. The bruiser's feet must come down joyfully upon the bunches, or else the juice will not flow; and they must well tread the grapes, or else much of the precious liquid will be wasted. So we must, by meditation, tread the clusters of truth, if we would get the wine of consolation there from.

Our bodies are not supported by merely taking food into the mouth, but the process which really supplies the muscle, and the nerve, and the sinew, and the bone, is the process of digestion. It is by digestion that the outward food becomes assimilated with the inner life. Our souls are not nourished merely by listening awhile to this, and then to that, and then to the other part of divine truth. Hearing, reading, marking, and learning, all require inwardly digesting to complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth lies for the most part in meditating upon it.

Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord, and be this our resolve this morning, "I will meditate in Thy precepts."

"PRAY WITHOUT CEASING"

The prince of preachers, CH. Spurgeon, preached to his Metropolitan Congregation in London; “Pray without ceasing” 1Thess 5:17. Having Read the sermon, the dryness of my heart caused by prayerlessness was exposed. There is nothing sad for a believer than a prayer-less life. Not only does one surfer from being dry and patched but in a moment quickly slips into a state of hopelessness, laziness and weariness. Before long one is found walking with the ungodly, standing with sinners and finally sited with the mockers of God.

For your encouragement, I have gleaned sweet grains from this sermon that I will in a few words share with you. CH Spurgeon has answered four questions in an outstanding fashion. As usual this man has never ceased to amazing me with his grasp of the scriptures. Of the four, “How can we obey these words?” has been answered clearer. Here are the nuggets:

Work as much as you can to prevent all sinful interruptions to prayer. Endeavour to keep away, as far as you can anything and everything in you and around, that would prevent your thriving in entreaty.

Avoid all unnecessary interruption of every sort to your prayers. If you know that any matter, from which you can escape, has a tendency to disturb the spirit of prayer within you, avoid it earnestly. A Mrs. Rowe once said “Though the twelve apostles were preaching in London during my prayer time I would not be bribed out of my closet”

Sometimes we think that prayer is a waste of time; we are too busy to pray. A great and grievous mistake on our part! The truth is, praying saves time. God does multiply our ability to make use of time. If we give the Lord his due, we shall have enough for all necessary purposes. In this matter seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Your other engagements will run smoothly if you do not forget your engagement with God.

Shun, above all things, laziness and indifference in prayer. You should not insult the majesty of God with words born from your lazy heart. Be serious; come not away from the mercy seat till thou hast prayed!

Take care to fight against anything like misery of not being heard. If you have not been heard after six times, like Elijah, go again the seventh time! Be importunate, like the widow before the wicked judge. Heaven’s gates at times seem to be prayer proof. Knock, and knock, and knock again; and add to thy knocking and to thy asking seeking, and be not satisfied till you get an answer.

Lastly, never cease from prayer through presumption; guard against it. Always feel the need to pray! Say not “I am rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing” remember your nature that thou art still naked, and poor, and miserable; therefore, persevere in prayer.

In case your heart has lingered long in prayerlessness and you have been sad about it, please do care to apply these few nuggets and see the freshness praying without ceasing will bring!

EXAMINE YOURSELF

One of the glorious activities that every believer should be engaged in from time to time, if not, daily, is to examine him/herself.

During my secondary school days the most rare thing we did was go to the laboratory. If my memory serves me right, we did it at least twice or three times a month. It was such a lovely occasion to enter the lab and carry out some experiments. As was the routine, the Lab Technician would always go through the house keeping ruling, particularly not to examine or test with taste. I enjoyed putting objects under a microscope and examine them. We would test for oxygen, hydrogen and the famous titration. I remember once we spent a good time examining a chicken’s feather in preparation for the grade 12 final exams.

How often do you examine yourself? Rarely do we believers nowadays spend quality time putting ourselves under the microscope of the Scriptures and examine ourselves. We wake up every morning as though life is in our hands, and all that it has to offer we deserve it. While living in full view of the Lord, yet we operate as though the Lord was out of sight. We sin and walk the path of deception and yet do nothing about it. When the day is done we fall on our beds like tree trunks and snore our way to the following morning.

It is only when disaster strikes; death, accidents, theft, and many other pains of life that we get jacked again to seriously go before the Lord and also examine ourselves. This need not be the case with those who are called by His name.

Paul speaking to the church at Corinth in 1 Cor 11:28 says “But let a man examine himself,” in this text, he deals with the manner in which the believer participates in the breaking of bread (communion). It seems that the Corinthians had developed a bad habit of taking the Lord’s Supper lightly or in vain. It had become a time of feasting like they did in their old religion as Greeks. Paul takes time to correct them by instructing them to seriously and critically examine themselves. To judge whether they have really understood the work of Christ for them and that they are in right standing to participate in the breaking of bread. Observe that this is not a collective activity but an individual responsibility.

For that reason, consider the need to examine yourself not only for the sake of the Lord’s Supper but for your daily walk with the Lord as well. It’s to judge yourself before the Lord Judges you. While it is still day, take to the Lord everything you find unrighteous or not worthy in your life. Daily examine yourself whether you understand the immense work of Christ that He did for you on the Cross and redeemed you. That your citizenship in heaven is set forth in Christ; that you are a friend of God because Christ died. In light of this, examine your spirituality daily; is my walk in order and worthy of my calling; am I a living testimony of Christ who lives in me; do I live for Him daily or for self.

Like a microscope exposes hidden information so does self-examination by the Holy Spirit enlightens you of yourself. Do this daily and your ways with the Lord will be well established. Self-examination is indeed very Christian and pleases the Lord!

A Letter from Kabwata: Nigerian Religious Junk!

A Letter from Kabwata: Nigerian Religious Junk!: "“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fru..."

Why the Change of Name and Theme?

Blogging is a very interesting activity and a demanding one at the same time!
I have so far enjoyed everything involved in setting up, getting things started and writing the first posting. But as days have gone by, I have come to both, respect and appreciate those who are daily working on their blogs and postings almost every two days. This has proven to be a challenge to me. therefore, having come thus far, I have decided not to give up on blogging but to re-visit my blogspot by changing the name and theme.

My earlier blog spot name (Guard Your Heart) and theme (It's your Life's treasure) was very catch and good, but it has left me locked up and limited. I had pushed myself into a very tight sport. I just couldn't  keep up with the demand for writing only on heart issues. not only me but you my audience inclusive would have sooner or later been frustrated, burned out and finally died.

The idea of changing the name and theme to "EXTRA  Peruse it all and sprout" seems to accommodate all I intend to share with you. I feel this will cause me to get over the hedge and talk about a vast of issues that both interest me and you; to fly across rivers and mountains of life, and tap where it may matter most. No matter what the case may be I pray and trust the blog will forever remain Christ-centered, God-glorifying, Saint-edifying and Sinner-provoking.

I hope to be writing on a number of topics such as my church life, theology, Christian challenges, events, sport, animals, weather etc. anything morally upright that I think would be EXTRA information for every Christian to feed upon in their walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Please forgive me for taking valid time from you to read about what I intend to do. nonetheless, I hope you will come and dine with me from time to time as I bring to you EXTRA to peruse it all and sprout. I thought I should not leave some of you in suspense with the whole change of name and theme even when it does not matter to you that much.
That's all!

Sometimes God Says "No!" (2/5)

Though the Lord answers all my prayers, he does not always say "YES". I thank God that he has said yes in countless times. But if yes was all he said them he would not be a good God. Just like a parent who is always saying yes to all the children's demands is not a good parent. As a Christian I must always be learning that God knows and understands my entire life more than myself. He knows my yesterday, today and forever. Therefore every time I get engaged in prayer, my heart must be fully convinced that God already knows and will answer me accordingly. It may be yes, but sometimes God says "No".

Just like little junior, we all do not so much appreciate "NO" for an answer. "NO" has caused many Christians to say unrighteous things about God. Even mature believers at times through tantrums, distract their minister of the gospel and fail to magnify the Lord. Whether we like it or not, let's face it; the Lord will always say "NO" to us in a lot of things. Therefore we must learn to accept both positive and negative answers as from the loving God who cares for us and wouldn't like to see any one of us perish. You response and reaction to God when He says "No" suggests the nature of your walk with Him and describes your maturity level!

Let me put in perspective. Observe God's dealings with Paul. It is not clearly known what the problem was with the apostle Paul. Whatever it was, it must have been painful or difficult to bear. In 2 Corinthians 12:7- 10, Paul prayed and pleaded with the Lord three times that a thorn in his flesh may be taken away. But the Lord said "No!" I have no idea why the Lord refused (who are we to question God), but the Lord found it needful for Paul's sanctification. God said that His grace was sufficient (enough) for Paul to live with a thorn in the flesh. Friends, Paul in a very mature way accepted the answer as from the Lord.

As though that is not enough, observe another more surprising occurrence. A night leading to the crucifixion, the Lord Jesus Christ was in the garden of Gethsemane praying (Matt 26:36- 44). The scriptures relate that He prayed three times for the Father to take away the cup of suffering. But the Father said "No!" Can you believe that even the Lord Himself received "NO" for answer? Unlike us, He acknowledged that it was the Father's will that He should drink it. Had God the father said "YES" history would have gone on a very sad detour. Jesus Christ would have failed to redeem us; we would have been the most hopeless creatures. I thank My Lord daily that He drunk that bitter and excruciating cup of crucifixion. What a joy to learn that sometimes God says "NO!"

Dear friends, please keep this in mind and heart that when the answer is "NO" it is still from God. God is sovereign, infinite and all-knowing. He knows why He says "No" to a number of our prayers. Therefore, be thankful to the Lord when He denies you the desires of your hearts and your endless prayer requests. Not only does He answer with an emphatic "YES" sometimes God simple says "NO!"

 

Answered My Prayer (1/5)

 

There are many times in my life when I felt like giving up on God because He didn't answer my prayers. I really did struggle and scuffle with how God answers my prayers. I had often times wondered why God never answers in the very ways I pray when He is Who He is; promised to never leave me nor forsake me; and will supply all my needs according to His riches in glory?

I have, for some time now, learnt that this is not unique to me. Majority of believers from time to time do fall in this predicament again and again. I wouldn't be surprised that as you read this article, you are already aligning yourself to it. Hope this will help you understand why you should never give up praying even when God seems not to answer your prayers in the way you would like Him to. Though we can claim that He will grant as the desires of our hearts, our desires must first be found in line with his will. Therefore, hold your arguments back for a moment and just read on, you will be blessed.

Whenever I go before the Lord in prayer, two things always accompany me; first to make request from the Lord by presenting before Him my petitions, and second because I have come to him, believing who He is; the promises He has made in His word, and my strong faith, that by all means, He will give me a positive answer. I am always anticipating His goodwill to meet my needs. But as I do so, never at one time do I meditate on what the Lord's answer will be. In fact in some quarters they insist that if you did so, then you doubt God. There are no two ways about it, God just has to answer me here and now and according to my request, will and desire. Unfortunately that is not always the case with the Lord; He is not a son of Adam to reason like me.

As I share with you how the Lord answers my prayers, first and foremost I want you to know that God has always answered every prayer I have ever prayed in my Christian life. "But pastor…" you may be thinking "I have a list of a thousand things that God has never answered me, and how come he has answered all your prayers?" well the problem is that you only conclude that the Lord has answered you if the answer is either according to your requests and/or if it is a "YES" answer.

Have you ever heard of a man who thanked God for not saying "YES" to all his prayers for a marriage partner? Had God said "YES", he says, "I would have been polygamy of a hundred wives today". There are a number of ways in which God answers your prayers dear friend. Just stop being stiff necked in the name of faith and know the truth about God.

Let me bring to your attention five ways in which God answers my prayers.

When God says "YES"

What a glorious experience it is when God says yes! Every believer leaps for joy! At times we even lose sight of God, and like our friends in other camps, we give credit to our faith. As if it is our believing that twisted the arm of God. The Lord answers yes simply because we have prayed according to His will. Please don't get me wrong, I do not reject the fact that God would have us exercise great faith and belief, however the ultimate truth is that you prayed according to His will. I guess the next question would be "how can I know God's will before I pray so that I can pray with direction?" well that's for later.

The Lord in the book of James (Jam 5:13- 16) gives us a very practical example of the Old Testament prophet, Elijah, who had learnt to pray according to God's will. And every time he did, God answered with an emphatic yes! In fact the answers were not simply cloudy, but specific to the request. For that reason God would have us always praying and never to loose heart (Luk 18:1- 8) until we know His answer.

Today I can recount from one request to another of the things I have prayed for and God had said "Yes!" A clear and sure sign that I prayed according to His will. It was not because I had a strong belief or faith in Him but simply because I had enquired for what His will was and asked in that accord. And that's just one of the ways in which God answers my prayers.

In case you have something upon your heart and you think God will not answer you with a yes, please seek His will first. For God is able to answer you according to the need at hand. If you don't hear from Him today don't give up, keep on praying.

Watch this space for the remaining ways in which God answers my prayers…

Can We Trust the Bible?

Four years ago I taught the young adults of our church to study the Bible for themselves. In that study we looked at almost all the necessary tools and skills of Bible Study that pastors, preachers, and other Bible scholars are accustomed to. They basically learnt that developing the habit of studying the Bible for themselves was one old time habit that has, since the first century (…and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Acts 17:11 nkjv), mushroomed many a giants of the faith. To achieve that comprehension, we used materials that I had gleaned from a number of resources. The book that I used the most was Living by the Book written by Howard and William Hendricks. It was second to the Bible during that study series. If ever you had the chance of laying your hand on this book please, gobble it; a master piece for any lay person who desires to learn to read and study the Bible for one's benefit.
As I pursue to encourage you to read and invest your life in the Bible, I have realized that a number, from time to time do wonder if they can trust the Bible; whether it is worth the reading and the life investment. Please read this short quotation from the Hendricks' comment on the unity of the Bible as God's revelation.
"Many of us want a word from God, but we don't want the Word of God. We know enough to own a Bible but not enough for the Bible to own us. We pay the Bible lip service, but we fail to give it "life service." In a world where the only absolute is that there are no absolutes, there is little room left for the authoritative Word of God as revealed in the Bible.
The question is, can we trust the Bible? It is credible? Is it reliable? Is it determinative for life in our time? Consider what Scripture says about itself.
If you have ever studied some complex or controversial subject in depth, you know the frustration of trying to find two or three authorities who agree on any and all points. It basically never happens.
The Bible stands in marked contrast. It is unique in that its parts conspire to form a unified whole. You see, the Bible is not only one Book, it is sixty-six books collected in one volume. These sixty-six separate documents were written over a period of more than sixteen hundred years by more then forty human authors who came from a wide variety of backgrounds.
Yet the Bible is a single unit, bound together by the theme of God and his relationship to humankind. Each book, section, paragraph, and verse works together with the others to reveal God's truth. That's why Scripture is best understood by relating its individual parts to the integrated whole.
The Bible presents itself as revealed truth from God. The word it uses for "revelation" actually means "unveiling," like pulling back a curtain to show what is behind it. In Scripture, God has revealed things that would otherwise not be known at all. He has unveiled that which is absolutely true – not speculated, not conjectured, and not hypothesized. It is truth that is entirely consistent – never controverted, compromised, or contradicted by other parts of the revelation." End of quote.
Think through dear friends, you can be assured that every time you sit down to read the Bible, you actually handle the very spoken Word of God. Hope you will choose to guard your heart by daily being engaged in reading the Bible this year.

READING THE BIBLE

As we attempt to worship the Lord in spirit and truth, there a number of things that we must purpose to do to achieve it. God has lavished the church with many means of grace that cause us to never relent from the worship of Him. One among the foundational means of grace is the reading of the Bible. From my childhood in the Lord, reading the Bible has been one cardinal means of grace. To separate it from the Christian life and worship is tantamount to denying the Trinity. Therefore because of such immeasurable worth of the Scriptures, be encouraged to read the bible in a different way this year.

On page 2567 to 2575 of the ESV Study Bible (2008) is an article on Reading the Bible. This articles explains five essential ways of how to reading the Bible: Reading the Bible Theologically; Reading the Bible as Literature, Reading the Bible in Prayer and Communication with God; Reading the Bible for Personal Application and finally Reading the Bible for Preaching and Public worship. In that fashion is this article. I have tried to summarize it for those who may not have access to the ESV Study Bible and particularly to the young in the Lord who would wish to read through the whole Bible this year.

As a pastor, I am many times guilty of reading the Bible for preaching and teaching purposes. At times I find myself justifying my studying for preaching as my devotional time as well. Many believers are equally guilty of this mentality; reading the Bible as a dictionary or as an answer book to life's questions. That ought not to be the case; there are more and better reasons than that. God wants every believer to read the Bible for his/her own nourishment and growth in the Lord.

Part I. Reading the Bible Theologically

Let us begin with "Reading the Bible Theologically". Every time the word theology pops up in a conversation or writing, many young Christians tremble and feel incompetent to biblical studies. This word simply means the "Study of God". Here we mean reading the Bible "With a Focus on God" His Being, Character, Works, Purpose, Presence, Power, Promises and Precepts. To achieve this, every Bible reader must keep the following aspects of the Bible in mind.

First, God's church and people individually, must consider the Bible as an Instructional Manual. The church is called upon to be seen as a people of the book (Bible). The Bible cannot be separated from the church or the Christian. Any attempt to do that has always 'sunk the ship'. Those who have done so have ended up nowhere but in total blindness, heresy and pain. For that reason as you read the Bible, remember that God is instructing you on how you should live your life for His praise and glory.

Second, the Bible is canonical. A canon is a rule or standard. God has set forth the Bible as His unchanging standard of truth, right, love and goodness, wisdom, worship, doctrine and devotion. You are to read it as a God-given rule of belief and behavior. Any other standard is human initiated and will soon or later fail you. Apart from the Bible all other standards, no matter how high they may be set, they are totally separated from the only true authority of life- the God of the Bible. Thus, as you read the Bible, remember that it is God's rule and standard of how you should live your life for His praise and glory

Third, the inspired Scripture: As unique as the incarnate Christ is- both human and divine, so is the Bible- both Human and divine. The Bible is the breathed out word of God by God Himself. It is God witnessing to Himself in and through the Scriptures. Therefore the Scriptures must be read as God's own self- revelatory instruction, given in the form of human testimony. In the Bible, God tells the truth about Himself. Therefore as you read the Bible this year remember that it is God Himself speaking into your life of how you may live your life for His praise and glory.

Fourth, the Unity of the Bible: Keep away from the misconception that assumes the Bible to be a ragbag of religious bits and pieces, which are unrelated to each other. Rather the Bible is a beautiful carpet in which all the complexities of the weave display a single pattern of Judgment and Mercy, Promise and Fulfillment. The Scriptures are so unified with God at the center. Jesus Christ has fulfilled all prophesies, hopes, promises, and dreams and has linked the two testaments together in an unbreakable bond. It is so unified as a product of one single mind- the mind of God. Therefore as you read through the Bible this year remember that God wants you to know His revealed single mind so that you may live your life for His own praise and glory.

In conclusion, as you read the Bible always remember that you hold in your hands God's given guide to sinners for their salvation and godliness; God's handbook to the church for worship and service; the spoken mind of God.

Reading the Bible theologically follows these elements and is done with God at the Center, looking and listening for Him throughout its pages, with the controlling purpose of discerning Him with maximum clarity, through his own testimony to His will. Such reading is pursued prayerfully for illumination and seeks the help of the Holy Spirit.

Worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth

As 2011 commences, Faith Baptist Church Riverside in Kitwe, the Lord's flock which I shepherd, has purposed to get serious with God by choosing WORSHIP as the theme for 2011. "Worship the Lord in spirit and truth"- from John 4: 23- 24 "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (ASV 1901)

Through the year, we shall define the meaning of biblical worship, understand the object of our worship, the nature of worship, and seek to be true worshipper of God. From Sunday to Sunday we attempt and delight in the practical nature of worship. I pray that by the end of 2011 the church family will be filled with true worshippers of God who call upon His name in spirit and truth.  
Here are four of the many nuggets of worship. How does your life look like in this area worshipping God? Would you like to see yourself become a better worshipper? Be encouraged to keep reading this blog as I try to help the young in the Lord established their feet as true worshippers of God:

1. Did you know that true worship of God is not fully expressed on Sunday only during your worship service, but throughout the week? Sunday is just the apex of your life of worship during the week. If you live the weeks like the devil don't think you can worship God on Sunday like an angel. Our God does not dwell in the church where you leave Him there when church is over and come to see Him the following Sunday. Just a correction, the man you leave behind is not God but your pastor who has no idea what you are doing during the week. But God watches you daily. He is ever present with you when you wake up or go to sleep; He sees you in your dreams understands your thoughts and knows you intentions before you act. This is the God we Christians worship. Therefore expressed your worship to God 24/7/365.
    
2. Did you know that true worship does not begin from church but in your heart? The Lord told the Samaritan woman at the well that if she is to truly worship God she must first worship God in spirit. The word spirit refers to the heart. Worship must flow from a sincere soul/heart. There must be clearness of heart in our walk with God. God cannot be worshipped with hearts that are filled with sin or unrighteousness. No matter how holy and righteous we may appear before people and use our gifts in the most fantastic way, God will remain far from us if our hearts are not right. Therefore a true worshipper of Christ begins with his/her heart relationship with God.
3. Did you know that to truly worship God you must know Him as the Bible says He is? The Lord further says that we must worship him in truth. This indicates the prescribed way in which God is to be worshiped. Christ is the truth and if we are to worship God we must know the truth of Christ only found in the Bible. Anything more or less than what it says is damning. For God has only given to us one prescribed biblical standard. We must read the bible to discover for ourselves who God is so as to worship Him better. It does not matter how many church services we can attend, prayer meetings, concerts and you name it, if we do not read and meditate on the Bible for ourselves, we will never know how to worship in truth.
4. Lastly, did you know that the God we worship sets the standard of worshiping Him? We must always keep in mind the object of our worship- it is God the Almighty. Many people today are so focused on how good a worshipper they are and forget to whom worship is rendered. Whether He approves of it or not God is usually out of the picture. It's like claiming to have enjoyed a wedding ceremony which had neither the bride nor the groom. The Lord Jesus says that the Father is seeking true worshipers and not vice versa. Therefore as you endeavour to worship God this year embrace this nugget; firstly who is being worshipped, then the nature of the worship being given and finally you and I the worshippers.

Have a blessed year as you join the church family at Faith Baptist Church Riverside in becoming true worshippers of God who worship the Lord in spirit and truth. Ensure to guard your heart from being diverted from being such a one!