Jesus Christ – “The Way, the Truth and The Life”

This season, more popularly known amongst Christians as lent, is really all about Jesus Christ the son of God. This is that season when we celebrate His death and subsequent resurrection. Hereafter, we shall go on to celebrate His ascension and the coming of the Holy Ghost according to His promised. This is one season when the love of a Savior who loved so much He gave all so that those He loves, (every man), may be saved. This is indeed true love. Neither before or even after Him was there nor will ever exist such display of genuine or sincere love and one so deep. I think I may have a better understanding now of why God was silent when Jesus seemed hesitant to complete the journey as His death drew closer. As He seemed to pause for a minute during His prayer, there was nothing heaven could do or say because Jesus could not be compelled to do it: it had to be an act of love. Hence the long silence. Thank God, it only lasted a while before He chose to go on.

Mathew 26: 39 “He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

John 15: 13 “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

The Father was desperate to be reconciled to His children and the children needed to be reconciled to The Father; that they may successfully walk through this earth and then be with Him in glory. The only ‘bridge’ between God and His children which was acceptable to God, was Jesus Christ and He had to die that painful death to make it happen. No wonder Jesus Christ could boldly announce that He is “The way”. The greater chooses how he would be reached by the lesser. So anyone desirous of legitimately reaching him, would go his way. Of course there would always be those who would try other ways to reach the greater; but any other way would not bring anyone to Him. It may seem sometimes like there are many ways to getting to a destination but all other routes end in a maze except the one or ones meant to get there. I have been really close to places several times in my life but just couldn’t get to the place because I missed a turn. God made the decision and Jesus Christ aligned willingly; there is no other way to God but Jesus Christ.

John 14: 6 “Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

Romans 12: 2 “…but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think…”

There is no other way to explain this but to accept that Jesus was unequivocal about the fact that He is everything for anyone who wants to dwell in the Father. No wonder one cannot be connected to God through Him and find “the world” or any other god interesting. If Jesus is correct as we know He is, then there is absolutely no other acceptable life except one that is steeped in Him. When He says He is the Life, then if you want to live, it must be through Him. So that for everyone who is not in Him who thinks they are actually living or “enjoying life”, you really are not. To “enjoy life” you need to first have it and you don’t have it outside of Jesus Christ because it is in Him. Every other thing that looks like life is not really life. It doesn’t matter who else pushes something they would like to describe as life, at the end of it all is our common enemy the devil whose ultimate purpose is to destroy man (saved or unsaved). Very often we like to think that the devil is only after believers and that is not true, he is after everyone but has to work harder against those he believes are lost to Christ.

Acts 17: 28 “For in him we live, and move, and have our being”

Christianity is definitely all about transformation; it is an entire change of culture and attitude of mind i.e. mindset. The more I think on God, the more I realize that He is indeed God. He is not frivolous and chooses His words carefully. When He says we have to allow our own transformation, it is indeed so. To move from “life” without Christ to life that is Christ, is a complete change of mindset. It isn’t a behavior modification thing no matter how good we may think we were. The best man is still man and had no idea how to live in Christ; it is a concept totally alien to him because we were all born into sin. Life in Christ is acquired culture which must be acquired for us to make heaven. No matter how terrible or nice you are, we all start on an even ground when we come to Christ. It is what you then do subsequently that determines where you end and the ending is more important even now than it was. As we celebrate, let us remind ourselves that our Savior’s return is imminent.

Unless A kernal….

I definitely believe that change is a constant factor in a believer’s life. If we want to live successful Christian lives, we must yield to God and allow Him change us because He will not force the change on anyone. The change that takes place at the point of salvation is only the first of several other changes. As we go on in our walk with God, we are changed from glory to glory in our bid to be like Christ which is God’s desire for us. These series of changes that take place in our lives, are interesting because not one of them is meant to leave us worse off. It is always change that makes us better no matter how difficult the process may seem. It is therefore safe to assume that the process is not over while it is yet “ugly and difficult” because every time God is done with a particular level of glory, everything is beautiful. It is as beautiful on the inside, or even more so, as it is on the outside because God who Himself sees all things, including the  things hidden from all eyes, always works to ensure that what we see on the outside is a reflection of all that is on the inside.

Ecclesiastes 3: 11 “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from the beginning to the end.”

2 Corinthians 3: 18 “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

At some point in our walk with God, every committed believer comes to the realization that change is imminent. Yet, it isn’t something we look forward to because of the discomfort and pain it comes with. From one level to the other, depending on the level of one’s commitment, the process can be really painful. I have many wishes concerning how God should go about this process and would have been willing to counsel Him as to how to deal but He has not asked nor does He ask our opinion as to how to go about His business in the life of any man. Indeed, we are too unqualified to counsel from our very myopic view, a God who sits in the heaven of heavens and sees further and clearer than we can ever see and has our best interest at heart. All our experiences, I have found, are also based on the different paths to and various expressions of success that have been mapped out for us as well as the extent to which we respond to His love. I can confirm that no experience permitted by God in the believer’s life, is meant to destroy them: and even when we walk into experiences, by reason of our wrong doing, that should destroy us our God is working to ensure that at the end of it all, it works good for us.

John 12: 24 “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels – a plentiful harvest of new lives.”

So, to get to the next level of glory, one must yield to the extent that one dies to who they are. It takes one becoming as dead to successfully go through the experiences God allows to bring us to the next level of glory. Hence, the process is likened to the planting and death of a kernel of wheat which eventually gives a great harvest.  The level of humility that is required to go through each experience successfully, demands that one die to themselves. The seed falls and is buried in earth, hidden from all eyes; and in that dirt, it begins to increase until its expansion can no longer be hidden and it is the same process that takes us higher. God works far away from prying eyes to increase us and in such a way that one barely has enough strength to “keep it together” and as such is left with no strength to explain to anyone what is going even if they understand it: but when God is done, the evidence of His goodness will not be hidden.  God’s goodness in a life don’t need to be announced; they announce themselves when God is done. If they have to be announced, then you are moving ahead of yourself because God is not done yet.   

Hebrews 12: 5b – 6 “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”

Mark 10: 29 “Jesus replied, and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good news, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property-along with persecution.”

It is sad that a number of us do not accept that this process of transformation also comes with some painful experiences and so, some such persons have aborted the process over and over again whilst others are backslidden. Such believers are convinced that life should be a smooth ride from the point of salvation which Jesus never promised us. All the good things we expect will surely come to pass but He did say that they would come alongside persecution. Persecution that Jesus spoke of is not just murdering believers for their faith, it is harassment, mental and physical torture and all other bad things done to believers just for our faith. Moreover, satan is the prince of the power of the air and his thoughts are never good; even when they seem good, his ultimate goal is to wreak havoc.  So evil will happen to all alike in a world where he is in control but God who made us more than conquerors through Christ, delivers us from all attempts of the enemy to steal, kill and destroy believers. So as we go through these difficult experiences, let us set our eyes on Jesus Christ who has successfully come through. It will end well.

Jesus Is No More Enough

Recently, in the course of a conversation with my Pastor and His wife, Pastor Lanre Kosoko, she said something that struck a chord in me. She said ‘the way believers act today, it is almost as if we think Christ is not enough’ and it has stayed with me. Indeed, I feel like we think God was not smart enough in making Christ just the way He is – Jesus Christ. It is almost like Him just as He is, is no longer enough to be all that He is so that we feel a need to make up for the inadequacy we see. We try to make Him look the way we think He ought to be in these present times so that people can think of Him “highly enough” to accept Him. We forget that the ways of God would normally look foolish in the eyes of man and God is well aware of that yet He worked things like that. Can the created redefine ‘The creator’?  We often try so hard to make Him acceptable that we compromise several aspects of the word of God. People, around where I live, argue that if more people must come to Christ, then people have to be given a ‘soft landing’ to Christianity. Are we suggesting that this life is a burden? Any ‘soft landing’ that compromises the word of God probably leads people elsewhere and not to Christ our Saviour.  Unfortunately, the Word of God is greatly compromised in our times; our gospel is largely ours; put together by our intellect. Pastor Femi Monehin once said and I agree, that “God is not a product of my thinking or philosophy.” He is not a product of any one’s thinking or philosophy. He is God in Three Persons and He is enough for us.

 

1 Corinthians 1: 21a & 23a “For after in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God ... But we preach Christ crucified.”

 

It is the belief of many in these present times, that the intellect of man is more powerful than ever before which said argument is not my focus here, but even if it were true, God has never pretended like He planned to satisfy our intellect. He clearly says that the life that He gives is like a river that flows from within and flows forever. It does not directly feed the intellect. The true gospel is not powerless; it accomplishes its purpose because it is the word of God which is what the world needs. The world needs the healing that only Christ can provide – It is healing that reaches deep down to the soul and spirit of man. There is an insatiable quest for God; a hunger and deep yearning by people who may not even be aware of what they hunger for. Unfortunately, believers do not think highly of what He appears to be and in trying to make Him look better, we are preaching a gospel that is unable to satisfy the world’s yearning. Our intellect is unable to bring anyone to God through Christ; only Christ can do that. Sadly, not even our looks can bring people to Christ. It takes the quickening of one’s spirit-man for Him to become a believer and only the word of God has that quickening power. And until a man’s spirit comes alive, He is not born again. God is a Spirit who can only be worshipped in the Spirit. That hunger can only be quenched by His Spirit.

 

John 14: 6 “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the to the Father except through me”

 

Isaiah 55: 11 “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it.”

 

It is indeed vain for any man to think that they can describe God in an improved way. The mere thought that any man can better articulate who He is than He has done Himself is vain. Moreover, it is my firm belief that the world is tired of an empty Christianity. The world wants more than the glamour that we seem to only give these days. The glamour is good, but the world knows that they need much more than that. The flesh is unable to meet the need; for it profits nothing. Until we ourselves realize that Jesus Christ is enough, we will never make Him Lord in our lives which is His desire. Until He is Lord in your life, how can you effectively tell another to make Him Lord in their own lives? It is time to get real that we may preach Christ. He is the Redeemer and none other. Sometimes, it is merely the desire to have other people follow us that leads to a little shifting from the Truth. Unlike John the Baptist, we struggle to point people to ourselves because somewhere deep down, we need them to follow us. Unwittingly, a number of us have made more followers for ourselves than we have The Master. As we point people to Jesus and they receive life, Jesus works in us to prepare us for leadership His way. As we follow Him, people will look to us to show them to follow Him. There is only one Lord and His name is Jesus Christ.

Ecclesiastes 3: 14 “And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him.”

 

Just like in the Days When There Was No King

I went to a company yesterday where the staff were so polite I almost thought I was in another part of the world. They looked and acted like believers would and when I heard one of them humming a gospel song, that was it for me – they were definitely believers and that explained their behavior but maybe not. Soon after I left the place, I spoke to a believer on the phone and was reminded that we have mostly lost those values that marked us and made me think those people must be believers. In contemporary times, we are mostly unrestrained and without any form of discipline (so we more often than not come off as people who are not cultured), and as a result, we no longer exude the confidence and joy believers exuded, at least in my environment, but not so much now. We have followed after the values of the world leaving behind the values taught by scriptures. We are now excellent students of the world carefully studying and mentored by the ideals and ideas of the world and forgetting the scriptures. Today’s church is in trouble, at least where I live. Words like discipline, self - control and several other words that speak of any sort of restraint are almost non-existent to us. We do anything we feel like when we feel like it despite God’s opinion and our argument is often “he knows me just as I am and will use me just as I am” forgetting that if He thought of us as useable the way we were, then we won’t need to be saved and transformed. I dare to suggest that we are dissatisfied with the life Christ offers and desire a blend of both – the funk and fun of the world and the assurance of life in heaven hereafter, but we cannot serve two masters at the same time.

 

Mathew 6: 24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

 

The other day I heard about a young man in church watching a porn movie whilst the sermon was preached. I guess that is how he felt at the time but I wonder - can it ever be right to attend an event and watch a movie while some one is on their feet speaking or isn’t there anything like etiquette and/or decorum anymore? Even worse is the fact that this young man was watching this porn movie in church as the word of God was preached. Really? How right can that really be? If this young man elected to be in a service then he ought to have acted appropriately. I know that a lot of people believe the house of God is that place where they can “be themselves” which usually means “misbehave” but the bible does talk about conduct which is acceptable in the house of God suggesting that there is some code of conduct in the house of God. There is definitely a way to carry oneself in God’s house. We very often blame all the decadence in the church on the higher church echelon but on that day when we meet with our maker we shall all give individual accounts of our stewardship and the issues with our leaders will not be good enough excuse to escape hell. The bible is available to all of us so that we all can read it and God reveals Himself to as many as desire Him whether church leaders or congregation. I am not exonerating the church leadership but my point is this - at the end of the day, you owe it to yourself to live right. God demands that we have character which speaks of discipline and self- restraint and the bible teaches, very simply, acceptable conduct.

 

Judges 21: 25 “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in our eyes.”

 

1 Timothy 3: 14 – 15 “I am writing these things to you now, even though I hope to be with you soon, so that if I am delayed, you will know how people must conduct themselves in the household of God.”

 

It would appear like we are, today, exploiting what we consider the wrongs of our leaders for what we think is “our good.” At the end of the day, we will all have to take responsibility for our actions. The excuses we have will not impact on the consequences of these things we do. We cannot erase lines nor can we pretend like they are so blurred we don’t see them; the flesh and the Spirit are very different and the differences are clear. We must bear in mind that God sees our hearts so that our thoughts are open to Him; please do not be deceived, God is not mocked. We deceive ourselves if we think we are acceptable to Him conducting ourselves in the way we want. It is not enough to accept the existence of Christ, satan does; we have to not only invite Him into our lives to be Lord and Saviour, His presence in our life must be evidenced by the changes that will be manifest in our lives as a result of our yielding to His word. We lose the right to just “act it because we feel it” when we become believers. We need to ask ourselves if ‘it is acceptable to God.” Indeed “What would Jesus do?” It may appear like we do not have a King because we don’t see Him but we do and He is The Only Living God.

WE THREE KINGS OF ORIENT ARE … BEARING GIFTS WE TRAVERSE AFAR…

Let me start by wishing you the very best Christmas you ever had. I appreciate that you have been finding time to read my blog which I do not take for granted. There are so many things we love to do in but can’t find the time to do; so it means a lot to me that you find time to read my blog. My prayer is that, this blog will be for you, a light that leads you to that hidden treasure meant for you in the same way that the star led the wise man to Jesus.

The story of the wise men is one I still find intriguing though I have known it since I was a child. These men knew that Jesus would be born and interpreted the star which announced his birth accurately. They had an idea where He would be born but did not know the actual location; thank God for the star that finally led them but this was not before they had tried in their own way to locate Jesus. Unfortunately, this effort in their own strength led to several deaths.

Mathew 2: 6 “After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place.”  

I have found that worldly wisdom and intellectual power without the leading of God and His wisdom would only take one so far. For the wise men to have been called wise in bible days, they must have had great knowledge. To have identified the star and interpreted it correctly, they definitely were wise but all that wisdom could not take them to their God given gift – the messiah. It was just enough to move them out of their comfort zone and this God does often.

When it is time to relocate, He allows things that make you comfortable to move; as you move certain that you have all you need and trusting in that fact, everything falls apart leaving you lost and confused. Then you are compelled to seek help. If you turn to Him, though He will insist on leading you, He will take you to the destination. The problem is with ‘having to follow’; it makes the process appear tough and slow.  Unfortunately, not following may be very costly. 

God, who knows all things, already foresaw that wrong judgment we would make if left on our own and its consequences, so He offers us the benefit of His wisdom. Who would have thought something as innocent as stopping by to see the king or even pay homage would cost so many children their lives and cause such great sorrow to so many families? This one “polite and/or gracious act” cost so many lives. How one seemingly innocent and/or thoughtless act can be so grievously damaging. These are some of the reasons God likes to guide us and order our steps. 

The bible says wisdom is better than weapons of war so that if we walk in His wisdom then we will constantly walk in victory avoiding the unnecessary battles thereby conserving strength for the necessary ones. As we celebrate the birth of the All-wise one, let us ask for wisdom amongst other things. The fact that you did not realize the extent of damage that your innocent or gracious gesture would provoke will not lessen the damage or justify the act. We cannot afford to continue in stupidity when we have a father who is wisdom personified. I wish all a MERRY CHRISTMAS

The Wonder & Power of Our Christ-Identity

I have thought about this Jesus a number of times and I am still thinking about Him today especially at this time when the whole world celebrates His birth yet I still do not understand or know all there is to know about Him. Every time I think about Him deeply, I discover something new about the son of God.

It is amazing how a man born in a manger can become the greatest man of all times. In every age, He is the most popular of all men. Whether out of hate, love or controversy, Jesus is still the most talked about personality in every age and the word concerning Him does not change. It is always the same. In every age, it is a present truth no matter how dark that age may be.

2 Peter 1: 12 NASV “therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present”

For me, one of the most significant things about this Jesus is the fact that He is God and yet man. This is truth that a lot of people find impossible to comprehend and is the cause of a lot of argument today. Well, He died and rose again three days after His death. People testified that they saw Him after His resurrection. Also, God confirmed from the heavens during His lifetime that Jesus is His only begotten son and He said it loud enough for all that where gathered to hear. Today anyone who so desires still hears the voice of God telling him/her that Jesus is His only begotten son who died for our sins and rose from the dead.

The reality of the fact that Jesus is both man and God is fully expressed in the fact that as soon as we get saved, we become gods though we are still men. That seemingly simple act of sincerely inviting Jesus into your life as personal Lord and Saviour apparently creates a lot of activity in heaven. A total remaking that transforms the person from being mere man to god/man. As soon as a man takes this all very important step, heaven goes to work to give life to the spirit of the man by sending the Holy Ghost (quickening Spirit) into the man so that the man is then sealed/ marked with the Holy Spirit making Him God’s exclusive property. In that process, the man’s soul and body are also empowered to follow the leading of the Spirit of God. So the same Spirit that dwells in both God and Christ now dwells in you and me. No wonder Jesus says greater works shall we do if we believe.

Ephesians 1: 13 NASV “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation – having also believed you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.”

Jesus in becoming who He is today has shown me that not even my place of birth can determine what I become in life. When you understand this, going through all that trouble to give birth to your children in the western world just so that they can carry foreign passports becomes irrelevant. There is only one passport necessary to put one’s mark on the sands of time and that is the Holy Ghost who is the passport that every citizen of the kingdom carries.

We are gods indeed and I have elected not to die as mere mortal what about you?