New Wine in an Old Wineskin, and the True Reason to Fast

You know, when you’re talking about not mending new cloth over old cloth, which would get torn more, thus worsening the original state because the old cloth is weak. Also, do not put new wine in an old wineskin. The wineskin, to me, seems to appear as a better illustration of what I am writing today.

So, first of all, before Jesus spoke of the wineskin, the disciples of John the Baptist asked Jesus why His disciples don’t fast as they and the Pharisees do. Jesus said the friends of the bridegroom don’t mourn when the bridegroom is around. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away, and then there will be the need to fast.

Jesus gave a very simple analogy to why we fast. Before the coming of the Lord Jesus, the Jews fasted. One of the reasons for their fast was to prepare themselves for the coming of the Messiah. This was under an old covenant. Now, the new covenant came in the person of Jesus Christ, and the disciples see Him every day, so why would they fast when the Messiah was walking with them every day? So, if the disciples were to fast, Jesus would be like, “I don’t get you guys.” Sort of “Who are you fasting to, and who am I”

The essence of fasting before the coming of Jesus Christ is different from the reason for fasting after Christ’s ascension. The reason why we fast now is for communion with the Father, thus spending time to know Him. We don’t have any other business in the fasting order than to know and fix our eyes on Jesus (ref. John 17:3; Hebrews 12:1). This allows us to be soaked into who He is because all of who He is, is who we are.

We have no other business. Since we have been raised with Christ Jesus, continue in Him. As we continue to know Him, we live Him. So, when we fast with the sole purpose of knowing Christ Jesus, we know why we are Sons and Daughters of God. We know our collective and individual purposes as Sons and Daughters of God on the earth.

So, in a summarised form, the reason why Jesus Christ said there was no purpose for His disciples to fast was because He was with them, also elaborating on the fact that the purpose of fasting is to know Him. And He was establishing a new covenant, which was why He said no one puts new wine in an old wineskin. We cannot mix the Law and Grace, you cannot mix the old covenant with the new covenant.

Before Jesus came, no one had the Spirit of Jesus in them, but after His ascension, the Spirit of our Lord Jesus is offered to the whole world as a brand new life.

The essence of fasting is to know Jesus Christ, to dive deeper into the knowledge of Him, and to become and manifest Him because we have Him as our life.

Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t? Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations—you’re born again, and you are now brand new!

                                          

Log on next time.

 

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Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are obtained from the New King James Version (NKJV)

Why are You the Light of the World?

Light is something that brings joy to my soul. See it makes me happy. Thinking of this makes me ponder on what Jesus meant when He said we are the light of the world in Matthew 5:14-16.

The first question concerning The light is to know who needs the light? Who made you a source of light? A bulb wouldn’t be a source of light if someone did not make it a source of light. The bulb, which is the source to project light, must connect itself to the light generator itself.

When Jesus said we are the light of the world, it means that we can light up ourselves by being connected to the light generator. If we were living as light, we would know, and there wouldn’t be a need for Jesus to say we are the light of the world. What it means is that we are not using what we were created to be, which Is being the light of the world.

You can’t hide the light when it is on. Light can’t hide, everyone knows. It is like noise that isn’t heard but known. So in your going out, coming in, the way you act should be different. One reason you are called the light and is so important implies that everywhere was in darkness.

The Bible says in Psalms 119:105 that, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Connecting the dots means that your life, by being the light, is an expression of the word of God. The Bible points this out in 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.” So, when you are a light, you are literally expressing the word of God.

People see the word of God active through you, so it makes more sense to them, just as a movie Is made from a novel; likewise, your life plays out the word of God. Doing this enables people to understand the Lord God better.

You can’t hide, that is why you can’t put a lamp under a bushel.

Jesus said He is the light of the world. Why did He say that? He said it because He was manifesting God right here on earth. So, we know God better by looking at Jesus because He manifested God. Likewise, we are manifesting Christ Jesus here on earth. It is expected that if people want to know who Christ Jesus is, they look at you.

This is why the scriptures say we should let our light shine before men that they may see your good works, and praise God our Father in heaven (ref. Matthew 5:16). The reason they know it is God the Father to praise is that they are seeing Him being expressed through you, and the scriptures are understood better.

We have Jesus living inside of us, this is why we can express Him through us. Remember, Jesus is the light, and there is only one light, and this one light lives inside of you. This is why we can express Him.

Also, when the scriptures say that we should let our light so shine (ref.: Matthew 5:16), it implies we can control how much we can shine. The control of the light is based on our faith in Him and how much rest and trust we have in Him.

The more you get transformed by the renewing of your mind, the more you release His light in you.

Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t? Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations—you’re born again, and you are now brand new!

                                          

Log on next time.

 

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GOD BLESS YOU.

 

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Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are obtained from the New King James Version (NKJV)

Being the Salt of the Earth

There is something about salt you need to understand. Your food has no meaning or attraction in taste until salt comes in. Salt, figuratively speaking, has the power to bring colour into what appears to be black and white.

Everyone outside Christ has no direction or what they are meant to do. When Jesus said we are the salt of the earth, it implies that we are giving people a sense of direction in their lives.

Wherever you are, you are giving people a purpose-filled life, drawing them to Christ Jesus, their first love. Doing this allows them to know why they exist.

Being the salt of the earth allows people to draw closer to Christ.

But when the salt has lost its savour, it implies that you have lost focus. When you who are to draw people closer to Christ by giving their life the true meaning are distracted, you live without value, having no meaning like those you are to save. What then is the essence of your existence? You would be thrown out because there is nothing to gain from you.

But when you live and act as the salt of the earth, you give the people around you and wherever you go a reason to live, and by living, they live the Christ Jesus’ life.

Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t? Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations—you’re born again, and you are now brand new!

                                          

Log on next time.

 

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GOD BLESS YOU.

 

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Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are obtained from the New King James Version (NKJV)

The Houses on the Rock and the Sand to the Church

I have written on The House on the Rock and The House on the Sand. I have made reference to them in other write-ups, but I have never looked at them from the angle I’m about to address today. So, stay with me because it is a very serious issue in the body of Christ.

Now, prophecies, casting out demons, and other miraculous signs can be done by any Son or Daughter of God, as long as they call the name of Jesus.

To emphasise a point I have made several times. When Adam fell, he did not lose his ability to create. In other words, humanity never lost the ability to create, they only lost direction and connectivity to The Lord God Almighty because He didn’t reside in them. The nature of man wasn’t the nature of God, and thus they acted in an image trying to find itself.

God came down in the person of Jesus Christ to redeem man and give man the opportunity to connect back to God by having a brand new nature, the nature of God Himself.

Now, Colossians 2:6 points out that since we have received Christ Jesus as Lord, we are to continue in Him. In other words, we are to regulate our lives in union with our Lord Jesus. Emphasising oneness with Christ Jesus. This aspect is where issues in the body of Christ have risen.

You might have heard that Christians are few. I am here to correct that. Christians are not few, it is obedient Christians that are few because many do not continue in Him after receiving Him as their Lord. If you think I’m kidding, allow me to explain further.

Many go out to carry out events like crusades and similar things by themselves. The question here is, who told you to carry out these events? Many do things by their head and not from His leading.

Jesus said He will not leave us as orphans but will send the Spirit of Truth to live with us forever. The essence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to be our helper, our strength, our direction, the one who points us to Jesus always.

When you read the parable of the men who built houses, many times we focus on the Rock and The sand. But have you taken the time to observe that both of them did the same thing? They both built houses! They were not lazy men.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:24, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:” He also said in verse 26 of the same chapter “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:”

Can you see that verse 24 started with the word “Therefore”? To use the word Therefore implies a conclusion of some premises made earlier.

So, what did Jesus say before verse 24?

The answer is in verses 21-23 of Matthew 7, where Jesus says not many who say to Him Lord, Lord, on the last day will enter the kingdom, but only those who do the will of His Father in heaven.

Now, here is my point. The people will cry out that they performed miraculous signs IN HIS NAME. Not in another name, but in the name of Jesus. But Jesus denied them, why?

I love the way the Message Bible gave Jesus a reason for rejecting them. Matthew 7:23 says, “And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.’” MSG

The issue here is that when you become joined with the Lord Jesus, allow Him to lead you. Pride does not only mean being pompous, but choosing to do things by ourselves and not by Him. To feel our way is right. Humility on the other is choosing to follow and go about things in His leading and not our own way.

Jesus demonstrated this in the temptation when the devil asked Him to turn stone into bread. He said man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Meaning He will do nothing unless it is God who asks Him to do it (ref.: Matthew 4:4). He also told the Jews that all they see Him do are that which He sees His Father in heaven do (ref.: John 5:19).

The reason why this is important is because when you choose to do things by yourself, you will be doing things to your own glory. And it will get into your heads.

Walking with the Lord requires a lot of humility, allowing God to take all the credit. This was what those who cried Lord, Lord on the last day didn’t do. The fame got to their heads, and they chose to do things with their effort and wealth.

Results here on earth can be very deceptive because both men built houses, they were hard working. They both faced all the trials and persecution as portrayed as rain, flood, and wind. What made the difference was who sent them—their foundation.

We are stewards, and God has entrusted His kingdom into our hands to manage. This is why we are to sit at His feet to get leading and direction on how He wants His kingdom to be, and not by taking laws into our own hands.

There is this thing the devil does, he is not bothered about the physical growth of the church, but what it does is to make sure you don’t fix your eyes on Jesus. That is what is its concern.

Don’t be afraid; the Lord does not see His children go astray, and He does nothing. His Spirit convicts you, but it is left to you to obey. This is what those on the last day didn’t do. They got carried away by fame and physical endorsements.

The glory must ALWAYS go to the Lord. And this is seen FIRST through your obedience to His leading.

He will never give you a responsibility more than what you can bear. He is always there for you to guide you, correct you and put you on the right path to take. It is left to you to obey and continue IN HIM.

Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t? Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations—you’re born again, and you are now brand new!

                                          

Log on next time.

 

For prayers and comments, send them to the comment section below.

 

GOD BLESS YOU.

 

PLEASE LIKE AND FOLLOW MY BLOG

 

                                                                                                                 

Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are obtained from the New King James Version (NKJV)

He Left The Ninety-Nine To Get You

The parable of the lost sheep is an interesting parable where Jesus had to give an orientation on who His Father is.

When Adam fell, he did not cease being the son of God because of the way Jesus had portrayed it in the parable. Stay with me. If Adam had ceased being the Son of God, then God would have actually wiped them off completely.

The nature of man after the fall was not the nature of God because mankind had lost its direction; this was what Adam lost when he fell. The connecting thing between Adam and God was missing. But the ability to create still remained. For Adam to function in God’s image and likeness, Adam needed God to be with him and reside in him always for Adam to act as him.

Adam was discovering and stumbling into things. That’s how Adam lived, but he did not cease being the son of God, as Luke clearly spelt out in the Gospel of Luke 3:38, tracing the genealogy of Jesus Christ; Adam was called the son of God.

The way it was stated, the sheep in the parable wandered away, just as Adam wandered away.

Looking at the parable, it is in two ways. It speaks of those who are lost, like Adam or a person without Christ Jesus, and those who are Christians (Sons and Daughters of God) who are lost. However, the parable stresses more those who are lost, like Adam or those who are without Christ Jesus.

Jesus said He came to the lost sheep of Israel. People might have done wrong things; this comes into play when you choose to do things by yourself, without the leading of the Holy Spirit. It is important to note that the only way to be yourself is by being Him (God/Jesus). He is the one that you are to be. The “you” does not exist, it is only Him (being made in His image and likeness). Just as a cub’s fullness is in a Lion, likewise a person’s true fullness is in Christ Jesus.

To miss your direction implies you acted outside who you are, without the leading of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Christ Jesus.

You should also remember that Jesus said in John 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you...  .” God, in His mercy, came down to save man; this portrays Christ Jesus as the good Shepherd. There could be times in your life when you feel you’ve missed the road. This could play out in the life of a Christian when it comes to money because money can be a form of distraction (write-up for another day), tilting anyone away from the truth (when money isn’t used under His leading, it becomes the leader).

The good news here is that no matter how far the sheep may have wandered, the Shepherd doesn’t just sit down looking, counting his loss, rather, he goes out looking for the lost sheep. This is what Jesus does for us. Maybe, when you come to your senses, you may feel that Jesus may not accept you based on the wrong that you have done. But that’s not the case with Jesus. He loves you so much that His love is greater than whatever wrong you might have done.

When you hear His voice, run towards Him.

Jesus is the head of the church, the good shepherd.

The parable of the lost sheep is pointing to a merciful Father. When you read what the shepherd did when he found the lost sheep, you’ll understand that our Lord Jesus throws a party in heaven whenever a sheep is found. His mercies are new every morning, great is His faithfulness towards us. Always trust Him.

Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t? Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations—you’re born again, and you are now brand new!

                                          

Log on next time.

 

For prayers and comments, send them to the comment section below.

 

GOD BLESS YOU.

 

PLEASE LIKE AND FOLLOW MY BLOG

 

                                                                                                                 

Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are obtained from the New King James Version (NKJV)

The Parable of the Talents (Part 2)

Hi everyone,

Yesterday, I started on the parable of the talents, and what Jesus really meant. Contrary to some interpretations, the talents don't depict money, but the God-given talents or gifts we were born with. This points to those who are born of God (true Christians).

Just as the master gave three of his servants talents in his business, this implies to us that Jesus made those who are born of Him stewards or managers within the field He placed us in. The Holy Spirit reveals this to us, and how we are to go about it.

Our focus is the expansion of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus fulfilling the mandate of the great commission given to us by our Jesus Christ. This is the business He has called us into, and nothing else.

So, what about our needs, aren't we to work for our needs?

In Matthew 6:24, Jesus said "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

Why did Jesus bring this up? He brought this up because the world since the fall of man in Genesis had been serving mammon knowingly or unknowingly. The spirit of mammon was the spirit that brought about the creation of money. Money was created for man to acquire his needs with it. But this was not so from the beginning.

Adam's needs were already met before he was created. God gave him his talent, to tend the garden in line with the perfect system God designed. This is why after Jesus said we cannot serve both God and mammon in Matthew 6:24, He continued in verse 25 saying we should not worry about what to eat, drink, or wear, talking about our needs. Why did Jesus say this? The reason is that worrying about our needs is an act of unbelief or the absence of faith. And if we don't have faith in Jesus, it means we have faith in mammon, where we sweat to get food to eat and get other needs met.

This wrong became a norm of life and it's impossible to break on our own. Jesus made us understand that life under Him is different. In Matthew 6:33 He asks us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all other things will be added unto us. In other words, when we have faith in Him by focusing on our mission expressed through our talents or gifts as He leads us, we will find out that our needs were met from the beginning.

Our needs are not met because we focused on His mission using our talents, rather our needs are His expression of His grace, which is not conditional.

The moment we focus on getting our needs met, we won't focus on our mission, and we will switch to the other master—mammon. The reason is that God did not design man to get His needs met, God designed man to be His steward on this earth using the talents He gave us; for His plan and purpose (ref.: Jeremiah 10:23).

The parable of the talents is an expression of faith. In fact, everything we as Sons and Daughters of God do must be by faith (ref.: Romans 1:17; 2 Corinthians 3:5), which is to trust and rest in Him because if He said it, it is done. He gave us a glimpse or shadow of this when He took care of the needs of the children of Israel while in the wilderness, not to mention us who live under a better covenant.

What talent have you been given and how will you do business with it? This is where the Holy Spirit comes in (ref.: John 14:26). Jesus said that without Him we can do nothing (ref.: John 15:5), and He will never leave us nor forsake us (ref.: Hebrews 13:5).

Jesus said in John 15:16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you."

We create value when we focus on the mission, just as King Solomon did. The more he expressed God's wisdom, the more his talent increased in value thus bearing fruit. The people expressed this when they brought gifts for him. Likewise, as we express our talents for His purpose, we increase the number of our talents by increasing their value ensuring they achieve their purpose.

Our life is like a journey, and on the path, our needs have been placed at different points along the path. We will only find them as long as we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. When a need arises, He opens our eyes to see His provision, because a master would not send out his servants if he hadn't taken care of their needs ahead of time. This was what God did for Adam so that he would focus on his purpose, likewise us. Trust in the Lord's leading and not on our own understanding (ref.: Proverbs 3:5-6).

Remember, our talent is for the expansion of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus. We should also remember that our needs have also been met even before we started our mission with Jesus. As we key into Christ Jesus, through His Spirit, we know how to go about our mission. By using our talents we create more value because the talents yield fruits and increase in value, thereby having more talents to present to the Lord when He returns.

Our talents should be expressed in the leading of the Holy Spirit. As this is done, we expand the kingdom of our Lord Jesus, our talents are valued more, and it yields fruits, thus increasing its overall worth. Remember we are God's stewards, thus we focus on His kingdom and not on getting our needs met because He sorted that out before we received the talents to become His stewards.

Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t? Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations—you’re born again, and you are now brand new!

                                          

Log on next time.

 

For prayers and comments, send them to the comment section below.

 

GOD BLESS YOU.

 

PLEASE LIKE AND FOLLOW MY BLOG

 

                                                                                                                 

Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are obtained from the New King James Version (NKJV)

The Parable of the Talents (Part 1)

The parables of Jesus are so powerful that they should not be taken for granted. Each one contains insights into deep revelations. Often, Jesus uses parables as an allegory depicting the kingdom of heaven and the parable of the talents which is my focus today, is no different.

The parable of the talents is found in Matthew 25:14-30 where a master called three servants of his and gave each of them talents according to their abilities, not based on sentiments. He gave one servant five talents, to another he gave two talents, and to the last, he gave one talent. He asked them to go and do business with them until he returned from the journey he was about to embark upon.

Now, I've heard several teachings on this parable, and many seem to depict talent with money, but this is totally wrong.

First are the master, who depicts Jesus, and the servants who depict the Christians (Sons and Daughters of God). And if this is so, when Jesus comes back, are we to give Him more money? Think of it. This is because God did not give us money in the first place. Money was made by man, not God. So, if talent doesn't depict money, what does it mean?

Very plain and simple, talents depict our God-given talents or gifts, what we were all born with. So, what does this have to do with the parable, and what does it mean to do business with it?

We must first understand that talent comes from God. In other words, God gave us these talents, doing this therefore implies that He made us stewards of His kingdom.

We are to understand that before the coming of the Lord Jesus, we are first to establish His kingdom in us [through acceptance or faith] and expand it while here on earth. This is why He gave the great commission in Matthew 28:19-20, thus making us understand the importance of the kingdom, making us understand His mercy by delivering the whole world from the kingdom of darkness to His kingdom (seen in His death, burial, and resurrection). This is activated through us, thus going into all the world and enlarging the kingdom of our Lord Jesus and using these talents, this is the business Jesus meant, NOTHING ELSE.

But what about our needs?

In Matthew 6:24, Jesus said "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

Why did Jesus bring this up? He brought this up because the world since the fall of man in Genesis had been serving mammon intentionally or otherwise. The spirit of mammon was the spirit that brought about the creation of money. Money was created for man to acquire his needs, and this was not so from the beginning.

For Jesus to point our attention to this implies He was to enlighten us on the way it was at the beginning, and what it was. So, how was it from the beginning, and how does that connect with the parable of the talents?

You'll find the answer to these questions in tomorrow's write-up. So, log on tomorrow for the part 2 of The Parable of the Talents

Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t? Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations—you’re born again, and you are now brand new!

                                          

Log on next time.

 

For prayers and comments, send them to the comment section below.

 

GOD BLESS YOU.

 

PLEASE LIKE AND FOLLOW MY BLOG

 

                                                                                                                 

Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are obtained from the New King James Version (NKJV)