Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. Matthew 13:31-32

Today’s New Testament text records the third of five parables which Jesus shared about the Kingdom of heaven. These were all given in one message delivered on a single occasion as he sat in a boat on the Sea of Galilee teaching the people gathered on the shore. He interprets the first two for us as a guide to our own interpretation of the rest. It is clear from the first two that every element in the story has significance.

In this parable five symbols are used. There is the sower again, and the field in which he sowed, and the seed that is sown which in this case is mustard seed, the tree which grows from it, and the birds that make their nests in its branches. It is easy to interpret the first two symbols. The sower obviously is Jesus himself. In each of these parables he has been sowing, and in the second parable he told us, “The sower is the Son of man.” The field is the world. In this case a mustard seed is sown. The use of these various seeds is Jesus’ way of revealing the various aspects of the gospel which he turned loose in the world. He sowed a fantastic, revolutionary, radical word in human society.

Mustard is a peculiar kind of seed with an unusual quality. It was known to be an irritant, something fiery and biting. Jesus uses this symbol to indicate that the message of the kingdom of God is intended to be arousing, yet irritating among people. Turn it loose, and it will get a whole community excited, stirred up, either negatively or positively. The gospel makes us uncomfortable at times. We sometimes experience the mustard working in and on us as we begin to squirm and itch, or experience transformation and healing.

Jesus points out that this mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds. A mustard seed is small, but obviously not the smallest of all seeds. I believe that Jesus was using a proverb of the day, “small as a mustard seed”.  Here he is clearly stressing the apparent insignificance of the gospel. It does not look like much; it does not sound like much. We say, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” That does not sound very impressive to many people. It is so simple that you can teach it to children and they understand. So the world is not very excited about it; the world does not regard it as a tremendous, earth-shaking philosophy. The gospel is simple. But, let someone actually believe it, and see what happens. When we really trust Christ and invite him into our lives, it is the most transforming, the most revolutionary thing that could ever happen. It is the beginning of a radical change.

This is the seed our Lord is talking about. This message of the kingdom is like a seed of mustard planted in the midst of society, with fantastic power. Look at the tree that grows out of it! Yet mustard is not a tree; it does not grow into a tree. What in the world is Jesus saying then? I believe he intends to teach that growth in the kingdom is an unnatural growth. When Jesus is our Lord, he takes away pride, destroys egotism and self-centeredness and renders a person humble and gentle toward others, ready to serve. Real growth is in surrender and service and not in domination, pomposity and power. It is the inward working of the Holy Spirit that reflects itself in humble service on the outside.

Till next week, may we be enabled to experience the mustard effect!

Friday Reflection
July 5, 2019

Outside of God, there is NO life, just mere existence

The word for today:
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
Acts 17:28 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/act.17.28.NIV

Good day friends,
Blessed Friday to you all…
If a person is living and not merely existing that means he/she is spending life conveniently. However, Living is to make the most of life and to experience the beautiful reality of life as it is.Living means the actual existence of a being up to the fullest

Are you living or are you merely existing? This a question that each of us should ask ourselves. The answer to this question is heavily dependent on a number of factors, of which I will share only two. The two I find most important comes out of today’s text for reflection:
1. Outside of God, there is No life In verses 25 -27of this same chapter, Paul exclaimed why outside of the true and living God there is no other God. He went on to establish the foundation of our lives and explained that it is God who gave us life. Brothers and sister these words speak for themselves, if it is God who made us and gave us life, outside of him, WE HAVE NO LIFE!

2. We should know to whom we belong I invite you to read the entire chapter as to get a clearer understanding of why Paul said “it is in God we live, move and have our being”. However, I will say to us today, that it is important to know where you are from and to whom you belong.
Society teaches us that this is how we form our Identity and begin to learn more about ourselves. So I say to you friends, be clear about who you are and who you belong to. Otherwise, you will find yourself in the same position as the people mentioned in this passage. They were worshipping UNKNOWN GODS! . THEY HAD NO IDENTITY!

Untill next week, remember, outside of God there is no life, you are just merely existing

Blessings
Shaneka Raymore-Euphfa

Teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. Psalm 90:12  

Arthur Jackson writes, “Psalm 90 is a worshipful conversation Moses has with God. The superscription reads, ‘A prayer of Moses, the man of God.’ But even if we weren’t alerted that this psalm is a prayer, the language and tone clearly indicate the psalmist was talking to God. This prayer was spoken during a rough period in Israel’s history. It appears the people of God had experienced discipline (vv. 7–11, 15), which prompted Moses to talk to God about the brevity and fragility of human life in view of God’s eternal nature (vv. 1–6).” The psalmist makes several references to time, such as generations, years, days, morning and evening. For Jackson, “…tough times can compel us to talk to the Lord about our brief time on earth and appeal to Him for His help. They can also cause us to ask who may need the gift of our time.”

There is an African proverb that says, “Westerners have watches. Africans have time.” How many times have we said, ‘I don’t have time’ or ‘I can’t find the time’? It seems as if our very busy schedules and many deadlines to meet is dominating our lives. We seem to not even have time for ourselves. In the midst of all this, Moses prays in today’s Watchword, ‘Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.’ Paul writes, ‘Be very careful, then, how you live . . . making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil’ (Ephesians 5:15–16).

Bill Crowder shares that he suspects that Paul and Moses would agree that our wise use of time isn’t just a matter of clock-watching. For Crowder, ‘The situation may call for us to keep a tight schedule—or it may compel us to give someone an extended gift of our time. We have but a brief moment to make a difference for Christ in our world, and we need to maximize that opportunity. That may mean ignoring our watches and planners for a while as we show Christ’s patient love to those He brings into our lives. As we live in the strength and grace of the timeless Christ, we impact our time for eternity.’

We are urged to be mindful that our time is limited so we have to make use of every time we have. Yet, we are challenged to recognize that what some people desire most from us is not our money or other physical possessions, but our time. Our time to give them a listening ear, our time to empathize with them, our time to extend a word of encouragement. This may be our greatest gift to others. God has given us all the time we need to fulfill all that he has given us to do.

Till next week, let’s remember that time management is not about clock-watching, it’s about making the most of the time we have.

Jermaine Gibson

Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. James 3:13  

Wisdom? What is that? While there are many persons who walk around boasting about how wise they are, there are some who struggle to come to grips with what it means to be wise. The latter becomes real when we reflect on the many foolish thoughts and ideas that we have had; the many foolish words we have spoken; the many foolish things we have done. Some of us wonder whether we can claim any measure of wisdom. I have always believed that wisdom is grounded in knowledge; there is no wisdom without knowledge. Wisdom therefore is the capacity to use knowledge appropriately.

The straight-shooter James clarifies for us what wisdom is and outlines that there are two kinds of wisdom. Hear him in chapter 3: 13-18:

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. ¹⁵ Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. ¹⁶ For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. ¹⁸ And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

For James, when it comes to wisdom:

1.      It must be shown by our good life – Wisdom is not hidden or kept a secret, suppressed nor buried. Wisdom is shown, more so revealed by and in the way we live. We need not declare to anyone that we are wise, it will be seen.

2.      Our works must be done with gentleness – Those who are wise are not arrogant and boastful, but humble and gentle. This gentleness recognizes that others may not be as mature and developed as we are. In any case, the wise know that all that we are and all that we have is because of the manifold grace of God. The wise are disciples of Christ who walk alongside others and help them to grow and mature in Christ.  

3.      The signs are the Fruit of the Spirit – James distinguishes the earthly, unspiritual and devilish kind of wisdom from the heavenly and godly. The former may be described as the works of the flesh, while the latter is the fruit of the Spirit. The truly wise are those who bear the fruit of the Spirit in their daily lives, including love, joy, peace, purity, gentleness, willing to yield, mercy, impartiality and honesty. True wisdom comes from God and is dispensed by God in differing measure to whom he chooses.   

As we pursue wisdom, a good place to begin is to join with David in today’s Watchword, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” Psalm 139:23-24

He will bless those who fear the Lord, both small and great. Psalm 115:13

We live in a world where persons not just require, but demand proof. People want to know that there is empirical evidence to support what we say. Today’s society want proof for our claims and people question everything, especially the Millennials and Generation Z. We naturally seek out tried and proven financial institutions; tried and proven insurance companies; tried and proven churches; tried and proven tradesmen etc.

On the other hand, faith does not require proof; it is about belief. The writer of Hebrews begins chapter eleven with these powerful words, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” But lest we forget, such a faith does not exist in thin air or just suddenly descend upon us. This faith is grounded in a God who has proven himself time and time again.

In today’s Psalm, David outlines that:

1.      This Proven-God is to be glorified. We must claim no honour nor glory, but all should be directed to God. God deserves it because of his steadfast love and faithfulness. This God is consistently true to his word and has always fulfilled his promises. He is dependable, reliable, trustworthy and faithful.

2.      Other gods are useless, static, impotent and dead. In the first place, they are made by human hands. Isn’t it ridiculous that humans conceive that they can make a god and then turn again and worship it?  Such gods have no power, nor can they relate to us.

3.      Our trust should rightly be in this Proven-God. Why? Three times in this Psalm David declares that God is our help and shield. This is particularly important for the Israelites who had to face several wars against opposing armies. They required all the help they could get, and the shield was an essential defence tool. Theirs have been a history of God who not just fought with them, but fought for them. At times, all that was required was for them to stand still and watch God secure amazing victories for them.

Lest we forget, the Church is the army of God. We are in an ever-raging battle against the forces of the enemy. It seems that so many Christians don’t have a clue regarding the war that is taking place in the spiritual world. So many of us are comfortable and relaxed as if all is well; it’s as if we are just cruising along. The battle is raging!! Soldiers arise and arm yourself!! The war is on!!! Yet, this Proven-God is with us and fights for us.

4.      This Proven-God blesses those who fear him. Those who are in awe of God and establish God as priority in their lives are sure to receive God’s blessings. He rewards those who remain true and faithful.

Till next week, remember God has proven true and faithful!

Jermaine Gibson