Just A Thought - About the Flood Genesis 6

The water during the flood covered the earth to a extent that it rose to a height of 20 feet higher than the highest mountain.

The water would not only have destroyed the surface of the earth and changed the layout of the forests, deserts, seas, lakes etc. but imagine how heavy the water would have weighed. A bottle of water is heavy. A pool of water is heavier. When water is allowed to flow through unnatural areas it destroys and moves a lot of debris. Floods and Storms create havoc to the land. Rivers erode the land albeit slowly because the weight of the water at any particular point is not that much against the rock, but a pool at the bottom of a waterfall is deep because the water is heavier as it falls and erodes the rocks at the bottom even further.

When the water covered the whole earth the currents streaming through the water would have been tremendously powerful and forceful. The currents could have shaped huge grafts out of the land. The weight of the water upon the earth could have been enough to put pressure on the underlying continental plates and with the force of the currents would have shifted into their present positions. For example, the Indian Sub-continent being perhaps once an island after having broken away from Africa could have been forced Northwards by the weight of the water on it, and the currents churning North from around the Cape of Africa could have pushed the island up into Asia with such a force the two continents locked together and the Himalayas were pushed up.

The other continents could have been shifted into their present positions in a similar fashion. Likewise, internal seas would have been left over after the flood; Caspian Sea, Aral Sea, Sea of Galilee even, the great lakes of North America and even Lake Baikal in Russia, where there is evidence to suggest that sea creatures like Seals and certain fish arrived with the flood waters. If this theory of the shifting of the plates is pliable then it raise a different viewpoint of the age of the earth, as geologists, scientists and geography experts currently believe the plates shifted to their current positions during millions of years, but this does not account of how certain types of creatures are found in same geographic areas on different continents, whose evidence does not suggest their fossils are millions of years old. Even Dinosaurs would well have been around at the time before the flood.

Elijah Flees to Mount Horeb 1 Kings 19

After the experiencing the amazing miracle of God in front of the Prophets and politicians of Israel on Mount Carmel Elijah now found himself in one of the lowest times of his life. He arrived back in the lowlands and heard that Jezebel had issued a death threat against him. He now suddenly felt very insecure in himself and in his faith. Where was God now? How could God let this happen? He thought God would protect him.

At Beersheba, the oppression of the threat became so great that Elijah went off into the desert and sat under a broom tree. He just wanted to die. He thought God had left him after leaving Mount Carmel. Elijah didn’t care any longer. He wanted to die. He thought he had failed, sinned in some way. If Jezebel caught up with him, then that didn’t matter any longer. He thought God seemed to be no longer interested in him, that he wasn’t answering his prayers. Elijah did not realise that it was the Angel of the Lord who came to him with food and drink, who looked after him during his time in the desert. God did still have his hand on Elijah’s life. God did want to nourish him, help him and be with him, but now it was Elijah who had shut the door.

Elijah needed to find God for himself again. Elijah did not know God was with him, trying to lead him. God had planned Elijah to go on a long journey, hence the nourishment God provided for him. God had prepared for Elijah to go to the desert of Damascus, to anoint Hazael, Jehu and Elisha in their various roles, however, Elijah had lost faith in God and wanted to search him. In his own mind and knowing the history of Israel, he know Moses had met with God and talked with God on Mount Sinai (Mount Horeb), and so in his stupor, he seemingly, aimlessly, walked down the country into the desert of Sinai to Mount Horeb. He took 40 days and nights to reach the mountain. He was looking for God, perhaps everywhere along the way too. He must have been very heavy hearted, trying to avoid people along the way, trying to lift himself out of his depression. In his mind though, he knew he could find and meet with God on this mountain.

Elijah moved from one mountain experience to another, through a tough valley experience along the way.
As Elijah reached the mountain and rested in a cave, he perhaps did start to relax his thoughts, and to open up for the first time in those 40 days, he started to seek God and sure enough, God was there.
Then the Lord, instead of rebuking Elijah outright, educated him further by telling him that God was always with him wherever he was, not just in the dramatic, amazing times, but also in the quiet times, the gentle whispers, like as he had sat under the broom tree. It did not always have to be fire, thunder and lightening.

God lifted Elijah out of his depression, but not callously, however gently, after all, the death threat still stood. God had planned for Elijah to escape by going to Damascus, but now Elijah was 40 days behind schedule. God redirects Elijah’s path, tells him to go and find Hazael, Jehu and Elisha. Elijah has to retrace his steps back up the Country, but now knowing that God is by his side, he must have run back making up lost time, elated because God would be with him always, protecting him and nourishing him spiritually as well as physically.

Death in the Pot 2 Kings 4: 38-41

The pot can be seen as being a city, a community or even a church. In the Bible, a pot always brings sickness so it can be assumed the city, community or church is being effected by sin.
A mission team sets forth and arrives in a community to teach the good news and proclaim the truth of the Word of God and allow people to become interested in the church.

Of those interested though, some have been sent by the enemy. They accept the invitations to the church, they listen to the preaching and, accept them, mix themselves in the church or community, and win friendships within them. They are dark and devious. They begin to spread their malicious false teachings, albeit subtly, gently and through various seemingly innocent ways, by which they begin to cause upsets within the church or community as they seek to poison the true word. If they manage to obtain a position of authority within the church, they can cause huge disruptions, lead people away from the truth, and eventually could confuse them, cause them to leave the church, cause the church to split or even kill the church off. This would have an adverse effect on the wider community, enabling the church to become weaker to lose its effectiveness, its vision and its God-given healing power to the community.

Flour- A substance which neutralises the effect of the poison. People who are strong in the Lord, who know the truth, who know the Word of God and who are intercessors, warriors of prayer, who cover the whole situation in prayer. Prayer can neutralise the effects of the poisonous teachings because it calls upon the power of the God and the Holy Spirit and they can cause the false teachings and the false teachers to be exposed for what they are.
Compare this with Ezekiel 11:3 where the city is a cooking pot and wicked men are the poisonous meat which God then causes to be thrown out of the pot because of its wickedness.

Ezekiel 24 also mentions a cooking pot. This symbolises society of only the best people, the well educated, the famous, the higher classes and castes and the most wealthy or influential people. The society in the pot is boiled. It becomes a hive of activity. Its passions become intense, a magnet for business where the rich get richer. In the pot, bones are added for their additional nutrients. The wheels of commerce turn greatly. Life is great, life is pleasurable and sin abounds. There is bloodshed for those who cannot survive in the community, those who society pushes out, makes poor and who they trample upon on their way to the top. These people become like garbage and because of their number cannot be entirely hidden or buried away. They hang on the fringes of society like scum. Their lives although insignificant to some, remain as hints of danger.

The sin in the society is exposed. It is broken up or the society dies out, goes out of fashion, but now the remains of those who were trampled upon, those who were cheated, those who were ignored are now visible. It’s sins, cover ups, pay deals, murders, slanders are revealed. Those in the leadership positions in the society are not now beyond the law. They are exposed, however, even if all the deeds of the society are investigated and all assets are stripped away, and those in the society are forgotten about, its stained reputation will remain. Its impurities cannot be removed, even by fire. Such examples are like Sodom & Gomorrah, Babylon and more recently Waco, Texas.

Only when the Lord chooses, will the old reputations be forgotten and fade away.

Micah 3:2 explains that leaders in such a society rip people off, trample them, break them, destroy them to get want they want, but the Lord will turn his back on them.

The Axe Head Floats 2 kings 6

An axe is used to work, to chop trees and cut them into pieces.
Elisha and the Prophets were travelling along the Jordan searching for some new, idyllic ground where they could build a place for them to live. Each was given or had taken an axe because each had to cut down a tree and make it into a pole to be used in the building.

Christians, priests and evangelists use axes to help build the Kingdom of God, using the Word of God in their preaching to the community around about them. They cut the dead wood and branches off them and make them into a sturdy pole for the Kingdom of God.
Suddenly an axe falls and sinks into the river. The prophet who was using it told Elisha that the axe head was borrowed.

1) The axe head is someone who preaches the word, but becomes burned out or becomes broken in their spirit and falls beneath the river, those about them, those in the community. Their presence within the community is diminished or even discarded or ignored. They sink in ineffectiveness, worry, accountability, integrity and collapse from being a pillar of the community.
Elisha collects a stick and plunging it into the river makes the axe head float. This fallen person needs a ‘crutch’ to help them back into being secure and confident once again. He needs to be taken out from under the river, back into the community, where through love, care and a sense of self-worth can once again transform them into being that effective worker for God they once was. Jesus is the ‘crutch’. Jesus is the one who can lift people out of the depths where they have sunken and bring them back as a new person to a better, effective life in the church and the community.

2) The axe head is someone who may be called a “Pseudo-Christian” - someone who knows the truth, who knows the Word of God, knows that Jesus has died for them, knows God loves them and is interested in them, but does not personally believe. Eventually the world would swallow up such a person because their effectiveness will not be much, they will not be as strong in preaching the Word of God or in evangelising and the temptations of the world will be too strong for them and eventually the ties to the Kingdom of God would break and they will fall into the temptations of the world and sink amongst the sin and desolateness of the world.
Once again only Jesus Christ is able to draw them out of the world and into the Kingdom of God, out of sin and into life, out of the desolateness and into effective working in the building of the Kingdom of God.
The axe head could have been a false prophet or someone using false doctrine which does not stand up in the work they are doing and it breaks.

3) The axe head was borrowed, so perhaps can be seen as someone from another community or country, a missionary, not used to this community, or culture who becomes perhaps overwhelmed with the circumstances of the work around them, the dreams of working for God not turning out as they would have wanted them to be, the hard tough work in just producing a small dent or chip in those people of the community may be too much to bear, the work which should have been considered easy, because God was meant to be behind it, is not as conveyed and so they break too soon, they sink in worry, grief, feelings of failure.

Jesus before the Sanhedrin Mark 14 v 53 - 65

Jesus is standing on trial before the Sanhedrin, the religious council of Jerusalem and is being questioned by Annas and Caiaphas the High Priest. During the questions and the taunts of the accusers, Jesus remains silent and stands there listening refusing to answer to their lies, correct their rumours and heresies until he is asked directly by the High Priest if Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (v61).

This is the first time Jesus replies by saying “I am and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming with the clouds of heaven” (v62). The question had to be answered because it was perhaps the only true question so far directed to Jesus, but then why does Jesus have to add to his accession with a seemingly obscure sentence, which apparently does not tie in with the subject or the intent of the trial except perhaps to add more fuel to the fire and cause the High Priest to make a decision and end the questioning more quickly.

From the words of Stephen Burns of Scripture Union ‘Closer to God’ daily bible notes: “Jesus breaks the silence with the words ‘I AM’ echoing the mighty name of the Lord from Exodus 3:14.”

The rest of the words do not hold any context however, unless noted that Jesus has said them before when he was talking to his disciples about the signs of the times to come.

In Luke 21 v 27-28 Jesus says the “The Son of Man will come in a cloud from heaven with power and great glory” then he continues in v28 by saying “when these things begin to take place, stand up and lift your heads because your redemption is drawing near.” This is a bold, uplifting command, encouraging us and his disciples to stand up in those times. Jesus may have even drummed this into them, he may have used a bit of drama so they could remember this important command.

This passage in Luke comes shortly before the passage of Jesus’ betrayal, so these words may have literally been spoken a few days before Jesus was arrested and therefore as Jesus spoke these words before the Sanhedrin, the disciples present would have remembered the time when Jesus had last spoken them, would have remembered the bold statement after these words, for them to stand up, to lift up their heads for their redemption is near.

Now, hearing these words again in that room along with the Sanhedrin, it’s as though Jesus was speaking, not to the High Priest, but directly to his disciples, speaking to them in code, urging them to remember the command to lift their heads and to be bold for their redemption is near. This is true now, because if they continued to hold on and to believe and to be bold, even throughout the time when Jesus was to be beaten, whipped, scorned and crucified, Jesus is about to save them from sin by dying for them and for all men on the cross.

Revolutionaries over the years have used similar contexts to call their men to arms but here, Jesus is calling for his disciples not to be downhearted at the trial of himself, because he knows that they all feel saddened and shocked and that outside Peter was sitting with the soldiers around the fire and about to deny he knew Jesus.


At the same time, with the same words, Jesus is telling the High Priest that he will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds.

John picks this up in Revelation 1 v7 where he mentions especially “even those who pierced him”. As John is writing this passage, prompted by the Holy Spirit, perhaps he remembers well those words spoken by Jesus before the Sanhedrin, although by all accounts John may not have been present in the room, because in his gospel, he does not record these words, but instead writes about Peter, so John may have been outside with or near Peter.

It’s doubtful the High Priest and those of the Sanhedrin understood what Jesus was talking about and took it as further confirmation that Jesus was blaspheming. Jesus did not defend his position but went with the judgment and the crowds to the cross so his words could be fulfilled.

On the outside, these words recorded in Mark and spoken by Jesus may seem obscure, out of context, just words, but to Jesus and his disciples they were words of meaning, of life and truth and hope.

The cup of god’s wrath Mark 14 v 36

Jesus says in Mark 14 v 36 “ Take this cup from me”
What is this cup?

Cup of Sorrow
Sorrow of having to see lost souls. The sorrow of weight of rejection knowing that these people were rejecting Christ but that ultimately perhaps they would be rejected by God on the day of judgement. Interesting side note: Jesus in John 17 prays for their forgiveness “for they know not what they are doing”, i.e these people are caught up in the whole plan of the father. They are only playing the part out in fulfilling scripture. Would God forgive them? Perhaps there would be plenty of opportunity afterwards whereby they would be able to recognise their sins and repent just as the centurion who stood below the cross perhaps did, when he recognised that Christ surely was the Son of God.

Cup of Anguish
Jesus would take on all of man’s anguish, fears and hurts. He also is full of anguish for the imminent event of death. His sweat is like blood falling from his brow (Luke 22 v 44) and he says “ My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death.” (Matthew 26 v 38).

Cup of Suffering
Jesus accepts his own suffering. The pain of the beatings, the pain of the whip, the pain of the crown of thorns and that of the cross he has to carry along the way to Golgotha. The pain of the nails in his hands and feet. Jesus also sees the suffering of the world. The pain of life without a saviour, the pain of the unfairness of life for those who have to bear hardship while others wallow in comfort and the pain of the persecutions of his own followers.

Cup of God’s wrath
As Jesus is on the cross dying, he cries out “ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” God has turned away from his son, as Jesus takes upon himself the punishment for the sin of the world.
“The cup of God’s wrath may pass from guilty humanity only if Jesus Christ drinks it”.
Jesus accepts that he has to drink from the cup as John 18 v 11 “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”. He implies that whatever the Father has given to Jesus is good for him. As God is our Father, so must we learn to accept from Him whatever he gives us, as it is ultimately for our benefit. Jesus also indicates that he is obeying his Father and submits to Him. Whatever you say Father, I will do.
The cup of God’s wrath has been given / taken in several instances in the Bible.
Jeremiah 25 V 15 - 17 The cup is filled with the wine of God’s wrath. All nations shall drink it whom God sends Jeremiah to.
Psalm 75 The cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices in the hand of the Lord and it is poured out upon all wicked.
Zechariah 2 v 2 Jerusalem is a cup that sends all reeling.
Revelation 14 v 10 People will receive the wine of God’s fury for those who have the mark of the beast upon them.
Jeremiah 49 v 12 If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it (Jesus?) Why do you not go unpunished?
The cup of God’s wrath contains wine with spices which is foaming - being fermented. On the cross Jesus was offered wine vinegar - a wine with vinegared spices. As soon as Jesus receives the drink he cries “It is finished”. Jesus has drunk from the cup God, his Father, had given him.
Jesus is our cupbearer too. He bears the cup for us. As one who served the King with wine, often having himself tasted it first for quality and as a safety measure. Jesus has tasted the wine first and now passes it to us after ensuring it is good for us to drink.

The Cost of following Jesus Luke 9 v 57-62

Jesus meets 3 people:

Person 1
This man speaks out as Jesus walks past “I will follow you wherever you go”. It seems as though he wants to be a “groupie”. He has heard that being following Jesus around the country is popular. Jesus is in the limelight. He’s a star and his followers were becoming famous too.
Jesus replies “Foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head”.
Jesus answered in this way because he knows what was in this man’s heart.
The man told Jesus he would follow him wherever he went, but perhaps as long as he could book to stay overnight in a 5 star hotel, get paid for following him, have protection and insurance and be the second best next to Jesus in the limelight. The man had a romanticised idea of the life which Jesus lived, a cushy life with no real responsibilities and loads of money. Jesus knew the man’s heart and knew that sleeping one night under the stars would put the man off totally. To commit, the man would have to overcome the need of having a good, cushy, life.

Person 2
Jesus is the one who opens up the conversation with this man by saying simply “Follow me”. Perhaps the man stood staring at Jesus as he walked by, in two minds whether to just go along with Jesus right there and then or to wait.
The man replied “Lord, first let me go and bury my father”. Jesus replies “let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God”.
This man had certainly met Jesus before. He calls Jesus “Lord”. He believed in Jesus, had seen the miracles and knew Jesus was the true way and in his heart he wanted to spread the good news of the Kingdom of God to others throughout the country, in preparation of Jesus’s visits. Jesus could see this in his heart.
The man though is torn because he may have been tied down in having a responsibility to his father. Perhaps his father was strict and treated him as a servant demanding to carry out his every whim. Jesus knew the man’s father was spiritually dead. Maybe his father even denounced the Jewish faith, or even worse - a Pharisee!!
This man felt he had an obligation to his father and therefore wanted to wait until his father died, until he was free of his responsibility, until he could begin his ministry.
Jesus challenges him to seize the moment, while the mission was hot in the man’s heart. He may have sounded callous, but perhaps there may have been others of the family who would be able to look after his father. Jesus may also have known that the man’s father would take many more years before he died. If this man waited that long, then the fire of his mission would be diminished.

Person 3
This person says he will follow Jesus. Again he believes in Jesus and wants to follow Jesus, but feels he has a commitment to his family. He feels he cannot suddenly leave them and follow Jesus without proper goodbyes. His family wouldn’t understand, would be angry and may resent or even reject him. Perhaps he has children who would need a father.
Jesus replies “ No-one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God”


Jesus knows this person’s heart. He thinks he can follow Jesus for a short while and the return to his family. Perhaps be with Jesus for the week and return to his family at weekends. Jesus knows this man starts a project and perhaps does not complete them. He does not see something through to the end and leaves if things become unbearable or takes too much time.
Perhaps the man though following and working with Jesus, may have his mind on his family, worrying about them while he would be away, and worrying how they may cope. He may often take time out to go back and check on his family.

Through these characters, Jesus indicates that he knows our hearts, our will and plans and what would hold us back from carrying out the will of God. Jesus tells us through the last two people that we need to seize the moment now and not to wait or delay lest we be distracted or lose the passion for mission. Jesus is telling us that once we start our ministry, to stay with it, see it through to the end or until God indicates otherwise and God will provide for us and look after our families as well.

The Grain of Wheat John 12 v 24

I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds.”

I have often struggled in understanding what this means because when something dies there is no life left to produce anything else. This is the world’s understanding of life. I am not an agriculturalist, but it is known that when seeds are planted they grow to produce plants which then produce more seeds, which when planted will produce further seeds.

This is a law of God. I thought not everything works this way. Humans die and there remains nothing but a skeleton. Animals die and there remains nothing but skeletons, so why are seeds different?

When people die, it is only then, when others reflect upon the life of that person, and what they have achieved. Their possessions are searched for any gems they may have kept.

Anything interesting which is written is published or at least circulated for others to read what they had learnt. Possessions are passed on for others to enjoy or placed in museums as objects of life gone by, to show how they have been used to enable us to learn to produce better things which then give us a better life.

If the works of those who die are good, then their works are published to benefit other people, professionally or otherwise. Sometimes, it is only when these works are found, that progress can be truly made in that particular field, perhaps due to the selfishness of those who died.
God’ word is often given us as seeds. We have to let these die. We have to let them lodge in the back of our minds and in our heart, where in certain circumstances, they are brought back when we can use them to help us. As we eat the word, some of it drops away, in our hearts and minds. It dies. It produces further thoughts and character. We teach others what we have learnt stemming from these seeds, so yes, as we let the word of God settle into our lives, it produces further seeds in others as we live our lives and as we teach.

Jesus calms the Storm Luke 8 v 22 - 25

The notion of wind is often used to portray the Holy Spirit.
A sailing boat uses wind to move to its destination. When there is no wind, it cannot go anywhere.

Likewise, when we trust in God and let him control our lives through the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will help us to move to our destiny in our lives and in God. The Holy Spirit is the power moving in us to motivate us to live as God would want us to live, to live for God and to continually aim towards the will of God.

In a boat, we use the wind as our source of power, but we steer in a direction, using the rudder. We can choose which way to steer, navigating ourselves through the water. We can choose to steer with the wind or against the wind. We can choose to go with full sails or without any sails.

Sails can be similar to how we move in God. We have the Bible, Christian literature, worship, prayer and fellowship. We can choose whether we read God’s word, whether we pray or worship God. We can choose the length of time spent doing these activities, and this will form the power of our advancement in God and in the destiny planned for us. If we choose against spending time with God, i.e if we lower our sails fully, we would still move, but much more slowly because the Spirit will always be with us.Then we would have to work harder to get to our destination as a rower would use oars rather than sails.

When there is wind on the ocean there are also waves. The stronger the wind, the greater the waves. Waves can be seen as being problems in our lives. We have ups and downs. We cope with the small waves as we become used to the little problems and do not worry about them much. We get used to making decisions to solve the little problems. We get used to seeing or hearing and accepting the “small” sins, which like the sea, go down deep. However, where there are small waves there is not much wind. Our problems are small. We can cope. We don’t need to rely much on God. We don’t need to have real prayer sessions about them, we don’t need to read the pages of God’s word looking for answers to these insignificant problems. There is less activity taking place and less relationship with the Holy Spirit within us. - Jesus has fallen asleep!

God then has to send a storm to wake us up. A storm comprises of high waves and strong wind. We have to solve a huge problem. We put the sails up. We awaken our Spirit. We start praying, we start reading. We move! As our relationship with God becomes stronger, we become more exhilarated. The Spirit is strong. Now we go faster and experience the Spirit as he wants us to know him.

BUT with the wind there are high waves and other winds. The enemy does not like us in revival time, when we are living in God’s purpose, living full in the Spirit. The enemy sends us breakers , problems designed to trip us up, cause us to travel in turmoil and to make us flounder on rocks away from our true course. We look at the waves towering above us and around us, like Peter (Matthew 14 V 28-32). When waves tower over us, crash around us, flow over the bow of the boat, we begin to loose our perspective, to loose sight of our destination. We cannot see the other side and we think of the deep. Other winds are in the storm like fear, anger, jealousy, revenge. We pray more, read our Bibles more, but nothing seems to happen. We go around in circles. We then don’t pray, don’t read. We lower the sails, trying to keep the boat still in the raging, ever changing maelstrom around us.

In desperation we cry “JESUS, WAKE UP”. Jesus will then take control of the problems, the raging storm. The waves stop. The winds stops, as Jesus commands them to stop. Jesus will always have final control.

Jesus asks us “where is your faith?”, for through the storm we were moving well in God’s destiny, because the Spirit was strong and was carrying us through the waves. We should not give up. We need to have faith while we are strong in the Spirit. They go together. Without faith, it is like a lost rudder and then there is no way to guide the boat. Jesus allows us to experience problems to test our faith and to keep us strong in God. We can learn to use these problems to move to our ultimate destination in God.

Post trib rapture

2 Samuel 22 v 5 - 20.

Is this an argument for post-tribulation rapture?

This passage is by David describing his despair when his enemies have gathered around him and are about to crush and defeat him. He sees there is no way out. Death is upon him. It has him in his grip. In David’s distress, he cries out to the only one he knows can rescue him. God. Then David describes how the Lord came through the clouds, through the enemy lines and broke the cords of death, and grabbed him by the hand to lift him out of the depths of death and into a safe spacious place.
This can happen at the end of time after the battle of Armageddon.

The Wife of a Noble Character

The Wife of a Noble Character Proverbs 31 v 10-31

Can this passage be used to represent the church of Christ? In Revelation, the church is portrayed as a woman.
V 10 A wife of noble character who can find?

Who can find good, upright, Christ centred church, strong in all areas of prayer, praise, community and love? Such a church is better than having lots of precious items, or lots of “high points” like conferences, praise parties, camps etc. Her husband - Christ- has full confidence in the church and highly values it. The church should project Christ’s love to give him glory and not shame every day. The church selects and chooses the way in which they want to work and then works eagerly in those areas with full attention.

The church will be like the merchant ships of old, bringing good news to all peoples, showing them the beauty of Christ’s grace and love, giving them good tasting , different / spiritual food.

The church is awake while people sleep, while people are in darkness, providing spiritual food for its brethren and allocates portions of this food for missionaries. The church works eagerly while the people are in spiritual darkness showing them the way towards the light of Christ, and giving peoples the hope of the light of Christ to take away the darkness when he returns. The church is a stronghold for everyone.

The church considers the field, the mission field, an area where they can evangelise and claim it for God. Out of her earnings, from the tithes and offerings of the congregation, the church will plant, develop, a vineyard or a new church / cell structure within that community to further evangelism. Out of her earnings - the fruit, the new born Christians who after their initial evangelisation will set up and run the new church.

The church works vigorously and fervently. Her arms are strong. Prayer is strong, faith is strong, people are strong in their faith in God for the tasks they do. Church activities flourish. The church is profitable spiritually. It grows in numbers from the work it does. It’s lamp does not go out at night. It is a light for all to see, shining through the darkness in the world.

The church holds the instruments / materials for working in the community and the necessary resources for life to grow. The church opens its doors to the poor, the needy and the sick. It has the necessary resources and faith to cope and grow.

When it snows - when bad, cold things happen, the church does not fear because God is with her. All people are clothed in scarlet. They have been bought by the blood of the Lamb.

The church covers it bed, protects its roots and builds upon them. The church lifts the Rock as King wearing fine linen and purple. Christ is respected in the realms of heaven and at the gate of hell. He takes his seat in Heaven and sits amongst the Elders of the church.

The church provides coverings for its Brethren in prayer, praise and thanksgiving, supplying missionaries with sashes - strips of cloth- pieces of news, teachings, worship in the church and the community to people on missions who would not otherwise know what the church would be getting involved with / instructed in.
The church is clothed in strength and dignity, she can laugh with the joy of the Lord, at circumstances of life and at the future. The church speaks wisdom and gives out faithful instruction and teachings.

The church keeps an eye on its affairs and ensures they are all true and correct. The church will never be idle.
New generations arise and bless the church for keeping to the good instruction and decrees of the Lord. Christ will bless the church.

Many religions and sects will do noble things and will start great things for life, but the CHURCH will prevail and surpass them.

Charm is deceptive. Be honest and open.
Beauty is fleeting - It’s no good to have the best church building in the world but have no Christians to fill it.
A church who fears the Lord in reverence will be praised and earn the reward for which the church has worked and run, and her words will bring her praise in the heavens on that glorious day when the pure and spotless bride will meet her bridegroom.

Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

Romans 6 1 ‑ 14 Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

Identification with life through Jesus
God is always enthusiastic about our lives. God knows our lives better than we do.
We cannot have victories without facing battle

Identification with victory over every situation which entangles us in our lives. We need to start seeing as Jesus sees. "Our problems disappear" we need to have perspective over our problems.

Identification with eternal life. One day we'll be in Heaven and worshipping God. By identifying with Jesus, we benefit in his resurrection, but then at the same time, we need to identify with Jesus in his death too. We need to die and be buried. When we are buried we come to resurrection life.
John 14 v 15 ‑ If we identify with Christ, we have to identify with the government of God. We need to obey God's commands.

Identification with the fact we are now separated. Now we have to bury the dead and have to leave things behind us.
We bury:
Past hurts ‑ our past sins have been completely forgiven. Col 2 v 11‑12
Past Sins
Past Failures ‑ We still fail but by faith it is made perfect.
We do not need to live with our failures any longer.
We do our best and God does the rest.
We separate our lives from curses and blessings are promoted. ‑ Deut 30 v 6‑ 10.