Archives for March 2019

Baptism as an Act of Righteousness

‘Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

    Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” Then John consented.

    As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:13-17).

 

Repent and be Baptized

‘And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River’ (Mark 1:4-5).

‘Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

    With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day’ (Acts 2:38-41).

 

Be United to the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

‘Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

    For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his’ (Romans 6:3-5).

God bless you as you continue to grow in your life with Christ, Pastor Matthew.

 

‘But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.”
    Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.”
    Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die” (Genesis 20:3-7).

For the evening service, I’ll be sharing on the topic of how God can speak to us through visions and dreams. There are three sources where dreams can come from:

1) Sometimes they come just from our own mind.

2) Sometimes they can be nightmares, bad dreams, which are attacks from evil spirits.

3) The most important dreams are those that truly come from God, for they are a time when God has a very special message for you.

My main key in interpreting dreams is that first of all you have to discern the source of the dream. Once you know that you have a dream that is not from your own mind or from a wrong influence, you have the assurance that God is speaking to you. That’s the most important thing—knowing that God is speaking to you. It inspires faith and a deeper walk with the Lord.

When you recognize that the dream is from God, you have to write it down (Daniel 7:1). We as a human being don’t have a perfect memory. The best thing to do is to write the dream down as soon as possible afterwards so that you don’t forget some of the details. If you’ve had some dreams in the past still write them down as best as you can remember them, but then get into the habit of making a record of your dreams as soon as they take place.

Once you have written it down, you can then ponder on it and pray about it as to what God is saying to you through the dream. You can see how the dream relates to the Bible, in the sense of what Bible verses may go along with your dream. If you still have no idea what the dream means, you can share it with a mature Christian and ask them to advise you on it or to pray with you for more understanding. When God gives someone a significant dream, He will also give the interpretation.

God bless you as you understand the voice of the Lord, Pastor Matthew.

 

To each of the seven churches in the Book of Revelation, Jesus offered a special reward. Last week we looked at the first four rewards, which were:

 

1) The Right to Eat from the Tree of Life

2) You will not be Hurt by the Second Death

3) The Hidden Manna and a White Stone with your New Name

4) Authority over the Nations and the Morning Star

We will now continue by looking at the rewards five to seven.

 

5) Dressed in White with your Name never to be removed from the Book of Life

 

‘The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Revelation 3:5-6).

 

6) A Pillar in God’s Temple with the Names of God and the Holy City written upon you

 

‘I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Revelation 3:11-13).

 

7) The right to Sit with Jesus on His Throne

 

‘To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Revelation 3:21-22).

 

    Jesus loves us so much that He wants us to share in His glory and eternal happiness. We can glimpse the greatness of being God’s children through the

 rewards that Christ is offering. Let’s encourage one another to inherit all that God has for us (Revelation 21:7).

 

God bless you as you store your treasures in Heaven, Pastor Matthew.

 

To each of the seven churches in the Book of Revelation, Jesus offered a special

reward. Jesus will honour and bless every person who follows Him, and He makes this known to us by offering us the great treasures of Heaven.

1) The Right to Eat from the Tree of Life

    ‘Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God’ (Revelation 2:7).

2) You will not be Hurt by the Second Death

    ‘Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death’ (Revelation 2:11).

3) The Hidden Manna and a White Stone with your New Name

‘Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it’ (Revelation 2:17). 

4) Authority over the Nations and the Morning Star

‘To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—that one ‘will rule them with an iron sceptre and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give that one the morning star. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Revelation 2:26-28). 

Next week we will continue by looking at the rewards offered to the churches 5-7, found in Revelation chapter three.

God bless you as store your treasures in Heaven, Pastor Matthew.

 

    ‘God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed. This includes you because you believed our testimony to you’ (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10).

 

To give you a glimpse of how great and spectacular the manifestation of Christ will be, I want to explain to you four aspects of Christ’s second coming:

1) Jesus will be revealed in blazing fire;

2) Jesus will be revealed with His powerful angels;

3) Jesus will punish the wicked, and;

4) Jesus will save those who belong to Him.

 

“Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:26).

 

‘For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ’ (Titus 2:11-13).

 

    “Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen’ (Revelation 1:7).

 

    ‘Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done’ (Revelation 22:12).

 

Why has Jesus not yet returned? It is because God in His mercy is giving people the chance to repent and be saved. God is gracious towards us. His love is true. If you know that you need to submit your life to Christ, I encourage you to do so today.

 

God bless you as you live in the light of Christ’s glory and power, Pastor Matthew.