Listen to our nanosermons on:
Soul Food Gospel Radio every Monday, repeated every Wednesday, at 10.00am UK time.
Heartsong Live Radio Scotland (DAB) Mondays – Sundays 8.30am & 2.30pm UK time.
So Arise Radio Antigua & Barbuda Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 AM AST (11.30 am GMT).
FitFM Jamaica every Sunday at 10am EST (3pm GMT).
(Atlantic Standard Time is always 4 hours behind GMT. Eastern Standard Time is always 5 hours behind GMT).

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Nanosermon Script:

Are you in trouble, feeling oppressed or bowed down? Do you want the glory, the presence of the Lord of hosts, to surround you? Well, let me show you what can happen when you praise the Lord in song. We’ll seek the Lord in the book of Second Chronicles chapter five:

2Chr 5:13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; 14 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.

When the praises went up, the glory came down. I’m a musician. I love this word. Lord, give me the score for that music! Actually, I don’t need it. Because, whenever you praise the lord in song, that’s the music. OK, watch this. Same book, 15 chapters on. Jerusalem is beseiged. But they sought the Lord in prayer, in unity, with fasting, for something to do. And the Lord said ‘go out against them’ and ‘you won’t need to fight’. That’s all he said. But king Jehoshaphat called a council, and they decided they would go out singing the praises of the Lord. Verse twenty-one:

2Chr 20:21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.

The Lord fought for them

That’s the same words as when they dedicated the Temple. Give glory to God. Now look:

2Chr 20:22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. 23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.

When the praises went up, the glory came down. And the glory of God sowed confusion in the enemies of the people of God and they were slain.

Paul and Silas in prison

Let’s turn to the New Testament, to Acts chapter sixteen. We have Paul and Silas in Philippi, in trouble and in prison.

Acts 16:25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

I was in a police cell once – in Cardiff, in 2006 – for preaching the Gospel. And I prayed – not a lot, but I prayed. The police come round and look at you. They make a note. And that custody note said, ‘The prisoner was praying.’ I thank God for that. But I wasn’t singing praises. Maybe I missed out on something, because look what happened to Paul and Silas when they prayed and sang praises unto God:

Acts 16:26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.

Hey. When the praises went up, the glory came down. What situation are you in? What trouble? What is oppressing you? You want the Lord to relieve you? I think you know what to do. Get singing those praises to the Lord God Almighty. Because: When the praises go up, the glory comes down.

SCRIPT ENDS

Bible Reading Plan

In the link below you’ll find a Bible reading plan to help you read through the Bible in one year in a smart and structured way. It’s only a pound or two and worth every penny. It’s helped me, and it’ll help you.

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If you only start half-way through a year, it’s no matter. You’re going to want to read it again and again anyway, aren’t you? So don’t lose any time, start reading your Bible now and holding those in office to account before King Jesus.

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So click below to support Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings

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Listen to our nanosermons on:
Soul Food Gospel Radio every Monday, repeated every Wednesday, at 10.00am UK time.
Heartsong Live Radio Scotland (DAB) Mondays – Sundays 8.30am & 2.30pm UK time.
So Arise Radio Antigua & Barbuda Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 AM AST (11.30 am GMT).
FitFM Jamaica every Sunday at 10am EST (3pm GMT).
(Atlantic Standard Time is always 4 hours behind GMT. Eastern Standard Time is always 5 hours behind GMT).

More nanosermons and teachings →

Know the mind of God. Read the whole Bible in one year:

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

Watch this nanosermon here:

Nanosermon Script:

‘Put on the Gospel Armour, each piece put on with prayer.’ That’s what the hymn says and we find the Gospel Armour in Ephesians Chapter six and verses thirteen to seventeen.

In this NanoSermon we’ll look at the final two verses, which speak about your defensive and offensive equipment. If you have jumped in here without looking at my Nanosermon on the Gospel Armour clothing because weapons seemed more exciting than girdles and shoes, go away and look at ‘Gospel Armour – clothing’ first. You’ll look silly with a helmet and a shield and nothing round your waist, won’t you?

In that previous NanoSermon we saw that every Christian is in a spiritual war. We remembered that when a man goes to war, the army issues him with equipment. And we said it’s just the same here. Our great commander has given you items of clothing, defensive apparatus, and a weapon. We’ll just remind ourselves of the whole passage:

Ephesians 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

The shield of faith

OK. We have our loins girt about with truth, we have our integrity and righteousness as a breasplate and we have our Gospel footwear, to proclaim that Jesus Christ is King of kings.

We can now pick up the shield of faith. It’s a theme in the psalms:

Psalm 115:11 Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.

The Lord is our shield if we will only trust him, so that is why it’s the shield of faith.
We can never have enough faith, but faith is a gift of God, so you can pray for it – and you only need a little – a mustard seed – to achieve a lot.

Breastplate and helmet

We hear a lot about the Gospel armour being modelled on what a Roman Soldier wore, but it actually goes back further than that. The Apostle draws on a passage in Isaiah chapter fifty-nine, which says of God:

Isaiah 59:17a For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head;

In first Thessalonians the helmet becomes the HOPE of salvation, in the King James Version at least, but it’s not hope as in ‘I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow’. The word means expectation, or confidence. Now a helmet protects your head, which contains your brain, that’s your mind, the centre of your intellect and reasoning.

So how will confidence in your salvation protect your mind? Well, you will know the justification which our Lord Jesus bought for you on the cross, you will be working out the sanctification process of walking in God’s ways, and you will expect the Lord to protect you from satanic attacks on your reasoning. You’ll be certain that God IS, that Christ died for you, that the Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth, and that the Devil cannot touch you.

Scripture: your offensive weapon

Suitably clad and defended, you’ll need an offensive weapon. Now you might think prayers are weapons. But on reflection, you’ll recognise that prayers are actually your communications system with the commander. If a stronghold comes tumbling down, it will be his artillery, also known as his grace, that did it in response to your prayer.

Your weapon, the Apostle says very clearly, is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The Lord Jesus used the word of God three times against Satan. You can defeat the enemy with scripture as well. But you need to get into your Bible, read it, study it and pray into it. It’s your sword. Always keep it by you, polish it, sharpen it, care for it, know it, and get a grip of it.

Now suitably clad, defended and armed you can pray for his strength as you go into battle.

SCRIPT ENDS

Bible Reading Plan

In the link below you’ll find a Bible reading plan to help you read through the Bible in one year in a smart and structured way. It’s only a pound or two and worth every penny. It’s helped me, and it’ll help you.

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

If you only start half-way through a year, it’s no matter. You’re going to want to read it again and again anyway, aren’t you? So don’t lose any time, start reading your Bible now and holding those in office to account before King Jesus.

Support us!

We appreciate your support; it enables our research and helps us inform your prayers.
So click below to support Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings

Click on the social media links below to share this post:

Listen to our nanosermons on:
Soul Food Gospel Radio every Monday, repeated every Wednesday, at 10.00am UK time.
Heartsong Live Radio Scotland (DAB) Mondays – Sundays 8.30am & 2.30pm UK time.
So Arise Radio Antigua & Barbuda Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 AM AST (11.30 am GMT).
FitFM Jamaica every Sunday at 10am EST (3pm GMT).
(Atlantic Standard Time is always 4 hours behind GMT. Eastern Standard Time is always 5 hours behind GMT).

More nanosermons and teachings →

Know the mind of God. Read the whole Bible in one year:

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
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Watch this nanosermon here:

Nanosermon Script:

Let’s look at the death penalty. We’ll turn to Genesis chapter nine and see if we can understand what God is saying for us in our time.

Genesis 9:6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

The first thing we notice is, it’s a command, not an option. The second thing we see is the reason given. The death penalty for murder is there because each one of us, however lowly, is made in the image of God. Thirdly, The sons of Noah would repopulate the earth, so when God says in verse nine:

Genesis 9:9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

We see his command forms part of an agreement between God and the whole of mankind. Fourthly, this isn’t a transient law, like the temple sacrifices, which became redundant when Christ was crucified. It’s for then, now and for ever.

Rainbow confirms death penalty

In return, God promised never again to send a flood over all the earth, and he gave a confirming sign:

Genesis 9:12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
Genesis 9:13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

As long as somewhere on earth the sun is shining through rain onto some clouds and making a rainbow, the death penalty is still in force. The Apostle Paul spoke under the New Covenant when he confirmed the death penalty in Acts chapter twenty-five. In verse eleven he said:

Acts 25:11 For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die: …

Institution of Nation State

Here’s my fifth and final point: This command marks God’s institution of the nation state. We see this a few verses on:

Genesis 9:18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
Genesis 9:19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.

In Genesis chapter ten we read of the formation of those nations whose legal system God established right here in Genesis chapter nine. As God loves peace and justice, the death penalty is there to make human society function peacefully and equitably.

Look, when Cain murdered Abel in Genesis chapter four, he was banished by God. God did not slay him, and nor was anyone else allowed to. Why? Because the only people alive at that time were Cain’s family. The family is the first social institution God put in place, but family members may not execute each other.

A macabre trick

Only the state has been mandated by God’s authority to put offenders to death, after due process of law including hearing two or three witnesses to the actual event. Not ‘beyond reasonable doubt’. Two or three actual witnesses. I do believe forensics could be a witness, but not the mere opinion of some so-called expert in cot death, for example.

So you can see that legislators in Britain in the nineteen-sixties played a macabre trick when they first abolished capital punishment and then passed the Abortion Act. They took the death penalty away from the state, on the guilty, where it belongs, and placed it on the innocent, in the family, where it does not.

Satan must rub his hands in glee at the shedding of innocent blood which today goes unpunished from both sides of that evil equation. The Bible says innocent blood defiles the land and I believe Satan derives power from it as well.

I don’t like the death penalty. Maybe you don’t either. But every time I see that bow in the cloud I have to remember that it is a righteous act, for all people and for all time, and that its absence in our nation means our land is defiled. And that brings God’s judgment on us all.

SCRIPT ENDS

Bible Reading Plan

In the link below you’ll find a Bible reading plan to help you read through the Bible in one year in a smart and structured way. It’s only a pound or two and worth every penny. It’s helped me, and it’ll help you.

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

If you only start half-way through a year, it’s no matter. You’re going to want to read it again and again anyway, aren’t you? So don’t lose any time, start reading your Bible now and holding those in office to account before King Jesus.

Support us!

We appreciate your support; it enables our research and helps us inform your prayers.
So click below to support Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings

Click on the social media links below to share this post:

Listen to our nanosermons on:
Soul Food Gospel Radio every Monday, repeated every Wednesday, at 10.00am UK time.
Heartsong Live Radio Scotland (DAB) Mondays – Sundays 8.30am & 2.30pm UK time.
So Arise Radio Antigua & Barbuda Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 AM AST (11.30 am GMT).
FitFM Jamaica every Sunday at 10am EST (3pm GMT).
(Atlantic Standard Time is always 4 hours behind GMT. Eastern Standard Time is always 5 hours behind GMT).

More nanosermons and teachings →

Know the mind of God. Read the whole Bible in one year:

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

Watch this nanosermon here:

Nanosermon Script:

‘Put on the Gospel Armour, each piece put on with prayer.’

So goes that great old hymn, but what is the Gospel Armour? Well, come with me to Ephesians Chapter six and verse thirteen.

Ephesians 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Every Christian is in a spiritual war. When a man goes to war, the army issues him with equipment. It’s the same here. Our great commander has given you items of clothing, defensive apparatus, and a weapon.

Speak and Live the Truth!

We’ll look at the first two verses for now, at the clothing. Let’s start with our girdle. You are girt about with truth, not with guile or falsehood. You must speak the truth and live the truth, be someone upon whose word others can rely.

Don’t think that because Jesus is the truth and you have Jesus, that’s an alternative to your own verity. The adversary will not let you get away with being a real-time liar however much you protest, ‘But I have Jesus in me.’ It doesn’t work like that. And don’t fool yourself. If you lie Jesus is not in you anyway.

The high priest of Israel wore a breastplate of judgment, and Isaiah writes that the Lord put on righteousness as a breastplate. So your breastplate too speaks of judgment and righteousness, and it has to be your right judgment, seeing things as God sees them and your righteousness, not that of Christ alone.

Walk worthy of your calling

At his crucifixion the Lord Jesus took your sins on himself. Those who believe in him are clothed in his righteousness. That’s called ‘imputed righteousness’ and it’s fundamental Christian doctrine. But thereafter you must walk worthy of your calling.
David says in Psalm eighteen and verse twenty:

Psalm 18:20a The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness;

He cannot be speaking of imputed righteousness because he says clearly in the next verse:

Psalm 18:21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

He says, in Psalm 26:

Psalm 26:1a Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity:

Now look, if David had integrity, then by the power of the Holy Spirit, so can you. You’ll never overcome the devil if you are continuing in sin, however much you claim Christ’s righteousness. Come on. We are talking reality here, not theological abstracts.

Beautiful feet

Isaiah paints a picture of the beautiful feet of one who brings the Gospel of peace and salvation. He says, in chapter fifty-two:

b>Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

You will remember Romans chapter ten and verse fifteen where the Apostle quotes Isaiah’s words in connection with preaching. But here, Paul turns that into a pair of shoes which is just inspired on every level. When we go into battle, we’ll put on the Gospel footwear, publish peace and salvation and proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Now you have your Gospel clothing in place, so don’t ever take it off. Look after it, repair it, keep it secure, with no chinks or gaps. That means reading and studying God’s word and praying for your Gospel clothing, as the old hymn said.

Next, we are going to look at our defensive and offensive equipment, from the next two verses. That will be the NanoSermon The Gospel Armour – weaponry. Look out for it. And if this NanoSermon has done you some good, please share it.

SCRIPT ENDS

Bible Reading Plan

In the link below you’ll find a Bible reading plan to help you read through the Bible in one year in a smart and structured way. It’s only a pound or two and worth every penny. It’s helped me, and it’ll help you.

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

If you only start half-way through a year, it’s no matter. You’re going to want to read it again and again anyway, aren’t you? So don’t lose any time, start reading your Bible now and holding those in office to account before King Jesus.

Support us!

We appreciate your support; it enables our research and helps us inform your prayers.
So click below to support Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings

Click on the social media links below to share this post:

Listen to our nanosermons on:
Soul Food Gospel Radio every Monday, repeated every Wednesday, at 10.00am UK time.
Heartsong Live Radio Scotland (DAB) Mondays – Sundays 8.30am & 2.30pm UK time.
So Arise Radio Antigua & Barbuda Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 AM AST (11.30 am GMT).
FitFM Jamaica every Sunday at 10am EST (3pm GMT).
(Atlantic Standard Time is always 4 hours behind GMT. Eastern Standard Time is always 5 hours behind GMT).

More nanosermons and teachings →

Know the mind of God. Read the whole Bible in one year:

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

Watch this nanosermon here:

Nanosermon Script:

The late James Lord Callaghan was Prime Minster of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979. A humble man, he described his greatest achievement not as becoming prime minister, meeting other heads of state, but as extending the use of cats’ eyes down the middle of roads when he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport in the late nineteen forties. It was a measure which saved lives and that was important to him.

Well, twenty years later, when he was Home Secretary, lives were being lost from sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. Mr Callaghan was desparate for reconciliation between the two sides.

Children of God, or Wrath?

Years later, he told a story about meeting the Reverend Ian Paisley during this time.
“Come, Dr Paisley, we are all the children of God,” pleaded Jim Callaghan. “No, Home Secretary,” the big man replied, “we are the children of WRATH!”

So who was right? Well, that depends. The expression Dr Paisley used is found in Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, where, in chapter two, the Apostle reminded them of their past.

Eph 2:1 And you, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (KJV)

So those who are unregenerate, walking in the flesh, caring nothing for the ways of God, are the children of disobedience and the children of wrath. If you are among them, you are on a fast-track to hell.

It depends on who are the ‘We’

But in his letter to the Christians in Galatia, in chapter three and verse twenty-six, he wrote:

Gal 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

So by the grace of God the children of wrath can become the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. So there we are. Depending on who the ‘we’ are, both Lord Callaghan and Dr Paisley were right.

If Jim Callaghan was referring to everyone, then perhaps he had let his compassion run away with him. But if he was talking about Christians, those who follow and serve the Lord Jesus, then indeed we are children of God – and citizens of heaven.

Become a child of God!

Ian Paisley, who is now with the Lord, longed to see people saved and expressed his compassion by preaching the Gospel. He rejected any idea of universalism, where everyone is thought to be a child of God. He knew the overwhelming majority of those involved in the troubles were unsaved. Looking at his community, and including himself in it as the Prophet Isaiah did before him, he saw that ‘we’ are indeed the children of wrath.

(Isa 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.)

Dr Paisley was grieved by seeing so many out of fellowship with God, bound, as I said earlier, for hell. If you are one of them, know this: You are made in the image of God, but you will only become a child of God when you turn your back on doing wrong and ask the Lord Jesus to forgive you, save you and let you live his risen life.

Until you do that, you’ll remain among the children of wrath.

SCRIPT ENDS

Bible Reading Plan

In the link below you’ll find a Bible reading plan to help you read through the Bible in one year in a smart and structured way. It’s only a pound or two and worth every penny. It’s helped me, and it’ll help you.

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

If you only start half-way through a year, it’s no matter. You’re going to want to read it again and again anyway, aren’t you? So don’t lose any time, start reading your Bible now and holding those in office to account before King Jesus.

Support us!

We appreciate your support; it enables our research and helps us inform your prayers.
So click below to support Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings

Click on the social media links below to share this post:

Listen to our nanosermons on:
Soul Food Gospel Radio every Monday, repeated every Wednesday, at 10.00am UK time.
Heartsong Live Radio Scotland (DAB) Mondays – Sundays 8.30am & 2.30pm UK time.
So Arise Radio Antigua & Barbuda Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 AM AST (11.30 am GMT).
FitFM Jamaica every Sunday at 10am EST (3pm GMT).
(Atlantic Standard Time is always 4 hours behind GMT. Eastern Standard Time is always 5 hours behind GMT).

More nanosermons and teachings →

Know the mind of God. Read the whole Bible in one year:

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

Watch this nanosermon here:

Nanosermon Script:

You know, there are times when I feel weary and heavy laden. You too might be labouring away and feel life is too much to bear. Maybe it’s all getting on top of you. Perhaps you feel overwhelmed, the problems seem insurmountable, you’re exhausted and discouraged.

So what to do? Well, you can call someone and moan, pour yourself a drink, or go to bed early. Actually, you probably should ask someone to pray with you, and you probably should take an early night. I find a hot drink never hurts either. And things often look better in the morning.

But maybe they don’t, and maybe none of that is working. At some stage, you’ll find yourself thinking, ‘Why didn’t I take all this to the Lord? Here are the words of Jesus, in Matthew chapter eleven and verse twenty-eight:

Matt 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

‘Come unto me’

The Lord just says, ‘Come unto me’. Not ‘go away and sort yourself out then come back in three years’ time’. No, just ‘Come unto me’. As you are. Then Jesus says ‘I will give you rest.’ No more struggle, no more being overwhelmed by it all. He just needs you to trust him.

But what is this ‘Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me’ all about? Well, when you turn your life over to Jesus and trust him, you are going to do what he says. That’s what the ‘come unto me’ involves. But you are going to go to him and trust him first and then let him straighten you out, not the other way around.

The Greek word ‘zugos’ translated ‘yoke’ means a coupling or the beam for a balance. It’s put on a pair of oxen pulling a cart. Or a milkmaid would wear one to balance out the big milk bottles they had back in the day. But it also means a law or an obligation. Moreover, Jesus stresses that his way, his ‘yoke’, is not heavy, as you might think, but light and easy.

Submit to his authority

The great Bible commentator Matthew Henry gave this explanation: ‘Christ invites all to come to him for rest to their souls. He alone gives this invitation. Men come to him, when, feeling their guilt and misery, and believing his love and power to help, they seek him in fervent prayer.

‘All who thus come will receive rest as Christ’s gift, and obtain peace and comfort in their hearts. But in coming to him they must take his yoke, and submit to his authority.

‘Nor need we fear his yoke. His commandments are holy, just, and good. It requires self-denial, and exposes to difficulties, but this is abundantly repaid, even in this world, by inward peace and joy.

‘It is a yoke of pleasantness. The way of duty is the way of rest.’

His yoke enables his rest

God built rest into creation. He worked for six days, and rested on the seventh. So rest is good, and Jesus says by taking his yoke and learning from him how to conduct yourself, how to go about life, you will find rest from everything which is oppressing you.

We don’t just need to turn to God when things are getting on top of us. We must be in a daily walk with Jesus, that closer walk of the old hymn, where we seek him first and instinctively do things his way. You may have to give up activity, even a mind-set which is no good for you and giving you grief. Only in God’s way of doing things will you find physical, mental, emotional and spiritual rest.

Jesus says ‘come to me’. He promises you he won’t turn anyone away who comes to him and asks for forgiveness, salvation and rest and wants to learn of him. It’s never too late to give it all to Jesus. But it’s never soon enough. Get those burdens lifted. Take up the yoke of Jesus right now. Because when you do so, Jesus gives you rest. He says so.

SCRIPT ENDS

Bible Reading Plan

In the link below you’ll find a Bible reading plan to help you read through the Bible in one year in a smart and structured way. It’s only a pound or two and worth every penny. It’s helped me, and it’ll help you.

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

If you only start half-way through a year, it’s no matter. You’re going to want to read it again and again anyway, aren’t you? So don’t lose any time, start reading your Bible now and holding those in office to account before King Jesus.

Support us!

We appreciate your support; it enables our research and helps us inform your prayers.
So click below to support Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings

Click on the social media links below to share this post:

Listen to our nanosermons on:
Soul Food Gospel Radio every Monday, repeated every Wednesday, at 10.00am UK time.
Heartsong Live Radio Scotland (DAB) Mondays – Sundays 8.30am & 2.30pm UK time.
So Arise Radio Antigua & Barbuda Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 AM AST (11.30 am GMT).
FitFM Jamaica every Sunday at 10am EST (3pm GMT).
(Atlantic Standard Time is always 4 hours behind GMT. Eastern Standard Time is always 5 hours behind GMT).

More nanosermons and teachings →

Know the mind of God. Read the whole Bible in one year:

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

Watch this nanosermon here:

Nanosermon Script:

Come with me to Psalm one hundred and nineteen, and verse four:

Psa 119:4 Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.

So far in this mighty psalm we have seen what the famous nineteenth-century preacher Charles Spurgeon described as a ‘double blessing’ in the first two verses:

Psa 119:1 ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
And
Psa 119:2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

When you are determined to be undefiled by sin, walking day by day in his law, when God is a living reality to you and you seek him wholeheartedly, you are blessed and blessed again. Then something dramatic happens in your heart:

Psa 119:3 They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.

Walk in God’s ways

Not only are you blessed by God, it becomes instinctive in you to turn from sin and walk in God’s ways, not those of the world. Now, in verse four, as if to emphasise the point, the psalmist reminds us that God has commanded us to keep his precepts, or commandments, diligently, that is both carefully and enthusiastically.

Of course, you may say, ‘I can’t do that without Christ’ or ‘without the Holy Spirit.’ Then pray to be so in Christ and so filled with the Holy Spirit that you do it. Be sure the devil is diligent at trying to drive a wedge between you and the Lord, to steal your blessing. So when temptation comes, just as diligently refuse it. Simply walk in his ways and keep his precepts.

This verse, like all the first eight verses in psalm one hundred and nineteen, begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the letter ‘aleph’, which here begins the word attaw, the second person singular pronoun, translated in the King James Version as ‘thou’. ‘Thou’ is not a respectful address, it is one of familiarity, but my, what a respectful sentiment it leads into!

’Careful obedience’

Spurgeon said, about this verse: ‘God’s precepts require careful obedience: there is no keeping them by accident. Some give to God a careless service, a sort of hit or miss obedience, but the Lord has not commanded such service, nor will he accept it.

‘His law demands the love of all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and a careless religion has none of these. We are also called to zealous obedience. We are to keep the precepts abundantly.’

He draws this parallel: ‘As a man diligent in business arouses himself to do as much trade as he can, so must we be eager to serve the Lord as much as possible. Those who are diligent in business rise up early and sit up late, and deny themselves much of comfort and repose.

‘They are not soon tired, or if they are they persevere even with aching brow and weary eye. So should we serve the Lord. Such service he demands, and will be content with nothing less.’

Obedience vs ‘legalism’

And Spurgeon goes on: ‘God has not commanded us to be diligent in making precepts, but in keeping them. Some bind yokes upon their own necks, and make bonds and rules for others: but the wise course is to be satisfied with the rules of holy Scripture, and to strive to keep them all, in all places, towards all men, and in all respects.’

Now, you might be concerned to avoid what you may think of as ‘legalism’. As Spurgeon just pointed out, if by that you mean following man-made regulations, you could be right, but if you mean a close adherence to the moral laws which God has laid down in scripture, that isn’t legalism, that’s just obedience.

I want to reassure you that no-one will ever be barred from heaven because he kept the laws of God too diligently. It’s God’s command to keep his precepts diligently, and your responsibility to obey and make your double blessing secure.

SCRIPT ENDS

Bible Reading Plan

In the link below you’ll find a Bible reading plan to help you read through the Bible in one year in a smart and structured way. It’s only a pound or two and worth every penny. It’s helped me, and it’ll help you.

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

If you only start half-way through a year, it’s no matter. You’re going to want to read it again and again anyway, aren’t you? So don’t lose any time, start reading your Bible now and holding those in office to account before King Jesus.

Support us!

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So click below to support Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings

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Listen to our nanosermons on:
Soul Food Gospel Radio every Monday, repeated every Wednesday, at 10.00am UK time.
Heartsong Live Radio Scotland (DAB) Mondays – Sundays 8.30am & 2.30pm UK time.
So Arise Radio Antigua & Barbuda Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 AM AST (11.30 am GMT).
FitFM Jamaica every Sunday at 10am EST (3pm GMT).
(Atlantic Standard Time is always 4 hours behind GMT. Eastern Standard Time is always 5 hours behind GMT).

More nanosermons and teachings →

Know the mind of God. Read the whole Bible in one year:

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Watch this nanosermon here:

Nanosermon Script:

Are you going to be judging angels? Sounds scary, doesn’t it? The Apostle Paul told the church in Corinth, in chapter six of his first letter to them:

1Corinthians 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

In my NanoSermons ‘Minsters of God’ and ‘A Prophetic church’ I show that the church and those in it, that’s you and me, have a prophetic duty to preach the word of God and call earthly rulers to account. But now the blessed Apostle goes further. He looks ahead to the millennial Kingdom of Christ and says ‘the saints shall judge the world.’

’Angels of light’ are demons

Then he steps it up: ‘we shall judge angels.’ Wow. I’m taking it that these are the bad guys. These are the angels who joined in Lucifer’s rebellion and were cast down from heaven to earth, to wreak havoc until the day of judgment, which is what Paul is referring to. Another word for them might be demons.

These angels are really popular in New Age thought. They can appear beautiful, clothed in light. People think they have ‘ageless wisdom’. One New Age website owner describes her ‘guardian angel’ as ‘a luminous giving soul’. She says this angel ‘generously offered to share her Angel Oracle passages. Beautifully crafted she weaves her words together to form crystalline stories that hold you spellbound’.

I’m sure she does. And I’m confident there are thousands more like her, or him, or whatever it is. But it’s still a demon. Even Satan can appear as an angel of light. Yes, just because you think you are hearing from an angel, doesn’t mean he’s one of the good guys.

Revelation and Daniel

Now then, is Paul out on a limb saying the saints shall judge the world and these fallen angels? No, here is what the Apostle John saw in Revelation chapter 20 (It’s not ‘Revelations’ in the plural, by the way):

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

You know, you always need the Old Testament to understand the New Testament, and nowhere is that more true than in the Revelation to John. That idea, of the saints sitting in judgment, is straight from Daniel chapter seven:

Daniel 7:27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

We’ll bind kings with chains

In its turn, Daniel’s vision is true to Psalm 149:

Psalm 149:5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. 6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; 7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; 8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; 9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.

Now then. Before you get too excited after all that scripture, swinging your two-edged sword, whose authority will you be under when judging the world, the heathen, the people, the kings and nobles and of course the angels?

The Torah IS the ‘Law of Love’

You will be under the authority of the most High God. So whose laws will you be applying? That’s right. Those of the most High. And where do you find them? In Holy Scripture, in the law-word of God. And don’t tell me we shall be judging by the ‘law of love’ as if that is different from what you see in Exodus or Deuteronomy. God’s Torah, his law, including his moral and judicial law, IS the ‘law of love.’

So you had better start getting familiar with the word of God, hadn’t you? If you have not yet read the Bible through, get the Christian Voice Lamplight Bible Reading plan and start today.

Well, you won’t be much good judging angels if you don’t, will you?

SCRIPT ENDS

Bible Reading Plan

In the link below you’ll find a Bible reading plan to help you read through the Bible in one year in a smart and structured way. It’s only a pound or two and worth every penny. It’s helped me, and it’ll help you.

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

If you only start half-way through a year, it’s no matter. You’re going to want to read it again and again anyway, aren’t you? So don’t lose any time, start reading your Bible now and holding those in office to account before King Jesus.

Support us!

We appreciate your support; it enables our research and helps us inform your prayers.
So click below to support Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings

Click on the social media links below to share this post:

Listen to our nanosermons on:
Soul Food Gospel Radio every Monday, repeated every Wednesday, at 10.00am UK time.
Heartsong Live Radio Scotland (DAB) Mondays – Sundays 8.30am & 2.30pm UK time.
So Arise Radio Antigua & Barbuda Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 AM AST (11.30 am GMT).
FitFM Jamaica every Sunday at 10am EST (3pm GMT).
(Atlantic Standard Time is always 4 hours behind GMT. Eastern Standard Time is always 5 hours behind GMT).

More nanosermons and teachings →

Know the mind of God. Read the whole Bible in one year:

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Watch this nanosermon here:

Nanosermon Script:

Should you be prophetic? And what does ‘prophetic’ mean? Here’s a scripture from the book of James, chapter five:

James 5:10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

Now you might be tempted to think that as the church is one sphere of God’s government, and the state is another, that the church should not interfere, as you might put it, in the affairs of state. Just ‘let them get on with it and we’ll concentrate on saving souls’, could be your reaction.

But in the NanoSermon ‘Pray for our Rulers’ I showed from first Timothy chapter 2 that God desires godly rule in a realm precisely because he wants men to be saved.

And in the NanoSermon ‘Minsters of God’ we saw in Romans chapter 13 that God expects rulers and judges to enact Godly laws, uphold those who do what is righteous in the eyes of God and punish those who do evil.

Keep out of politics?

If the church ‘kept out of politics’ as some want us to do, then the only people IN politics, influencing policy, will be the ungodly.

Banish Christians and the word of God from the public square and you leave it wide open for every God-hating, God-denying secularist, polytheist, pantheist, satanist, agnostic, every proud, wicked, self-serving charlatan and elitist to have a field day. And the only people who will benefit from the laws they will pass will be, no, not the poor, not the righteous, but them and their friends.

For YOUR society to work it needs a prophetic church, and I mean that less in the ‘foretelling’ sense than in the ‘forthtelling’ sense. Less predicting what will happen and more proclaiming the righteous precepts of God.

Prophets are one-fifth of the Bible!

Look, the books of the prophets form one-fifth of the Bible. That’s even without all the prophets in the history books, all the admonitions in the Psalms and all the exhortation in the New Testament.

Are you investing twenty percent of your time calling national leaders to account in the name of the Lord, urging national repentance, setting up a plumbline with the righteous laws of God as did the prophets of old? (Is the Church as a whole? Is YOUR church?)

And what does the Apostle Paul say in first Corinthians 14?

1Cor 14:1 Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. … 3 … he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. 5 I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, …

Bring the word of God to bear

Not just greater, but according to our Lord, who expects us to prophesy, and to receive opposition for so doing, – blessed in the courts of heaven. Here’s Matthew chapter five:

Matt 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

So get going with emails to MP’s and captains of industry, letters in the local press, bringing the word of God to bear on the issues of our day. (Join an emerging political party!)

You will always receive opposition for holding up the Lord’s standard in public, for encouraging and exhorting those in power to follow the ways of God, but there’s a great reward coming your way for being prophetic and a blessing for following in the uncompromising ways of the prophets of old.

SCRIPT ENDS

Bible Reading Plan

In the link below you’ll find a Bible reading plan to help you read through the Bible in one year in a smart and structured way. It’s only a pound or two and worth every penny. It’s helped me, and it’ll help you.

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

If you only start half-way through a year, it’s no matter. You’re going to want to read it again and again anyway, aren’t you? So don’t lose any time, start reading your Bible now and holding those in office to account before King Jesus.

Support us!

We appreciate your support; it enables our research and helps us inform your prayers.
So click below to support Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings

Click on the social media links below to share this post:

Listen to our nanosermons on:
Soul Food Gospel Radio every Monday, repeated every Wednesday, at 10.00am UK time.
Heartsong Live Radio Scotland (DAB) Mondays – Sundays 8.30am & 2.30pm UK time.
So Arise Radio Antigua & Barbuda Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 AM AST (11.30 am GMT).
FitFM Jamaica every Sunday at 10am EST (3pm GMT).
(Atlantic Standard Time is always 4 hours behind GMT. Eastern Standard Time is always 5 hours behind GMT).

More nanosermons and teachings →

Know the mind of God. Read the whole Bible in one year:

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

Watch this nanosermon here:

Nanosermon Script:

‘Go set a watchman’ by Harper Lee came out in July 2015 and was the most pre-ordered book since the final Harry Potter. Now, I don’t know about you, but my first thought on hearing the title was, ‘That’s Bible from somewhere, but from where?’

If you too are curious about that, stick around for a minute or two. This gets encouraging. The quote is found in only one place in the Bible, in the Prophet Isaiah, chapter twenty-one and verse six It’s King James Version language and here it is in context:

Isa 21:5 Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.6 For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth. 7 And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed: 8 And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights: 9 And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. 10 O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.

The fall of Babylon

So this is a prophecy about the fall of Babylon. Isaiah is not the watchman but he is to set a watchman, who will watch a long time. He will stand continually, and watch whole nights.

The great commentator Matthew Henry said the asses and the camels appear to be symbols of the Medes and Persians, which fits with the pair of horsemen and the history. The Medes and Persians, a kind of ancient coalition, did indeed overthrow Babylon in the time of wicked king Belshazzar. You’ll remember he was the man with the feast and the writing on the wall.

It could even be Belshazzar’s feast prophesied in verse 5, setting a table, and the princes eating and drinking with the enemy at the door. I’m not sure what the lion signifies. It could be Judah or it could be an omen of war, because the Hebrew word for lion derives from the word for violence. The watchman could be crying like a lion.

John Wesley suggested the lion could be the king of Persia going before his troops. It could even be the Lord of Hosts, God Almighty, who would use the Medes and the Persians to destroy Babylon. It’s good to have a bit of mystery.

‘Babylon’ is the empire of Antichrist

In verse nine, note that all the many idols of dissolute Babylon could not save her from the determined foe. When it says ‘all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground’ I suggest the ‘he’ spoken of is the Lord, using the hand of the king of Persia.

In the New Testament the Apostle John heard the same key words, not now about Babylon as such, but as a type of a wicked city. The Antichrist spirit of Babylon had resurfaced in Persia, then in Greece, and then in the Roman Empire of John’s day:

Rev 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

The Babylon of our age will fall

Finally, remember the Lord Jesus saying God ‘will gather the wheat into his garner’ and ‘burn up the chaff’? The ‘corn of my floor’ are believers who are to take notice about the destruction of Babylon.

Now, commentators said Harper Lee’s hero Atticus Finch was the watchman, he was cast as a sort of moral guardian, but in the book he was eventually found to be only human. But Isaiah’s watchman in this passage is not a moral guardian at all. He pronounces judgment.

It does not matter whether it is Babylon as such, or a Revived Roman Empire, or some other expression of Antichrist. This passage is to encourage God’s people that whatever the kings of the earth do, however badly or oppressively they rule, at any time, there is one mightier than they, and they will be brought down.

Go set a watchman – because the Babylon of our age will fall.

Bible Reading Plan

In the link below you’ll find a Bible reading plan to help you read through the Bible in one year in a smart and structured way. It’s only a pound or two and worth every penny. It’s helped me, and it’ll help you.

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

If you only start half-way through a year, it’s no matter. You’re going to want to read it again and again anyway, aren’t you? So don’t lose any time, start reading your Bible now and holding those in office to account before King Jesus.

SCRIPT ENDS

Support us!

We appreciate your support; it enables our research and helps us inform your prayers.
So click below to support Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings

Click on the social media links below to share this post:

Listen to our nanosermons on:
Soul Food Gospel Radio every Monday, repeated every Wednesday, at 10.00am UK time.
Heartsong Live Radio Scotland (DAB) Mondays – Sundays 8.30am & 2.30pm UK time.
So Arise Radio Antigua & Barbuda Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 AM AST (11.30 am GMT).
FitFM Jamaica every Sunday at 10am EST (3pm GMT).
(Atlantic Standard Time is always 4 hours behind GMT. Eastern Standard Time is always 5 hours behind GMT).

More nanosermons and teachings →

Know the mind of God. Read the whole Bible in one year:

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

Watch this nanosermon here:

Nanosermon Script:

(NB: We follow the King James Bible in not capitalising the pronouns of deity. Hence: ‘Walk in his ways’ rather than ‘Walk in His ways’.)

It’s a challenge these days, or maybe it has been in any age, to keep oneself free from sin in the sight of God. Is it do-able at all? Can we ever shake off our sinful nature? Well, the third verse of Psalm one hundred and nineteen says we can. It says:

Psalm 119:3 They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.

Actually, in the Hebrew, because every verse of the first eight verses of this psalm starts with ‘Aleph’, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the first word is ‘aph’. So it should read, literally, ‘Also, they do no iniquity: they walk in his ways’.

New Testament confirmation

What is that ‘also’ for and who are ‘they’? Going back to verses one and two, ‘they’ are the blessed people who are undefiled in the way, walk in the law of the Lord, keep God’s commandments, and seek him with their whole heart.

And as well as receiving the blessing in verse one and the blessing in verse two, they do no iniquity. Day by day, they just walk in God’s ways.

There is a great New Testament confirmation of this verse in the first letter of John, chapter three and verse nine:

1John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

So the one who keeps God’s commandments and seeks his face with his whole heart, so that he commits no iniquity and walks in the ways of the Lord, does that because he is born of God.

Charles Spurgeon’s Treasury of David

Charles Spurgeon, in his Treasury of David, says ‘we shall have reached the region of pure blessedness when we altogether cease from sin.’

It’s not that these men and women the psalmist talks about have never sinned, it is that by being born again of the spirit, their heart is to do no evil any more.

IF they sin, they know they have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (See 1John 2:1) The humble are always forgiven.

Spurgeon goes on to speak of these blessed people: ‘They attend not only to the great main highway of the law, but to the smaller paths of the particular precepts. As they will perpetrate no sin of commission, so do they labour to be free from every sin of omission. It is not enough to them to be blameless, they wish also to be actively righteous.’

Your desire and attitude

Wherever you are, and whatever you think of yourself, God challenges you to live a life free from iniquity and walk in his ways – and he thinks you could be up for it. Don’t forget, there is a blessing attached to doing it, and it is do-able by the grace of God, if you want to.

The desire and the attitude are the important things. You have to want to walk with the Lord. That’s the desire. As for the attitude, if you think, ‘I’ll never achieve that’, then you won’t.

But if you tell yourself, ‘I’m turning my back on sin, I’m going to seek the Lord with my whole heart, I’m going to keep his commandments, I’m taking hold of that blessing, Jesus, help me,’ then you will.

Your time to do no iniquity and walk in his ways has come.

Bible Reading Plan

In the link below you’ll find a Bible reading plan to help you read through the Bible in one year in a smart and structured way. It’s only a pound or two and worth every penny. It’s helped me, and it’ll help you.

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

If you only start half-way through a year, it’s no matter. You’re going to want to read it again and again anyway, aren’t you? So don’t lose any time, start reading your Bible now and holding those in office to account before King Jesus.

SCRIPT ENDS

Support us!

We appreciate your support; it enables our research and helps us inform your prayers.
So click below to support Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings

Click on the social media links below to share this post:

Listen to our nanosermons on:
Soul Food Gospel Radio every Monday, repeated every Wednesday, at 10.00am UK time.
Heartsong Live Radio Scotland (DAB) Mondays – Sundays 8.30am & 2.30pm UK time.
So Arise Radio Antigua & Barbuda Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 AM AST (11.30 am GMT).
FitFM Jamaica every Sunday at 10am EST (3pm GMT).
(Atlantic Standard Time is always 4 hours behind GMT. Eastern Standard Time is always 5 hours behind GMT).

More nanosermons and teachings →

Know the mind of God. Read the whole Bible in one year:

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

Watch this nanosermon here:

Nanosermon Script:

They say you can tell how strongly the heart of a church is beating by the vigour of its prayer meeting. Well, measured by that yardstick, how well is your church doing?

And if you don’t have a church – you should, but if you don’t – then maybe you meet with family or friends. Even husband and wife is a church, and a powerful one at that. So how well is your mini-church doing, measured by its prayer meeting?

What’s wrong with your prayer meeting?

I think many of us will have to put our hands up and say, ‘Not very well.’ Now you could be saying that for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the attendance is poor. Perhaps the attendance is predominantly female. That’s not bad if you’re a group of women, but it is a concern if prayer is thought in a church to be a girly thing to do.

Perhaps it’s not very exciting. Perhaps nothing ever happens. Perhaps you never see an answer to your prayers. So that’s why the people have stopped coming.

Right then, so what shall we do about the prayer meeting? Pray about it, I hear you say. And by so doing you have made my point.

I have sat in too many prayer meetings where we discussed the stuff for around half the meeting, and then the leader said something like, ‘Shall we turn to prayer?’ and we all put serious faces on and inclined our bodies a shade forward.

We need to seek the Lord

Then we started giving God his orders. Lord you know this situation, person, blah blah blah. Lord, do this. Do that. Do this, Do that. Do this, Do that. Do this, Do that. And you know, we turned to prayer but rarely did we turn to scripture. Above all, not once did we say, ‘Lord, show us what we can do to advance your Kingdom in this situation.’

So we didn’t actually seek the Lord. We didn’t ask his wisdom, or his direction. The word of God says, in Deuteronomy chapter four and verse twenty-nine:

Deut 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

Look, the context is all about Israel being under judgment because of corporate sin. I accept that, but should WE not be seeking the Lord in every challenge? If we seek him in his word he may show us something we need to put right. Or he will show us a word which gives us something to do.

Be sure of this. The Lord receives many of these ‘do this’ ‘do that’ prayers. Rarely does he receive a prayer asking him to show us something we should do. And I have a theory that when the Lord does receive those kinds of prayer he pours out his heart to those humble people who asked.

The Lord will give you a plan

So now, when you come back next week, someone has been shown a word. Someone else confirms it. I’ve lost count of the times the Christian Voice Lamplight Bible Reading Plan has thrown up just the right scripture on just the right day. But we are not limited by that. The word in season will come one way or another. Yet another person in the meeting has had a dream, or a vision. Two or three people will bring the same idea.

Now we’re motoring. We have sought the Lord and by his grace he has shown us a scriptural foundation and a plan. And by carrying out the Lord’s plan, standing on his word, we are setting ourselves up for the Lord to break in and bring a miracle. And when we tell the whole church about this, people will start coming to that prayer meeting.

As for the gender imbalance, well, men like it when the Lord reveals an action plan, because action is what they thrive on. And although prayers aren’t weapons – because it is the word of God which is the Sword of the Spirit, it doesn’t hurt to hang some ceremonial swords and axes on the walls of the prayer room. Just to, er, complement the flowers, you understand.

Let me know in the comments how your church prayer meeting is going, and if this NanoSermon blessed and encouraged you, then share it!

Bible Reading Plan

In the link below you’ll find a Bible reading plan to help you read through the Bible in one year in a smart and structured way. It’s only a pound or two and worth every penny. It’s helped me, and it’ll help you.

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

If you only start half-way through a year, it’s no matter. You’re going to want to read it again and again anyway, aren’t you? So don’t lose any time, start reading your Bible now and holding those in office to account before King Jesus.

SCRIPT ENDS

Support us!

We appreciate your support; it enables our research and helps us inform your prayers.
So click below to support Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings

Click on the social media links below to share this post:

Listen to our nanosermons on:
Soul Food Gospel Radio every Monday, repeated every Wednesday, at 10.00am UK time.
Heartsong Live Radio Scotland (DAB) Mondays – Sundays 8.30am & 2.30pm UK time.
So Arise Radio Antigua & Barbuda Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 AM AST (11.30 am GMT).
FitFM Jamaica every Sunday at 10am EST (3pm GMT).
(Atlantic Standard Time is always 4 hours behind GMT. Eastern Standard Time is always 5 hours behind GMT).

More nanosermons and teachings →

Know the mind of God. Read the whole Bible in one year:

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

Watch this nanosermon here:

Nanosermon Script:

Come with me to the book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Bible, and to Chapter six and verse twenty-two. This passage is known as ‘the priestly blessing’ and it’s going to bless and encourage you today.

Numb 6:22 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Numb 6:23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, Numb 6:24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: Numb 6:25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: Numb 6:26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Numb 6:27 And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

Let’s look at the three verses of the actual blessing. Each verse is in two parts. That’s typical of Hebrew poetry, to sort of rhyme two similar thoughts. So, firstly:

The Lord wants to bless you

Numb 6:24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:

What this verse says to me is that the Almighty commands his minister to proclaim his desire to bless his people. If you are one of them, your heavenly Father wants to bless you and keep you.

The Hebrew word for ‘bless’, here, is ‘bârak’. It’s a common word in many Middle East languages. It derives from a root meaning ‘to kneel’.

Men in the Bible would fall to their knees to bless and praise God. But here God is blessing us. How good is that? The Hebrew word for ‘keep’ here is shâmar. But it means more than ‘keep’, it means guard, protect, hedge about as with thorns. If you are his, God is going to protect you from your enemies with a thorn hedge. He is going to guard you, and look out for you.

His face shines on you

Secondly,

Numb 6:25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

You know what it’s like when someone’s face shines upon you. Maybe that happens to you all the time. Or maybe you can’t remember the last time someone looked at you like that.

But the Almighty is going to make his face shine upon each one of his children, and if God is for you, who can be against you?

God is gracious to you

The Hebrew word for ‘be gracious’ is chânan. It means to bend down or stoop in kindness to a subordinate, to bestow favour.

We must agree that the greatest example of God ‘being gracious’ lies in how he became one of us in Jesus and died on the cross to forgive all the sins of each one who puts his trust in him.

But if God grants you favour – and if you walk in his ways he will – then you will have favour with men as well. Doors will open, appointments will be granted, opportunities will arise, apparent co-incidences will spring up, all by the grace of God.

Lift up, not hide, his face

Lastly,

Numb 6:26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

The same Hebrew word is translated firstly as ‘face’ and then here as ‘countenance’. No matter. What does matter is that in the next book in the Bible, in Deuteronomy, God says not that he will ‘lift up his face’ but that he will ‘hide his face’ from his people because of their sin against him.

By being obedient to his word, that will not happen to you. By keeping his commandments the Lord lifting up his face to you will be your constant portion.

Now, if you know any Hebrew at all, you will not be surprised to find out that the word translated ‘peace’ here is the Hebrew ‘Shâlôm’. The word also carries the meaning of safety, well-being, good health, happiness and prosperity.

Your faith plus your walk equals your blessing

Let’s put it all back together. If you have faith in Jesus Christ and walk in his ways, this blessing is for you today:

Numb 6:24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: Numb 6:25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: Numb 6:26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

SCRIPT ENDS

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Nanosermon Script:

Do you want to turn the world upside down just like the Apostles did? In the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter seventeen, Paul and Silas are in Greece. Let’s read it.

Acts 17:1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:
2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
3 Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.
4 And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.
5 But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
6 And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, ‘These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
7 ‘Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.’

Can we turn the world upside down?

Now quite often, we miss out verse seven, and stop at ‘These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;’ And then we pray, ‘Hey, Lord, can we turn the world upside down, too, please?’

But verse seven tells us how to do it. If you’re saving souls, evangelising, you’re carrying out the mission of the church. Through you, the Holy Spirit is increasing the membership of the Kingdom of heaven, and that has got to be awesome. I love it when I hear of souls saved.

But let’s not get carried away. In itself, that is not turning the world upside down. Paul’s evangelism irritated these unbelievers, but it was not what they picked up on.

Jesus as King of kings

No, they accused Paul and Silas of proclaiming Jesus as the King of kings in the here and now. With that, the Apostles were treading on the toes of the political elite. And Paul did not dispute it and he was not being misquoted. You’ll see the same sentiments in Romans chapter thirteen, Philippians two, in his letters to Timothy, and Colossians.

You might be a member of parliament, a civil servant, a ruler, or a supreme court judge. You might even be Caesar. But how ever high you are, the risen, ascended Saviour is higher than you. There’s another king, one Jesus.

Simply go out with that message, and you will start turning the world upside down. And if that ruler or judge humbles himself before the King of kings, repents and is born of the Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ, and starts to rule under God, well now, the world is starting to get the right way up.

Set the world the right way up

Don’t be like the unbelievers in Thessalonica, bought into the godless secular system. When man is at the top, it’s the wrong way up, but those who are running it think it’s just fine. But when God in Christ is ruling over the kings of the world, the world is the right way up.

Whenever you speak against immorality, even legalised immorality, such as we have in Britain, then you too are turning the world upside down. Why? Because you are holding this world to a better, higher standard, the standard of the King of kings. And if you get arrested, that, as we saw in Acts, is a badge of honour. You’re challenging the devil, the ruler of this age.

These verses challenge you to tell every ruler the Lord brings you into contact with that he is under King Jesus. Some already know, but they need a reminder. So wake up and shake them up. It’s your time to start turning the world upside down.

Bible Reading Plan

In the link below you’ll find a Bible reading plan to help you read through the Bible in one year in a smart and structured way. It’s only a pound or two and worth every penny. It’s helped me, and it’ll help you.

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BIBLE READING PLAN →

If you only start half-way through a year, it’s no matter. You’re going to want to read it again and again anyway, aren’t you? So don’t lose any time, start reading your Bible now and holding those in office to account before King Jesus.

SCRIPT ENDS

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Listen to our nanosermons on:
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So Arise Radio Antigua & Barbuda Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 AM AST (11.30 am GMT).
FitFM Jamaica every Sunday at 10am EST (3pm GMT).
(Atlantic Standard Time is always 4 hours behind GMT. Eastern Standard Time is always 5 hours behind GMT).

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Nanosermon Script:

Why should you read the Bible? Let me give you a wrong reason and then some right reasons.

Here’s the wrong reason. You don’t read the Bible to please God. Reading the Bible, of itself, is not a good work.

I know of someone who really knows the Bible but he doesn’t please God. Yes, it’s Satan. He knows the Bible inside out. He hates it, because it prophesies his downfall, but he knows it. However, in the whole of scripture, there is only one time he ever quoted it. We’ll look at that another time.

Reason No.1: Joy and Rejoicing

So reading the Bible doesn’t please God. There ARE things you can do that will please God. It’s just that reading the Bible isn’t one of them. So why should you read the Bible? Here’s reason one, from the prophet Jeremiah, chapter fifteen and verse sixteen:

Jer 15:16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. (KJV)

You read the Bible because you are called by God’s name and you want all of God you can get. When you read his word it will give you joy and make your heart rejoice. It will inspire and bless you. That’s a great reason, but let’s have another, from Paul’s second letter to Timothy, chapter three:

Reason No.2: Knowing God’s ways

2Tim 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

I think you can sum all of that up. Doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness are all aspects of one thing, knowing the ways of God better.

The Apostle James says if you think it’s all about hearing the word you’re fooling yourself. You have to be a doer of the word.

The more you read and study the word of God, in humility, loving the Lord and his word, the more you will come to know how he does things and how he expects things to be done. Every day, by reading some more, meditating on what you’ve seen in his word, you’ll draw closer to the heart of God.

Reason No.3: Your daily walk with God

So here’s a third reason. Just think how this will impact your daily walk with God. You’ll find yourself making God-pleasing changes in your behaviour and your relations with others.

One day you’ll realise how powerful it is to forgive a person who wronged you. Another day you’ll suddenly see that you need to pay someone the money you owe him. The Lord may teach you humility, or fortitude, gentleness, or courage.

Day by day you’ll be having a closer walk with God.

Reason No.4: Your prayer life

Fourthly, consider how studying the word of God is going to impact your prayer life. The more you know the heart of God, the more you’ll be praying with the mind of God. And those are the prayers which get answered.

The more you know the Bible, the more you can pray the Bible, quote it in your prayers, remind God of his word. ‘Lord, your word says …’ In any situation you won’t be opening the Bible at random, poking for a verse with your eyes closed. ‘I need to go to Paris. Ah, look, The Queen of Sheba came with a very great train. The Lord is saying take the Eurostar.’

No, you’ll know what the word of God says, just as the Apostles did, and be able to bring that key verse immediately to mind.

Reason No.5: Resisting temptation

Lastly, when temptation comes, you’ll be able to say, just as Christ did to Satan in his temptations, ‘No, the word of God says such-and-such.’

That’s because the word of God is the Sword of the Spirit. It’s an offensive weapon against evil in all its forms. So we’ve found some great reasons for reading the Bible.

Bible Reading Plan

In the link below you’ll find a Bible reading plan to help you read through the Bible in one year in a smart and structured way. It’s only a pound or two and worth every penny. It’s helped me, and it’ll help you.

ORDER OUR ‘LAMPLIGHT’
BIBLE READING PLAN →

If you only start half-way through a year, it’s no matter. You’re going to want to read it again and again anyway, aren’t you? So don’t lose any time, start reading your Bible now and start pleasing the Lord by putting it all into practice.

SCRIPT ENDS

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Nanosermon Script:

Do you want to experience the blessing of God? Then let’s look at how doing two very simple things leads to a blessing. Here is the second verse of Psalm one hundred and nineteen:

Psalm 119:2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

This verse, like all the first eight verses of this great Psalm, begins with the Hebrew letter ‘Aleph’, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. So what is the first word of it? Well, just as in verse one, it’s ‘Ash-er’, which means ‘blessed’ or bless-ed’ and also ‘happy’.

A second blessing

There was a blessing in verse one for the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the LORD. And now we get what the great nineteenth-century preacher Charles Spurgeon described as a second blessing, in verse two.

How do we get this blessing? Firstly, we keep the testimonies of God. Testimony is another word for witness. God’s witness, or his testimony, refers to his word and his commandments.

Spurgeon went on: ‘Blessedness is ascribed to those who treasure up the testimonies of the Lord: in which is implied that they search the Scriptures, that they come to an understanding of them, that they love them, and then that they continue in the practice of them.

‘We must first get a thing before we can keep it. In order to keep it well we must get a firm grip of it: we cannot keep in the heart that which we have not heartily embraced by the affections.’

Seek him with your whole heart

So we study and treasure God’s word and we love it and keep to it. Then the Psalmist says God’s blessing comes upon those who do not just ‘keep his testimonies’, but ‘that seek him with the whole heart’.

We have an English expression ‘whole-heartedly’. You don’t find anyone who is going to be a truly great sportsman cutting corners in the gym or on the track. You don’t find anyone who is going to be a great entrepreneur giving up at the first hurdle. Those who aren’t whole-hearted won’t succeed.

British statesman Winston Churchill said: ‘It’s no use saying, “We are doing our best.” You have to succeed by doing what is necessary.’

Whoever will seek God with intensity and determination will find him. I guess whatever you seek whole-heartedly you will find. You can seek fame, riches, thrills, attention, notoriety, whatever. But you’ll have no peace, no fulfilment, no authenticity, no joy, no happiness, until you seek – and find – God.

Not in pagan false gods

To complicate matters, people try to seek God in all sorts of ways. Spurgeon observed that people seek God ‘Among the trees, the hills, the planets, the stars. He has been sought in his own defaced image, man. He has been sought amid the mysterious wheels of Providence.’

Today, we can add to Spurgeon’s list of pagan false gods the occult, spiritualism, pan-theistic paths like yoga and hinduism, the buddhist nirvana, Islam – and the list goes on.

But actually, God must be sought – and can only be found – in the person of Jesus Christ, born as a baby, walking amongst us, dying on Calvary’s hill, buried and rising again, ascended and glorified. Make no mistake, there is no other name by which we must – or can – be saved.

A personal quest

Yours is a personal quest to find a personal God and that personal God is found in the Lord Jesus. So seek him in prayer, calling out to him to reveal himself to you and to show you what to do. Just don’t muck about. This is not a place for half-heartedness. If you keep half your heart in some other camp you’ll never find the Lord. But if you do it all with your whole heart, that is keep his testimonies, and seek him, you will both find him and receive his blessing. Others have done it. This is your time to realise that you can too!

Two verses, two blessings! Can it get any better in verse three? Actually, it can. No spoilers! You just wait and see. And share this Nanosermon.

SCRIPT ENDS

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Nanosermon Script:

It’s the longest psalm in the Bible, and it’s going to empower you to live a victorious and blessed life. And here is the very first verse of Psalm one hundred and nineteen:

Psalm 119:1 ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. (KJV)

Well, that sets the stall out, doesn’t it? Here we have the first verse of a Psalm extolling the virtues of the law of God. Let’s read it again: ‘Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.’

This is saying you need more than the saving grace of God to live a fulfilled Christian life. Don’t get me wrong. That’s where you start, with his grace and his salvation. But if you want to know the blessing of God in every area of your life, there’s now some doing to be done.

Psalm structure

The word ‘Aleph’ which came up on the screen is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. To aid memorisation in the Hebrew, each of the first eight verses of Psalm one hundred and nineteen begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

The second eight begin with the second letter, ‘Beth’, and the psalm marches on in the same way right through all twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Eight twenty-twos are one hundred and seventy-six, and that’s the number of verses in this towering work of literature and theology. Theology is the study of God and the law of God expresses the very character of God. If you want to know the mind of God, study the law of God. Study it, meditate in it, pray through it and walk in it.

To help you do that, every single verse of this psalm praises the law of God, his commandments, his statutes, his precepts, his word, and shows how following God’s ways brings you a benefit. That’s every verse, for one hundred and seventy-six wonderful verses.

Torah of Yehovah

The expression ‘the law of the Lord’, or more literally the ‘Torah’ of ‘Yehovah’ (there is no hard ‘J’ in Hebrew) appears eighteen times in the Old Testament and 3 times in the New where Mary and Joseph made offerings for Jesus according to ‘the law of the Lord.’

Of the eighteen times the expression occurs in the Old Testament, three of them are in the Psalms, in Psalm one, in Psalm nineteen and here in Psalm one hundred and nineteen, where in verse one we read ‘Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD’. Actually, that Hebrew word ‘Torah’ is bigger than ‘law’ as we normally understand it. It includes the meaning of ‘instruction’.

To walk in the Torah of Yehovah will make you undefiled, without blemish, complete, upright in your course of life, in your way of living, because ‘the way’ here is the way of righteousness.

Righteousness begins with Jesus

It isn’t easy, because sin gets in the way, but repentance, humility and a holy determination to do it God’s way will put you back amongst the ‘undefiled in the way.’ By the grace of God it’s do-able.

Righteousness begins with Jesus Christ, the lawgiver and Saviour. Having had your sins washed clean by faith in his death and resurrection, you can be filled with the Holy Spirit and be empowered to walk within the boundaries and limits of the law of the Lord with delight.

John Gill in his commentary says ‘cheerfully obey its precepts, as influenced by the love of God, and assisted by the Spirit and grace of Christ’.

Keep his law, by his grace

So don’t think Christ has done this law-keeping stuff for you, on your behalf, so you don’t have to do it. Scripture after scripture shows it doesn’t work like that. You have to want to be undefiled, to be holy, which means ‘set apart’ for the Lord. If you love God you’ll put in the effort, determined to keep his law, by his grace, helped by his Holy Spirit.

Because, to remain undefiled in the way, and to walk in the law of the LORD, the psalmist says perfectly clearly, will bring upon you the blessing of Almighty God.

SCRIPT ENDS

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Nanosermon Script:

Let’s look at presents at Christmas, in Matthew chapter two:

Matt 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Matt 2:2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

These three are described as ‘wise men’ in the King James Version, and as ‘magi’ elsewhere. The Greek word is ‘magos’. A ‘magos’ is an eastern sage. The Greek gives us our word ‘magician’, but an eastern ‘magos’ is no stage-performing illusionist. Oh, no. A ‘magos’ of those times has interest in science and medicine and has read and travelled widely.

Both secular and spiritual

There is no distinction drawn between the secular and the spiritual in his life or in the court libraries or in politics. A magos would have ability in astrology and probably in occult magic arts thrown in as well.

He would understand the significance of signs in the heavens, such as the star Matthew is referring to. In addition, a pagan sage in those days would offer advice to a ruler based on his wisdom and study. He is respected and protected. A magos will not travel alone but with an entourage of servants and what we could describe as ‘minders’.

We remember Herod took the magi seriously. He was troubled and sent them on their way with a plea to return when they had found the child. Paranoid Herod saw whoever it was as a threat. And he was right. King Jesus is still a threat to ungodly, unrighteous, unjust despots. We join the magi as the star stops in Bethlehem in verse eleven:

Matt 2:11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Always take a gift

You need to understand that all over the Middle East and Africa even today you just do not go to see a new baby without a gift, however humble.

This principle is so strictly observed you cannot even take into your arms a new-born you have unexpectedly come across in church without pressing a note into the hands of the child’s parents.

So the magi would not go empty-handed. But what of the gifts themselves? They brought gold, frankinsense and myrrh. What’s the meaning?

The meaning of the gifts

Here Matthew leaves us guessing. It’s up to the carol ‘We three Kings of Orient are’ to explain.

The gold signifies Christ’s kingship as ‘King forever, ceasing never, Over us all to reign’.

Frankinsense speaks of his divinity: ‘Incense owns a Deity nigh’. Incense is something a priest would offer, so Christ’s ability to offer himself as a sacrifice is also indicated. Many ancient kings were priests as well, wielding absolute totalitarian power. Only in Israel did God separate the offices of priest and king. But the magi’s presents show that in Christ priest and king come back together in power.

Thirdly, Myrrh with ‘its bitter perfume’ is an embalming spice which has healing properties as well. Myrrh foretells the cross and its salvation and healing.

Prophecy fulfilled

Finally, did you know the magi were fulfilling a prophecy? Speaking of the Lord arising with bright light in Isaiah chapter sixty, we read in verse six of presents proclaiming kingship and divinity coming from three separate places in the Middle East and Africa:

Isa 60:6 The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD.

Christmas may not be Jesus’s actual birthday, but perhaps, when we give presents at Christmas to whoever we honour, we are also honouring Christ himself. If you truly give him your life you will also know his salvation and his peace. So whenever you are watching this, Merry Christmas to you.

SCRIPT ENDS

Support us!

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Listen to our nanosermons on:
Soul Food Gospel Radio every Monday, repeated every Wednesday, at 10.00am UK time.
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So Arise Radio Antigua & Barbuda Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 AM AST.

More nanosermons and teachings →

Know the mind of God. Read the whole Bible in one year:

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Nanosermon Script:

Welcome to this Nanosermon on babies, sorry, foetuses, in the womb. While you’re finding the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke in your Bible, I’ll tell you the story so far.

Six months ago, Elisabeth, the wife of a Jewish priest named Zachariah, became pregnant, with his child, I hasten to add. That child would become known as John the Baptist. And just last week, her young cousin Mary, or Miryam, to give her Hebrew name, became pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit with the Son of God, the Lord Jesus.

Babe leapt in Elizabeth’s womb

So we can now turn to Luke chapter one, and verse thirty-nine:
Luke 1:39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah; 40 And entered into the house of Zachariah, and saluted Elisabeth.

Luke 1:41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: 42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

Luke 1:43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

Luke 1:45 And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. (KJV)

Now this is astonishing. Not only Elisabeth, but first of all her baby, sorry, foetus, recognised a one-week-old embryonic Lord Jesus in Mary’s womb. Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. What spirit do we think John the Baptist was filled with? The same Holy Spirit, in the womb.

Abortionists play with language

Now, I’ve been messing around with language because you’ll know that when a woman goes for an abortion in today’s dysfunctional society, those selling her the abortion – you didn’t think the staff at Marie Stopes or British Pregnancy Advisory or Planned Parenthood are anything other than sales people, did you? – they’re in business to provide abortions. These empires might have charitable status but the bosses and staff don’t work for free.

Where was I? Oh, yes, they will tell her she has ‘products of conception’ or ‘a pregnancy’ or a ‘foetus’ in her uterus. Never a baby and never a womb. But if she attends the ante-natal clinic at the local hospital she’ll be told to stop smoking and cut down on alcohol ‘for baby’, not ’for foetus’.

Let’s do language. Foetus is a Latin word. It means ‘offspring’ or ‘young’, usually in the womb, but occasionally neo-natal. So it’s a poncy foreign word for baby and it’s used by those who want to obscure exactly what kind of being is growing deep inside the mother’s body. It’s a foetus, not a baby, you’ll be reassured to know.

John Baptist recognised embryonic Jesus

Suppose you referred to the contents of a box of matches by a Latin word like ‘igniens’, which means ‘fire lighter’ by the way. It’s an igniens in the box and it only becomes a match when you take it out? Sorry, guys, it’s the same inside as outside.

Doctor Luke in his chapter one uses the Greek word ‘brephos’ which means ‘infant’, either unborn or, once again, neo-natal, a young child. But a human being, that’s for sure. In the context of a human mother, it’s an unborn, or newly-born, human infant. So the King James translators rendered it correctly as ‘babe’, not ‘foetus’.

And you know, not one modern translation puts anything other than ‘baby’.
Take this away from this nanosermon. John the Baptist, as an unborn baby of twenty-six weeks’ gestation in Elisabeth’s womb recognised a one-week-old embryonic baby, the Lord Jesus, in the womb of Mary. I love that.

SCRIPT ENDS

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Nanosermon Script:

You may have heard the expression ‘Render unto Caesar’ and wondered what exactly it means. When the Lord Jesus said it, he meant ‘pay appropriate taxes to the Roman authorities’. And then he said ‘Render unto God the things that are God’s’. We have things of Caesar and things of God.

So you might think ‘Render unto Caesar’ means the church should have nothing to say to government, or even that the realm of the ‘secular’ Caesar is entirely separate from the realm of God. The realm of God. That’ll be the church and spiritual stuff.

That’s the position of secularists. They say God had just better ‘butt out’ of anything to do with actual ruling. And of course when they say the civil government is ‘secular’ they claim it for themselves and try to shut God and his people out.

But is that really what our Lord intended? What led to this ‘Render unto Caesar’ expression from the Lord Jesus? Turn, please, to the Gospel of Matthew chapter twenty-two. Let’s read from verse fifteen:

Matt 22:15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. 16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.

What’s really going on here?

They are provoking Jesus to say something fearless and get himself into trouble.

Verse seventeen:
Matt 22:17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?

This was actually a big issue at the time. Most of the Pharisees were opposed to giving Caesar any money at all. But you couldn’t say that in public, or you would be in a Roman jail for sedition. And no Pharisee would even touch the money.

You’ll see Jesus in a moment saying ‘shew me’ one of the coins. Not ‘give me’. The Rabbi from Galilee won’t touch it either.

Matt 22:18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?

’the things that are God’s’

Matt 22:21 They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. 22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.

Hmm. Give Caesar what is Caesar’s and give God what is God’s. How many things are Caesar’s, the realm of civil government. Well, the responsibility to maintain law and order, which the Apostle Paul in Romans 13 says is what the money is given for:

Rom 13:6 For this cause (maintaining law and order) pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.

How many things are God’s?

Now then. How many things are God’s? Well, Psalm twenty-four verse one says:

Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

I think the Psalmist has just told us everything is God’s. Everything and everyone in the world. Civil rulers are responsible to God, just as much as Pastors and Bishops. Paul says in Romans chapter thirteen that every civil ruler is ‘the minister of God’, whether he admits it or not.

Christ puts Caesar in his place, under God

You see, that’s because all authority comes from God. As the Psalmist puts it, with no compromise at all:

Psalm 47:2 For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over ALL the earth.

So this discourse in the Gospels does not tell God to keep out of Caesar’s realm at all. It does not limit God, it limits the state. It puts ‘Caesar’ in his place, under God. He has a God-given duty to maintain law and order.

It’s not the church, or its prophets, who have to butt out of government. We have a duty to call the government to account and tell rulers to rule in righteousness. No, it is the state that has to keep its nose out of the church.

If you know someone in the realm of Caesar, some king, or president, or member of parliament, or congressman, you can tell him all that. He might not thank you for it. But he needs to know.

SCRIPT ENDS

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