Sunday Mornings

Jesus entered Jericho and made His way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way. Luke 19:1-4 Blessed be the name of the LORD for granting us another opportunity to study His Word this week. By His grace, this study will be broken into 3 parts in order to understand the 3 major stages of the Jericho encounter that caused a remarkable turn around in the life of Zacchaeus. It is so wonderful to note that Luke 19 is a sequential continuation of the story in Luke 18, which ended with Jesus healing a blind man outside of Jericho. It must have been from the praise of the people that Zacchaeus heard of Jesus. It must have been the testimonies from this miracle that made the short man to be curious. He wanted to see J...

Just when you think you’ve got life all figured out, an extremely weak wind pulls your life–structure to the ground. However, to withstand hurricanes, you have to get the blueprint for your life from God. Matthew 16: 24-26 24-26  Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat;  I  am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for? If you don’t allow God to be the manager of your life, you then put yourself under unnecessary stress, pressure and confusion when making life’s decisions. Also, you end up picking the wrong choices (career, life partner, place of habitation etc). You have to allow God to give you the direction for your life. It is howeve...

About eight days later, Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white...Peter and the others had fallen asleep. When they woke up, they saw Jesus' glory and the two men standing with him (Luke 9:28-32) NLT Blessed be the name of our LORD Jesus who has granted us another opportunity to glean at His feet on this platform. As a form of background, we know that Peter, James and John were disciples of Jesus. They knew a lot about Jesus because they were practically following Him everywhere. This is true for many of us: who were brought up in christian homes, brought up in the church assembly, brought up to a habit of meeting with God daily through scripture reading and prayers. However, this particular day, the Jesus that Peter, James and John saw, was not the Jesus they had always known. It was not business as usual. They saw Jesus in His glory. Have you ev...

Isaiah 35:1-10. ( MSG ) 1-2  Wilderness and desert will sing joyously,     the badlands will celebrate and flower— Like the crocus in spring, bursting into blossom,     a symphony of song and color. Mountain glories of Lebanon—a gift.     Awesome Carmel, stunning Sharon—gifts. God’s resplendent glory, fully on display.     God awesome, God majestic. 3-4  Energize the limp hands,     strengthen the rubbery knees. Tell fearful souls,     “Courage! Take heart! God is here, right here,     on his way to put things right And redress all wrongs.     He’s on his way! He’ll save you!” 5-7  Blind eyes will be opened,     deaf ears unstopped, Lame men and women will leap like deer,     the voi...

Samson went out and caught 300 foxes and tied them together in pairs with oil soaked rags around their tails. Then Samson took the foxes into the Philistine wheat fields that were ready to be harvested. He set the rags on fire and let the foxes go. The wheat field went up in flames, and so did the stacks of wheat that had already been cut. Even the Philistines vineyards and olive orchards burned. Judges 15: 4-5 We are trusting God to do a new thing in this generation. However, throughout history, whenever God would be making a move on the earth, it would be through a vessel that was willing to be used of Him. The story of Samson and the foxes paints a picture of how God intends to do that in His wisdom. Samson tied the foxes with oil soaked rags: In order to set the foxes ablaze, he had to put a torch on them. In the move of God, this is the place of the Spirit of God Himself which He has given to every believer. I Cor 2:6-16 tells us that it is because we have the spirit of ...

Some say coffee is great when served hot and it is tasty when iced, but anything in between is disgusting. Lukewarm is the word for things that are barely warm. Most people get disappointed when served lukewarm food in restaurants. Lukewarmness also refers to lack of excitement or being unenthusiastic. Spiritual lukewarmness can be seen as an act of not being interested or enthusiastic about spiritual issues.   This may manifest as coldness, indifference, insensitivity, reluctance to attending fellowship or spiritual gatherings, loss of hunger for the word of God or loss of interest in soul winning. Being lukewarm displeases God; this is clearly seen in Revelation 3:16 So because you are lukewarm (spiritually useless), and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth [rejecting you with disgust]. Revelation 3:16 Amplified Bible (AMP) This kind of life attracts rejection from God, punishment, plundering and demolition of acquired wealth, dissatisf...

We bless God for thus far that He has led us in this study. In closing the study, we would like to see more practically and particularly how these stories relate to us living in this generation. May God grant us insight as we plunge deep into His Word. Amen. The best way to read Hebrews 11 which everyone recognises as the hall of faith in the bible is to see it as a continuation from Hebrews 10 and a pretext for Hebrews 12. We will spend a few lines to discuss about the ending of Hebrews 10 and the beginning of Hebrews 12 to gain more insight on Hebrews 11. Heb 10 Hebrews 10 started with the sacrifice of Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice that solved the age long problem of sin which was a dent to the relationship between man and God. The chapter concludes with verse 38 quoting a verse from Habakkuk 2:4. Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. BUT the righteous will live by HIS faith. So we see here that the righteous one will live by HI...