EUAGGELION!

Much More than a “good news”

Euaggelion is the Greek word which is normally translated gospel in the scriptures. Of course literally it means well message or good news, but the contextual sense of this word is more interesting.

I’ll like to compare it to that exhilarating, spontaneous and very joyful noise that follows when a goal is scored in one of the big games: GOAL!!! [You know, you can’t deny it, irrespective of what side of the team you’re on.]

A Proclamation of Victory

            Euaggelion! Euaggelion! That was the jubilant word used in ancient Greek culture when a battle was won; it was "a technical term for news of victory" (Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the NT, Vol. 2, p. 722).

            Victory, because:

...having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it [His cross].

Col 2:15

            Through the Gospel, we see:

... God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

2Tim 3:16

            It’s amazing when we consider that God became man, was crucified and through death put an end to death. He disarmed and rendered paralyzed the evil one by putting an end to the law (Col 2:15), and qualified us for the higher life in Christ, by His grace where Christ is made for us:

...wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption...

1Cor 1:30

            Just go ahead and scream it: VICTORY! Halleluyah.

HOW NOT TO BE BLEST

DON’T FAKE IT!

            Our heavenly wants to bless us as we are, any efforts to be nicer, more moral, more law abiding or even more spiritual in order to earn it, won’t just cut it. Have you ever wondered why virtually everybody that Jesus healed in His earthly ministry were not big fans of spirituality, but they sure knew how to fall at His feet, exactly the way they were ‘sinners’, and His ever-ready hand reached out to them all.

            A case study is shown in the scriptures:

And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.... But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.  And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.

Matt 15:26-28

                  In essence, a Gentile came in the guise of Jew (for she called Jesus; Son of David), and she got no response, then she took off the mask, and devil in her daughter took off, moreover she got commended by Jesus for her ‘great’ faith.

            Not only her, the prodigal son came back in all his filth, the lepers came with their leprosy, and countless sick came and they all received a perfect touch. Guess who never received a touch from the master? Yea, my guess too, the scripture quoting, prayer reciting, flowing garment wearing, law abiding, tithe giving, finger pointing, pretentious Pharisees and Sadducees- The religious mafia.

            God loves you, the way you are, and only His love is strong enough to create the desired change in your personality and any other aspect you desire.

THE TRUTH ABOUT CAIN’S OFFERING

Since I was a little boy, I have been reading and hearing about cain and abel but what never really occurred to me was the real reason why God decided not to accept cain’s offering. At that time there were no laws regarding offering to God so the million dollar Question is this, which law did cain break?

But now I know better! Because the truth of God’s word comes only through personal revelation. Let’s scrutinize the scriptures that cover this particular story meticulously.

3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented SOME of his crops as a gift to the LORD.

 4 Abel also brought a gift—THE BEST of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD ACCEPTED Abel and his gift,

 5 but He DID NOT ACCEPT Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

                                                                                                           Gen4:3-5(NLT)

Now it gets clear doesn’t it? Hilarious indeed! I have been reading these scriptures since I was a boy but never got the understanding until now. You know people could also have other revelations concerning this scripture. I have also concurred that one of the reasons why God did not accept Cain’s offering was the fact that God had earlier cursed the ground, and Cain brought forth SOME crops from a CURSED ground! Okay now tell me that’s not insulting enough for our BIG Daddy up there.

Same applies to present day Christians. How do you give offerings, praises, worship and thanks to Big daddy? Do you give him SOME out of convenience or THE BEST out of reverence?

The Life Transplant

            

            So, we know of organ transplants of different kinds, but I’m sure that no earthly physician has ever done a life transplant. So what-the-heck am I talking about; well I saw the movie “My sister’s Keeper” sometime ago and the plot was about a couple with a daughter diseased with cancer, who through in-vitro fertilization “developed” another child, as a genetic match for her elder sister, who was in-essence supposed to be her spare-part bank, where they occasionally got compatible blood and tissue from to keep her elder sister alive, well long-story-short is that things got complicated and the girl eventually died of cancer. Sad isn’t it!

            But my point is this: As Our natural lives depend on the presence and use of air, water and food without which we wouldn’t be alive, in the same way; our spirits are also dependent on the presence of God in us, without that holy presence in us, a void is created that nothing else can fill.

            See, man was diseased by the original sin, and he died when he ate from that tree of good and evil, you can’t survive for up to 3 mins without air, your spirit also dies immediately God is absent; it was made to be dependent on the true God, even the atheist can’t deny the hunger for something more than the ordinary.

            So Jesus came as a 'genetic match' for us, fully God and fully man, so He died and gave up His Spirit, our sins met the claims of divine justice on the Cross, and He resurrected to secure our redemption.

            You see, those that receive Him, by believing on Him as the resurrected lord; receive the very life that Jesus carried i.e. the very life of God. It’s a life transplant: the dead carcasses of our spirits are now revived by the Spirit that He gave to dwell in us. Adam, had the life of a perfect man, and he lost that when he sinned, [so Mr Perfect died in Eden; (ladies stop looking for him!)] but via this new life, we become much more than perfect men; we become gods:

“I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.”

Ps 82:6

            Yes, God said it and He meant it! I don’t know about you, but this speaks to me about my heavenly Father, who values me as much as His own life, in that He laid it down for me. I’m not sure I’ll ever figure out why He did, but I’m eternally grateful that He did. Hallelujah!

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Jn 3:16

Be anxious for nothing!!!

           

          Maybe you've heard that before but that’s exactly what philipians 4:6 says; “Be anxious for nothing...” you know it’s easy to do what follows after that phrase “... but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving make your request known unto God...” naturally even the unbeliever will cry out for help when he comes to a dead end in life, so the believer is not so different when he cries out to God in times of need.

            The difference however comes when we put that scripture in its proper context, by that, the first thing we ought to do is to be anxious for nothing, that’s what makes our prayers effective: It’s no use praying, if you’re going to pray and worry. Our heavenly father loves us so much he not only dealt with our sins once and for all on the cross, but he wants to deal with our concerns and anxieties on a per time basis.

            No one said it will be easy to ignore anxieties when they come, but let’s understand that our only labour as Christians is the labour to remain in His rest:

“Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

Heb 4:11

         You see, God calls unrest unbelief . It’s only natural to fret when that big exam is coming up, it’s natural to worry when business is running slow and income is not forth coming, and every one will understand, if you’re anxious about the failing health of a loved one, but it’s divine when despite the circumstances, you choose to be anxious for nothing and absolutely nothing, whether great or small.

            We don’t help anybody when we worry, but we do them a world of good when we let God make the desired change, anxiety only prevents the interference of God in our situation. Jesus said:

“... for without me ye can do nothing”

            We read that, but what we interpret most of the time is; “without Him, I can’t do some of the most important things in my life” you know, we expect Him to oversee the seemingly big things in our lives and want to be responsible for the ones we feel that we can handle, but it’s always peaceful when we let our responsibility be a response to His ability working in us, here we see Him even in the smallest things and this honours God.

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            “Hey, so I just fold my hands and do nothing, while my whole world comes tumbling down; I have to do something or else nothing gets done!”

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            Really? You’re alive, did you do anything about that? No! Your priceless life was arranged by your father who is more, far more than enough. That being said, my answer is no, you’ll either be dead or paralyzed to not react when bad things happen.

            The point is to remove anxiety from your work process:

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... and take them where?

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“Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.”

1Pet 5:7 AMP

            Yes, our loving father wants us to throw all, absolutely all our concerns (once and for all) on Him and we do this by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

            This way we give Him the license to take over, while we take a bow. And when He takes over He takes us over, because He’s our loving Jehovah, Hallelujah!

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Phil 4:7 NIV

Conforming to this World?

          One of the greatest problems in the society today is a misplaced value system. Everybody values the wrong things more than what's truly important. People now value going to the cinemas than going to church. People now value watching movies to reading their Bibles. People now value chatting with men to chatting with God. What do you value? What's the most important thing to you? Is it a relationship? a device? a piece of clothing? Are you now your own god? Do you now live to please yourself? People now make important plans and important decisions without even asking for God's counsel. The world is now ignoring it's maker. 

          There is no greater mistake. What do you value most? Is God still your focus? Is Christ still the centre of your life or are you now conformed to this world? Have you been poured into their mould? TAKE A STAND FOR YOUR CHRISTIANITY. STOP TRYING TO CONFORM TO THE WORLD, THEY SHOULD BE CONFORMING TO US! The world should be copying us , not we copying them! We have the higher life, the life of God and yet we would ignore that to live the life of a mere man. How pitiful is this. Like Saint Jude said, "LET US WITH ALL OUR HEARTS TO GO ON FIGHTING STRONGLY FOR THE FAITH WHICH HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THE SAINTS." Jude 1:3