PENTECOST BAPTIST CHURCH INTERNATIONAL, PORTSMOUTH.

Sunday 25 March 2012

The covenant of grace

The covenant of grace
Today marks the beginning of British summer time. Does this fulfils the injunction of Genesis 8:22?
Genesis 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Does it give the indication of the assurance we have in Christ Jesus?
Jeremiah 33:20 Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; 21 Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. 22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.
As Christians we are covenant children, covenant people. We carry the mantle of God through Jesus Christ.
Exodus 24:8
And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.
Mat 26:28
For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
This multidisciplinary and multidimensional spiritual ark stay with us though invisible to the human eye. It propels our success, it drives our passion and it sustains our resilience in the troubled world. We stay calm like Jesus Christ did on the troubled sea. And when our attention is drawn to the turbulence, we respond with our God given authority and say peace be still. To all challenges facing you today, I say peace be still in the name of Jesus.Lev 26:9 For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. Psalm 74:20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
As covenant people we use the concept of covenant as an organising principle for Christian theology, our theology. These include our theology of worship, our theology of faith our theology of grace and all that make up our songs and sayings.
The great implication of this though is the circle of our service to God; Seed time and harvest time. We sow continuously in work and worship, in seed and substance, in prayer and praises. Indeed we sow and continually sow our ourselves, our lives and our all. consequently, we reap till the end of time. Seed time and harvest time will never cease. This is the covenant of grace in Christ Jesus. Let us pray.

Sunday 18 March 2012

Happy mothers day

Happy mothers day
Today is mothers day. One of my beloved sisters kept probing and poking me, posing this question: how do you Baptists celebrate Mothers Day? It kind of look strange to ask such a strange question. Mothers day is a day set aside to honour mothers. At least four great countries of the world including Great Britain and Nigeria are celebrating mothers day today. Even people of other faith and no faith at all celebrate mothers day in different places and on different dates. And we Baptists are not from the moon. But I am going to answer that question now. This is how we Baptists celebrate Mothers Day: we praise the God of heaven and earth who created Eve and made her the mother of all living things and gave men the womb-men (women).
Gen 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. .. 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
We remind ourselves of the fourth commandment
Exodus 20:12
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
- honour your mother and your father, and we share the blessing - so that your days may be long. Your blessing today is that you will live long. You will be healthy and wealthy as well. That is the promise of the Lord who is able to say and perform what he says. We give gifts as well and we encourage people to give worthy gifts to mothers.
Why do we honour mothers?
1. God commanded it
2. It is morally good and God as the moral governor deem it fit.
3. Mothers are agents of reproduction and symbols of nurture. They are very important to human existence
4. Some have omitted to do it in past and it caused a lot of grieve.
5. Young women would eventually grow up to become mothers, they need to sow honour now to reap the same in the near future.
6. Bible characters who we look up to did it. Jacob obeyed his mother and saved his life from his angry brother (Genesis 27:41-46). Samson honour his mother, abstained from alcohol and did a great exploit in the bible (Judges 13-16). Samuel honour his mother and decided to serve his mother
7. We are God
s God (I Samuel 1:21- 2:11). Even our master Jesus Christ honour his mother and performed the first miracle of turning water into wine. (John 2:1-11)s people and his spirit lives in us, we know what is right through the Holy Spirit and we are committed to doing it by his power and grace.