VICTUALS
...Weekly Newsletter of Sweet Fellowship
Tarry at Jericho... [VOLUME 6 ISSUE 4]
And it came to pass after this, that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead. Then said David, I will shew kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father shewed kindness unto me. And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And Davids servants came into the land of the children of Ammon. And the princes of the children of Ammon said unto Hanun their lord, Thinkest thou that David doth honour thy father, that he hath sent comforters unto thee? Hath not David rather sent his servants unto thee, to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it? Wherefore Hanun took Davids servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. When they told it unto David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed: and the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then ret...
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Hidden Treasures...[VOLUME 6 ISSUE 3]
A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables, that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. [Luke 8:5-10]
“…He that hath ears to hear, let him hear…”
On several occasions, Jesus always spoke to men in parables. While speaking to the multitudes here, He spoke about the parable of the...
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DISCIPLES ESSENTIALS [VOLUME 6 ISSUE 2]
And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two, and gave them power over unclean spirits, and commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only, no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse: but be shod with sandals, and not put on two coats. [Mark 6:7-9 KJV]
From the scriptures above, what sufficiently do you need to be a disciple on divine duty, and effectively minister the good news unto men?
A. “…and gave them power over unclean spirits” (vs.7) The first need, is the power from on High. This power must be GIVEN unto you by Jesus Himself. Bible says “He GAVE THEM POWER…” No man is born with this power naturally. It is not muscular power or human power or the power of wisdom. You do not have it, and you cannot purchase it from anywhere. Except God gives it to you, you do NOT have it.
B. “…[Jesus] commanded t...
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Ministry That Glorifies God. [VOLUME 6 ISSUE 1]
Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over Gods heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
[1 Peter 5:2-3]
"Feed..."
One of the most tasking jobs in any family is the daily preparation of food for the whole family. Ask any mother about her greatest challenge in the home, you will find out that it lies here, in the daily diligent preparation of food for the household. No matter how demanding the job of cooking good and balanced meal for the family is, a proper woman will never complain about taking up this enormous task, neither would she ever retire from it because of her love for her household. Instead, she does it with joy and gladness. She may spend hours in the kitchen just to prepare a single meal, especially the special delicacies that are the family delight, yet she does ...
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Following God into His Rest. [VOLUME 5 ISSUE 7]
Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. [Hebrews 3:10-13]
There is something in the heart of God which He always drives at, and He wants everyone who encounters Him to clearly discover it. Unless you have this understanding, you may never be able to relate with God seamlessly. The verses above say that God was grieved with a generation of men and women, who always err (stumble, go astray) in their hearts, and the reason God is sad, is because they did not know the ways of God, they did not know how God operates.
Wherever you find continuous erring, sinning, d...
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The Gospel of Jesus Christ [VOLUME 5 ISSUE 6]
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. [2 Corinthians 1:19]
It is Jesus we preach, not message, not sermon… It is JESUS we preach, not topics, not doctrines. It is JESUS we exalt, not celebrations, not accumulations. It is JESUS we showcase, not ourselves, not our knowledge. It is JESUS we reveal and show men, not our great church, not how powerful our Pastor is. Jesus Christ HIMSELF is THE MESSAGE, not another. Even though this has been mutilated and adjusted in many circles, yet this thought runs throughout Scriptures undiluted, that the gospel to preach is THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF. We preach HIM, we do not preach anything else. Jesus Christ HIMSELF is the gospel to the world.
“…AND HE SHALL SEND JESUS CHRIST, WHICH WAS PREACHED UNTO YOU.” [Acts 3:20]
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Spiritual Growth[VOLUME 5 ISSUE 5]
And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. [Luke 2:40]
This passage is a short summary of the life of Jesus. As a child, Jesus did not stagnate. He neither diminished nor died out, instead, He grew. How? He waxed strong in spirit, He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.
The way the Bible described growth here is completely different from our own perspective of growth. Jesus grew, but the parameters used to describe His growth are not the same with the parameters we use. According to this passage, “Growing” means to wax strong in Spirit, to be filled with wisdom, and to possess more of Gods grace. Growth was not described physically. It was not measured by age, it did not speak about increase in size, academic knowledge or emotions. It did not talk about having more money, getting more famous or being more inf...
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The Way of the Lord... [VOLUME 5 ISSUE 4]
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.[Mark 1:1-2]
"...gospel of Jesus..."
The gospel is the preaching of the man Jesus. It is the presentation of a personality, Jesus Christ unto men. What those who accepted the gospel received, is the person of Jesus Christ Himself. It is not just about doing good, changing your way, or turning a new leaf, it is receiving a PERSON, JESUS CHRIST.
The gospel is not about any man or any church. The gospel is the "good news". The news is good, not because it puts money in your pocket, not because it builds a mansion for you or because it establishes you as a big man in the world. The gospel is the good news because it gave us Jesus, the end to our sins and struggles, the end to the life in the flesh. The news is good because it saves us...
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God or Mammon? [VOLUME 5 ISSUE 3]
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. [Matthew 6:24]
"...two masters... "
There are ONLY TWO MASTERS a man can possibly serve. The first is GOD ALMIGHTY, while the other is MAMMON.
Mammon is the deity that operates behind MONEY. Whosoever you are, it is either you are serving GOD or you are serving Mammon, the god of money.
Mammon is a worldly principle that rests absolutely on money as the determinant of the life of a man. Mammon pushes MONEY forward as the answer to your problem, instead of God. Mammon exalts money as the giver of life, health, comfort, pleasure and joy instead of God. Mammon seeks to displace GOD in the hearts of men, by setting itself on the throne as the God to be worshipped instead of GOD Almighty.
1. Mammon says that: "the value of yo...
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Hearing From God... [VOLUME 5 ISSUE 2]
Father, glorify Thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified It, and will glorify It again. The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to Him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes. [John 12:28-30]
Every father communes with his children, and there is no child who does not recognize the voice of the father, even in the midst of a mammoth, noisy crowd. Several people today who say they are children of God, find it very hard to hear the distinct voice of the same God they claim to be their father. The voice of other things, including their own fleshly desires, crowd out the silent voice of the God in their lives. They do several things and arrogate them to God, whereas, those things were the leadings of their personal minds without waiting on the Lord to listen to Him.
There are several others wh...
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