VICTUALS
...Weekly Newsletter of Sweet Fellowship
Full but Empty…[volume 3 issue 3]
And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him… after three days they found him… And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Fathers business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. [Luke 2:45-51]
Mary and Joseph, the parents of Jesus had missed Him (Jesus) for quite some days, and they could not keep going on their journey without the presence of Jesus. They knew that life without Christ was a sour one. Though they had the company of friends, acquaintances and kinsfolks, though they seemed to be happy travelling in the company of men, yet they knew that the presence of men, no matter how warm and enjoyable it appeared, was a total disaster and calamity if Jesus was NOT in their company. Thank God their hunger ...
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The Revelation Of Christ. [Issue 3 Volume 2]
And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon and he… was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him …, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus..., then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.
[Luke 2:25-30 KJV]
““And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem…”
There are many good brothers and sisters like Simeon. Glorious spiritual experiences have taken place in their lives, they are like one in a city, they have become saved, touched and transformed by the mighty hands of God, they are just and devout, in fact, the Holy Spirit has come upon them, BUT something deep ...
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Divine Visitation... [volume 3 issue 1]
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren... And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless.[Luke 1:6-7,21-22]
Many times when The Lord wants to introduce any personality close to His heart, He begins with those glorious spiritual qualities that are uppermost in His heart because that is the angle from which He sees every other thing. The Bible here did not put verse 7 before verse 6, it put first things first. He revealed the righteousness of this couple (Zacharias and Elisabeth) before it spoke about their childlessness. In the same vein, when the Bible introduced Job in Job 1:1-3, it spoke first about t...
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Is The Almighty With Me? [volume 2 issue 7]
“When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me”[Job 29:5].
“When the Almighty was yet with me...”
The presence of God in a mans life is felt in degrees. God reveals Himself to a man in measures, depending on the capacity of that man. I think one of the greatest prayers I should pray today is"Lord, enlarge my capacity, that I may receive more of You".
The extent to which God works or operates in and through my life, is the extent to which I have allowed Him. God never gate-crashes, He respects us. He deals more with our willingness and openness to Him, He will work only if we let Him.
The presence of God is so sweet. The beauty and the warmth of His love is so alarming and consuming. God does not want a mixture of Himself with something else, He will rather depart completely than permit a little adulteration. When a man loses the presence of God, it is...
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THE HOUSE OF PRAYER [VOLUME 2 ISSUE 6]
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer but ye have made it a den of thieves.[Matthew 21:12-13]
"...My house...the house of prayer..."
The temple of God is characterised by one thing alone, and that is prayer. Several things or activities may be carried out in the temple of The Lord, but one activity is very prominent and preeminent, that is prayer. Prayer is the practice that must be done much more than every other activities in the holy temple of God, no wonder the Apostles realised this and said,"we will give ourselves to prayer and to ...the word, rather than serve tables (rather than buying and selling)".
Then the twelve called the multitude of the disc...
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STUDY TO BE QUIET...[VOLUME 2 ISSUE 5]
And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you[1 Thessalonians 4:11]
"And that ye study to be quiet... do your own business "
How does one study to be quiet? Does it mean I would have to keep my mouth shut or stop talking altogether? To study to be quiet: Is there a school that teaches or grooms one on how to keep the mouth shut? Am I to go and take a course of study on quietness, discipline myself, or go through some self denial processes and graduate with a degree on Perpetual Quietness or achieve non-verbal communication? Is this what the Bible means?
It is clear that the goal of most schools today is to produce men who can talk very smartly. Schools love to roll out Lawyers who are articulate in speech, they labour tirelessly to produce teachers and professors who can lecture brilliantly. They pride in reeling out Politicians and poli...
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If the Righteous Scarcely be Saved [Volume 2 Issue 4]
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. [1Peter 4:16-19]
"…ashamed..."
Shame is one of the potent weapons that the devil uses today to destroy the believers commitments and love for Jesus. Many profess love for the Lord, but the love has not become all-encompassing and all-consuming. They have not become suffused and captivated by that love to the extent where suffering any ridicule for His sake simply becomes a pleasure. Many have accepted Jesus by confessing His deity, b...
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Being Dead, But Living [Volume 2 Issue 3]
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, BEING DEAD to sins, SHOULD LIVE unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. [1Peter 2:24]
"...that we, being dead... should live..."
Reading the above text very carefully, I notice that the emphasis in the verse is more about “living” rather than “dying”. The text reveals that Jesus Christ bore our own sins on the tree (i.e. on the Cross). Therefore, Jesus has achieved the part of death for everyone who gets to that cross where He died. This “death part” is a natural one. It is the one done by Christ on the Cross.
Death was achieved, not by our own operation or by our doing. Our death was actually achieved by Christ on the cross, and for the fact that Christ did bare our sins in His own body on that tree, the fact of death was totally consummated, it was concluded, and it was fini...
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The Fullness of Christ [Vol 2 Issue 2]
“And he gave some, apostles, and some, prophets, and some, evangelists, and some, pastors and teachers, For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. [Ephesians 4:11-13]
If there is any reason why we have groomed pastors in the Church of Jesus Christ, if there is any reason why a man should be preaching and teaching a congregation Sunday after Sundays, if there is any reason why there are apostles, prophets, teachers and/or evangelists operating at one capacity or the other within the body of Christ, it is only for one purpose, and that is for the maturing of believers, it is for the perfecting of the Saints to a pinnacle, a height where Christ is their all in all - the fullness of Christ.
"...unto a pe...
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The Secret Place [Vol 2 Issue 1]
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly... [Matthew 6:6]
Prayer, is an indispensable ingredient to the Christian faith. It is the only available means given unto man, wherewith he can reach God
" enter into thy closet, ... shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret... "
Our Father has a dwelling place, He resides in a habitation. This dwelling place, where He can be found, is not in the open. The Bible says "...thy Father which is in secret...". If I need to reach God, I must have an understanding that God is not available in the open place, He is not available in the market place, He cannot be reached by just a little stretch of the hand or a callout, He is not present in the showground. To reach or touch God, I must withdraw into the secret...
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