Merry Christmas: Shine The Love + Songs of The Day: Emmanuel (Norman Hutchins) & Without Love (Cece Winans)

Dear Spekkite,

Merry Christmas!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av1omSNOFwE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
For the first time ever in my life I have seen clearly the priority of love in this season! As I wrote in yesterday's post, I knew vaguely but this year my eyes were opened by God to see it much more vividly, and I am all the more grateful for Jesus!

So in sight of all this love, what are we supposed to do?

When our loving is intact? (For God first and then for others) our lives before God are totally perfect.

From 1Cor13 its obvious that anything done outside love is not counted by God. Love for God and for others has to be the fuel for every single thing we do!

Why do you want to stop sinning? Is it because you you want to be able to be boast about how holy you are? Or because you love God and know He can't stand it? Cos you know the price He paid to reconnect you to Him?

Why do you want preach? So people will say "hmmm deep"? Or because you love Jesus and you know He wants you to feed His sheep so that as many as can be will be saved.

Why do you give to Charities and the like?
Is it so people will add "Philanthropist" to your name? Or so they'll say "ooo..such a kind hearted soul".

All these motives might do some good to the recipients, but all you will ultimately reap from it will be vanity! And that would be a tragic waste.

Just like Jesus did with Peter, He will only endorse you to handle the things most important to Him, when your love for Him is without question. And...when you love Him you will definitely love His sheep!

I will be totally honest...over the last year God has been asking me "Toluwani, do you love me". The question was coming so often that I started feeling that I was imagining things, so I started ignoring the question!

Then on one afternoon a friend of my mum's sent me a message telling me that God asked her to tell me just like peter.."lovest thou me".. I cried and realized it was God all along! ?

Now everything is falling in place because truthfully not everything I did was fuelled by my love for God or for others..a lot of it centred around me even though I thought it was the other way around.

So now my prayer now is "Father plug me into you unlimited source of love, because I can definitely not do it like You do it without You".
I truly am excited about the transformation I know God will bring.
Please join me in this Love Baptism journey, I can already see how amazing it will be!

Please read and meditate upon the scriptures below. Unlearn everything you know about love and life and let Him teach you line upon line and precept upon precept! (Isaiah28:10)

Luke 10:27 NIV

He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”


John 21:15-17 NIV

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”  “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”    Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”  He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”    The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”  Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

1 John 4:7-12 MSG

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God. My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeqDgGOJUUQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Merry Christmas once again, SHINE THE LOVE!!!

Be Spekky...Be Spectacular!
(Matt5:13-16)

Towards Christmas 14 (Series Finale): All for Love + Song of The Day: Amazing Love (Toluwani)

On Sunday during my family fellowship time after service, I was reflecting on the entire "Toward Christmas Series" and the things God had revealed to me during the process of writing it. Things that I had been blown away by. Then God whispered to me "Love is THE reason". At first I was like "Father..I knew that already..."especially considering the fact that I memorized John3:16 since I was a child.
He then explained to me that I hadn't gotten the point He was emphasizing.
He told me that He took me from the "Fall of Man" through the other things that were shared during this series right up to this point of John3:16 in emphasis so that the gravity of man's fall could be clearly seen (i.e everything we lost) and as a result clearly see the solution Jesus coming would bring to the World.

So yes! Jesus needed to be born to restore our sanity, to take off the burden from off our backs, to take that same burden that we could not carry upon Himself, to show us that through the Spirit of God perfection is possible in our mortal bodies, to serve as Gods sceptre of mercy and to ultimately save us from everlasting death by making us more than champions through His resurrection!
But....

The fact is (in Nigerian terms) "He took Panadol for Man's headache". His life did not depend on our salvation, His being God was not changed by our fall. Our lives depended on His benevolent and love inspired intervention!

God could very well have called a meeting in Heaven and said "Let us allow man run their presently miserable course of existence till they get to the ultimate point of perishing for all if eternity. Afterall they where warned about the consequences of their sin beforehand".
But He didn't
He could have washed His hands off our case just like Pilate did in Jesus' case (Matt27:24).

Pilate would not put himslef on the line for an innocent Jesus, but God put Himself on the cross for guilty me and guilty you to redeen us (John3:16)! Why???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP3gj4yj6Rs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Well, the reason is unfathomable yet simple. The reason is LOVE (1John3:16)!

John 3:16-18 MSG

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have

John 3:16-18 MSG

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

Love is the reason for the season (John4:16), and there is no greater love than this. I still can't wrap my head around it because of how unfathomable it is. The world and the devil can never love you or me like this, it is impossible for them.

I may not be able to fathom this love, but I receive Jesus, the gift of God's love and all that His coming as restored and brought to life with open arms (1John4:16, John1:12&13).

1 Corinthians 13:1-10 MSG

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

This is the God kind of Love! Jesus' coming and His ultimate sacrifice was fuelled by love!

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Be Spekky...Be Spectacular!

Towards Christmas 13: Power Changed Hands + Song of The Day: No Condemnation (Don Moen)

Isaiah 9:1-7 NLT

Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. You will enlarge the nation of Israel, and its people will rejoice. They will rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest and like warriors dividing the plunder. For you will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders. You will break the oppressor’s rod, just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian. The boots of the warrior and the uniforms bloodstained by war will all be burned. They will be fuel for the fire. For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

The slavery and oppression that sin brought was thriving because the Dominion that God had given man was sold by man to the devil. So Jesus' coming was to legally (according to Gods standards of legality Rom8:1-11 ) place dominion back into the hands of the rightful owners (Isaiah60:1).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmqHd4j5TbY&feature=youtube_gdata_player
This is why there is so much emphasis on the kind of rulership this child born and this Son given (Is9:6) would bring. Him taking over by by putting to death the flesh and raising us up together to sit with him (Eph2:6) was our redemption!  Is our redemption! Power changed hands and our slavery to sin was absolutely abolished praise God!

Be Spekky...Be Spectacular!
(Matt5:13-16)

Towards Christmas 12: To Save From Everlasting Death + Song of The Day: Everlasting Love (Cece Winans)

John 3:16b-17 NLT

“...so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

Like a Cancer the things we have discussed so far where the symptoms of the ultimate end the whole of Mankind would face, and that was everlasting death! The verses above say it all.
Please go through all the previous episodes of the series up to this point and observe how each and every form of restoration He gave was ultimately a restoration of life! What an amazing God we serve!

Be Spekky...Be Spectacular!

Towards Christmas 11: Turn on the Lights! + Song of The Day: Jesus You're Beautiful (Cece Winans)

Ever wonder why everyone goes crazy about lights when its Christmas? I used to. God opened my eyes to see the significance of the lights. Thing is most people don't even know why they put those lights up or why it makes them soo excited. I believe it is because God never wants us to forget the Light of Life that Jesus' coming brought into the World (John 1:5). It is so amazing because I do not know of any other festive season that is as brightly lit. "And the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea".

Please enjoy the following article by Adrian Rogers tajen from http://m.oneplace.com/ministries/love-worth-finding/read/articles/the-light-of-christmas-13805.html
Jesus The Light of Christmas!

No matter where you turn in God's Word, you’ll find that Christmas is about light, for Jesus is the Light of the world! We love to sing "Silent Night, Holy Night," but this great carol is not about night or darkness. It's about the light. "Son of God, / love's pure light / Radiant beams from Thy holy face, / with the dawn of redeeming grace." 

When we sing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," we say, “Hail the Son of righteousness! / Light and life to all He brings, / risen with healing in His wings." 

We sing at Christmas because we have something to sing about!  Light has come into the world, and we need never walk in darkness again. John 1:1-5, one of the richest passages of Scripture, explains why.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²The same was in the beginning with God.  ³All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. ⁵And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness overcame it not.” (John 1:1-5)

Light Is A Wonderful Picture Of The Lord Jesus Christ

Jesus Is Pure Light
Jesus exposed sin, but He was never contaminated by sin. He could touch sinners, but sin never touched Jesus.  He was undefiled.  When the Bible calls Jesus the "light of the world," it's a reminder of the sinless, stainless purity of the Son of God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APrvCnXw58A&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The Bible says He was "in the world" (John 1:10), but He was not of this world. Jesus did not have His origin here. Think about this: His birth in Bethlehem was not the beginning of His life! For in eternity past, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit always were. There was never a time when “God in three Persons, Blessed Trinity…” did not exist. He has no beginning and no end.  

Because Jesus was not of this world, He is the pure, incorruptible Light.  Jesus was the only Person who could look others in the face and say, "Which of you convicts Me of sin?" (John 8:46).  The baby born in Bethlehem was the "true Light" (John 1:9), the pure light of heaven.

Jesus Is the Constant Light
In the natural world, the speed of light is a constant.  Albert Einstein said the reason he was able to construct his famous Theory of Relativity was because there is one thing in the world that is constant — the speed of light.  Everything else is relative.

Jesus Is Our Constant in the Spiritual Realm
The sun will not shine for eternity. Its energy is slowly being used up.  Even the sun will one day cease to shine, but the light of Jesus will illumine heaven throughout eternity!

Jesus Is the Source of Light
What will be our light source in the Holy city?

“And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did illumine it, and the Lamb [the Lord Jesus Christ] is the light thereof.” (Revelation 21:23)

We’ll have no need for light switches, fuses, batteries, or utility companies, for He Himself will be our source of light. We will bask in the direct rays of His glorious light forever. 

Jesus Is the Vital Light
“In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

Light and life are inextricably interwoven.  You cannot have life without light.  When God brought life out of chaos in Creation, He said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), and the seas began to swarm with life.  The seeds of earth began to bud and blossom.  Light — photosynthesis — causes plants to produce food.  Life itself is built on sunlight. Without it, our world would become cold, dark and dead.

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, He came to give us life.  When the Holy Spirit shined the light of the Gospel into our hearts, a divine photosynthesis took place, producing life where before there was only death. 

“The entrance of Your words gives light.” (Psalm 119:130) Jesus is the Light.

Do you know that everywhere Jesus went during His earthly ministry, He brought life?  Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). 

Let Jesus Bring His Light — And Life — Into Your Christmas
Praise God for the changeless, constant light of the Lord Jesus Christ! No matter how cold and dark your world may seem, it can be brought back to life when the glorious light of the Son of God shines into your heart. There is no life without light. 

The life and the light went out of Adam's race when he sinned in the Garden of Eden.  But Jesus is the Light of the world.  When we make Jesus Christ both Lord and Savior, the One who entered time and space as that little Babe in Bethlehem comes in, turns the light on, and life begins for us. He gives eternal life.

 Be Spekky...Be Spectacular!
(Matt5:13-16)

Towards Christmas 10: How to Be a Champ! + Song of The Day: A God Like You (Kirk Franklin)

Genesis 3:1-6 NIV

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”   The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”   “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”   When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

The enemy cunningly started by making Eve question the Word of God. In her first reply she corrected the his questioning by telling him exactly what God said and did well by doing so.  However, slipped once she took the devils word for it (Gen3:4).

The devil literally polluted the Word of God, and man fell because he started living according to the wrong word.
One could say they didn't have enough words to tackle the enemy, but the truth is the Word God had given them was more than enough. When the serpent said "you shall not surely die" They could have replied, God said "...for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die"...all they had to do was to keep repeating the exact thing God had said, and stand firm on that, but they didn't.

Now see how Jesus handled a very similar situation.thousands of years later.

Matthew 4:2-11 NIV

After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”   Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’  ” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ”   Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’  ”    Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”   Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’  ”    Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQahEXwH90k&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The devil again in Jesus' case attempted creating a word contrary to Gods Word by saying "if You are the Son of God...".. because there is no where in the Bible that God ever said the proof of being His child was turning objects into things that would gratify bodily desires.

Romans 8:13-14 NIV

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.   For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

The above doesn't say those who are led by the devils suggestion of what should be, but those who are led by Gods spirit.
The Holy Spirit led Jesus to be tempted and so was leading him through out the situation. Truth is at this point Jesus was remedying the point at which Adam fell..it was the very first thing he had to do after being baptized and endorsed by God (Matt3:16&17).
The devil attempted to up his game by using Gods word, but using it wrongly...and still Jesus was more than ready..He did not make it personal, He just stuck to what "is written". The devil finally got directly to the agenda he had been pushing all along when he tried to make Jesus worship him and Jesus sent him away again using the Word..Its like Jesus was saying "You shall worship the Word your God and only Him shall you serve...END OF DISCUSSION".

The devil had been pushing the agenda of Jesus worshipping him from the first temptation.
He did the same for Adam and Eve by deceiving them that they would be their own gods, and as a result they became slaves to their cravings and fleshy desires.
So once Jesus dealt with the crux of the matter, he sent the devil packing.

Jesus had to be born in The Flesh but of The Spirit to show us how the flesh being led by Gods Spirit in using His word and His wisdom, can overcome and deal with all the deceitful methods of the enemy which are aimed at turning one away from worshipping God! He was born in the flesh but of the Spirit to show us how to do what (Eph6:10-17) instructs.

This is extremely exciting..many of the things written in this post are things I only truly became aware of through the Holy Spirit as I was writing..God is super amazing! Thank you Father!

Be Spekky...Be Spectacular!
(Matt5:13-16).

Towards Christmas 9: Why of The Flesh? + Song of The Day: Power Belongs To God (Hezekiah Walker)

Luke 1:34-35 NIV

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”   The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

I had often wondered why exactly Jesus had to be born in the flesh, but not of the flesh. I knew on a broad scale it was because sin dominated the world because of the actions of one man (John3:14), but then I still knew there was more and I desperately needed an answer.

God graciously explained to me that Jesus being born in that way was to show mankind that perfection is absolutely possible, when one is born of God and then in sight of this birth, lives on "every word that comes out of the mouth of God (Matt4:4).

Hebrews 4:14-15 NIV

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

Truth is with Christ in us we have the power to be perfect before God, but instead of using the grace He sacrificed His life to give, we use it as an excuse to stick in sin. This we do by NOT living on every word that comes out of Gods mouth. ( Rom6:1, Gal5:16, Gal6:7&8).

Romans 6:1 NIV

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

He explained to me the above through an analogy.

He showed me that continuing in sin for grace to abound, is like putting a Generator on and refusing to switch to the power source..or having electricity and putting all the appliances that need it off..then you start groping around in the darkness, tripping over things etc when the electricty bill has already been payed or fuel for the gen has already been bought. What a waste!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN7KT9ncKEM&feature=youtube_gdata_player
This is yet another dimension to the reason He had to be born. Christ came to show us that perfection is the norm once the flesh stays in absolute connection to the power of the Spirit.

Tomorrow we will delve deeper still into this by looking at the difference between Adam (The man sin came through) and Jesus (the Man through which righteousness came).

Be Spekky...Be Spectacular!