Scripture: John 10 v 33 - 36: "The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?"
The words above were spoken by Jesus which makes them doubly profound. Especially the words, "the scripture cannot be broken". Jesus is stating that the Holy Bible is sealed, protected, solid as gold, truth.
Not a truth that can be debated. Not a truth you can select the bits you like and discard the rest. No, it is linked to the words in John 14 v 6: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Jesus is THE TRUTH! The whole truth and nothing but the truth. He is called The Word, and so is the Bible. Every word in the Bible is manifested in the person of Jesus Christ and He is made manifest from the first words of Genesis to the final Amen of Revelation.
Revelation 1 v 11 - 13: "Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle."
He declares to John, I am the Alpha and Omega. That's the whole A to Z of the Greek alphabet. We can change or omit nothing from the Bible as He is the sum of perfection.
We may know this in our minds but we need to know that this same Jesus is joined to us in our hearts, in our spirits. We are one with the Godhead, a new Creation, that does not belong on this Earth. Oh we try to fit in, conform to its ways, but the satisfaction is fleeting.
In the depth of our beings is the quest to know Jesus more than we know Him through reading the Bible. It's when we receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit that we begin to reach a new height or spiritual stature. The Holy Spirit is our Teacher, and when we are saturated in the Holy Spirit baptism, we start to have our eyes opened.
We need to be bold and adventurous. Immediately it is like being dropped in a strange new country. New Language, speaking in tongues, and entering into His presence, invited to explore. There are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, nine of them. Never despise or reject them. They are silver, gold and diamonds, treasures that grow and appreciate in value over time.
There are hidden depths to the gifts of the Holy Spirit that enhance our abilities to pray and minister effectively. There is no legal restraint to how far we can reach. The Lord loves us to be bold and creative as we move in Spirit using His gifts. The outcomes are unique to every person, but if we never explore and try new things we will be none the wiser.
Matthew 25 v 14 - 19: "For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them."
Let us consider that these talents may refer to skills obtained in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The man who had five talents successfully increased them to double their value, as did the man who had two. The man who only had one buried his talent and never used it.
When it was time to do the accounting let us see what happened.
Matthew 25 v 22 -26: "He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:"
The people who had five or two talents that used them to profit the Kingdom of God were rewarded and praised. Those who buried their gift and never used it were rebuked.
The heart's desire of Jesus Christ is that those who follow Him use every means at their disposal to reach and save the lost, the world, our families, friends, neighbours, strangers in elevators, people in hospital, beggars in the street, lords and ladies, kings and queens.
There was a dear sister whom the Lord sent to Tokyo, Japan, to save souls. She couldn't speak Japanese, and those people are very hard to reach with the gospel. She lived in a large high rise apartment and spent her days riding the elevator. She helped the elderly, carried their shopping bags, made them tea. She helped mothers with children, always smiling and gentle.
Eventually, they came to depend on her. She gave them New Testaments. They invited her to visit with them and one by one she brought them into God's Kingdom.
Many Christians went to work on the kibbutzes in Israel. There were not permitted to share the gospel but they won the hearts of many Jews with their love, humility, peace, joy and self-control. They would see how different Christians were, and were drawn to Jesus through the way they behaved.
Are we willing to go the extra mile, or do that which seems menial, to draw people to our Blessed Saviour. We do not need to have riches in the bank to reach out to a neighbour in trouble. We just need to be alert and willing to give them the time and use it wisely.
Souls are saved by the word of our testimony. Telling people what Jesus has done for us. The healing, or timely blessing, or answered prayer that turned your life around. Someone who told you that Jesus loves you, when you felt alone and vulnerable. Someone who sent a Bible verse that opened your eyes. Someone who shared this blog with their contacts.
I used to publish a Christian diary in the 90's before cell phones, etc. Some people ordered one with their name in gold letters on the cover. One lady had backsliding between ordering and receiving her diary. There were daily scripture verses which she covered to avoid reading the word. She could not give the diary away as it had her name on it. One day the cover slipped off and the scripture she read turned her life around. She was so excited she called me to thank me. Praise the Lord for scripture that cannot be broken.
It's the little things that grab the attention. My attention was grabbed by a telephone call from a woman in the same maternity home as I was. She said she had recently met Jesus as her Saviour, and that He had helped her with knitting a sweater for a very obese man. He had told her exactly how many stitches to put on the needle. The sweater fitted perfectly.
That night I lay awake totally amazed that Jesus cared so much about her and the obese man that He gave her the number of stitches for her to knit. It brought me to Jesus. I had been born again a few years before but had not made any progress until that testimony motivated me.
Then there was Alf who never shared his salvation with people around him. He had a dream about the Rapture. He was rising with all the other saints but he could hear the cries of people left behind, Alf, why didn't you tell us? It did not motivate him but it had a profound effect upon me. Go tell everybody that the Kingdom of God has come. The Scripture cannot be broken.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we see how quickly war, pandemics, diseases, accidents, earthquakes can take the lives of unsuspecting people, and Lord not all are saved. This is not Your fault, but ours. Your Word says we must tell everyone about Jesus and His salvation. It's not up to us to pick and choose those to tell. Help us, o Lord, to start today to make up for lost time. In Jesus' name. Amen.