Sunday 13 November 2016

Christ is enough

Jesus has defeated Satan once and for all and just like David we have a bag of stones and a sling shot. Stones of worship, the Word of God are those stones that we use every day to encourage us

Source: Knowing Jesus
On Sunday September 18th 2016 we had the blessing of a guest speaker and his wife at MCF Life Church in Meriden. This service is available to listen to free on our website (Link). The service began with the guest speaker’s wife blessing the Body of Christ by declaring that ‘Christ is enough’ Amen. She talked about being effective for God’s kingdom and about our contribution in harvesting lost souls for God. This confirmed for me the importance of getting to know Christ more deeply every single day. I can draw closer to God by studying His Word and to have the Word of God on my lips like honey; Psalm 119:103 ‘How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!’ Amen.

The guest speaker began the service by looking at the giant Nephilim and the wickedness on the earth at that time; Genesis 6:4 ‘The Nephilim were on the earth in those days - and also afterward - when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown’. I choose to read on a little further to Genesis 6:6 where God’s Word tells that as human beings we broke God’s heart; ‘The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled’. For me this is such a sad scripture, it is painful for me to think about breaking the heart of God Almighty. The guest speaker then went on to consider Noah, who had found favour with the Lord because he was a righteous man; Genesis 6:8 ‘But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD’. The story of Noah was very briefly touched upon where it was explained that those who claim Jesus as their Lord and Saviour represent those inside the boat, those who are saved. Amen.

Source: St. Timothy Lutheran Church
For me the service became really exciting when the speaker spoke about the Nephilim giants being destroyed at the time of the flood and yet 1000 years later they re-appeared in the land of Canaan (God’s promised land to Abraham); A little earlier in Numbers 13:1-3 twelve scouts had been sent out to survey the land who later returned with a report of giants (Nephilim); Numbers 13:28 ‘But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there’. Out of the twelve scouts only two, Joshua and Caleb gave a good report and in Numbers 13:30 claimed, ‘We can certainly conquer the land’ and confirmed this in Numbers 14:9 ...the Lord is with us so don’t be afraid of them….’.   The other ten scouts disagreed; Numbers 13:31 ‘We cannot go against them! They are stronger than we are’ and as a result of the Israelite's disobedience and lack of faith they had to remain in the wilderness for forty years instead of forty days. Numbers 14:29-30 explains how God punished the Israelite's, telling them that they would not enter the land that God had promised, with the exception of anyone younger than 20 years old and Joshua and Caleb; ‘You will all drop dead in this wilderness! Because you complained against me, every one of you who is twenty years old or older and was included in the registration will die. You will not enter and occupy the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun'. The ten men who incited the rebellion against the Lord with their bad report were stuck down with a plague;  Numbers 14:36-38 ‘The ten men Moses had sent to explore the land—the ones who incited rebellion against the LORD with their bad report — were struck dead with a plague before the LORD. Of the twelve who had explored the land, only Joshua and Caleb remained alive’.

The speaker then went on to discuss David’s victory over the giant Goliath. I am going to assume that readers of this blog know of this incredible victory and I will therefore move on to discuss the mighty blessing of the ministry, but please take the time to read this well know scripture again in 1 Samuel 17. Firstly David (like Celeb and Joshua the two scouts mentioned earlier) had absolutely no doubt that God would win the victory and he (David) would be used as an obedient vessel by God to kill Goliath. David speaks boldly to Goliath, full of confidence and authority; 1 Samuel 17:45 ‘You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies’. Secondly David had to use his slingshot, he had to take action, and then God directed the stone. Thirdly, David had to finish the job and cut off the head of Goliath who was from Gath and then take it to Jerusalem.

The speaker went on to explain that the head of Goliath was then taken and buried on Calvary (also known as Golgotha which translates to ’the place of the skull’ (Matthew 27:33) and the significance of Jesus being crucified on Calvary was to show His ultimate victory over the enemy, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 ‘..He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel’. As the nail was being driven through the one being crucified the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 was partially being fulfilled; ‘strike his heel’. The remainder of the prophecy was fulfilled as Jesus was lifted above the ground, the place of the skull, crushing the head of Satan. Jesus was literally in a position over his enemies, over the giants of evil. Amen. Doesn’t that just make you want to shout ‘Hallelujah’ and get up and dance?

Jesus has defeated Satan once and for all and like David we have a bag of stones and a sling shot. Stones of worship, the Word of God are those stones that we use every day to encourage us and remind us that God is the:

          Shepherd that guides us,
          The Lord who provides,
          The Voice that brings peace to the storm,
          The Physician to the sick,
          The Banner that guides us in battle,
          He is our loving Father who adores each one of us. Amen

Come on brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, just like Joshua, Caleb and David let us claim in all authority that; 1 John 4:4 ‘the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world’ and Romans 8:31 ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’

Remember the devil roams around us like a roaring lion just waiting to devour us (1 Peter 5:8). We are at war so prepare for the battle and always keep God’s full armour of protection on (Ephesians 6:13-17). Always remember that the battle is already won. Amen.

The title of this blog claims that Christ is enough, but like the Samaritan woman who ran to tell the people (John 4:28) I also want to run to tell the whole world that Christ is more than enough, He is my everything and I adore him. Amen.

Peace be with you all and God Bless.


Author: Christina O’Neill

May God bless and enrich your life

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4 comments:

  1. Thank you for this wonderful article. Jesus has defeated satan, ONCE AND FOR ALL. There are no giants in our lives that we cannot overcome because we have Jesus in our lives. As the scripture in the article reminds us 'the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world’ Praise God.

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  2. Thanks Tina for the encouraging words today that we all may be a David that carry a bag of stones and sling to defeat the enemy and also caleb and Joshua who speak the truth in believe that we can take the land by faith

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  3. What an encouraging and uplifting blog. To think we like Joshua, Caleb and David can slay the giants in our lives. Jesus is our great commander and we are the army of God, overcommers and victorious. Let's continue to trust God as He takes us into our promised land.

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  4. thank you for this encouraging blog. Reminding us how we can trust God to keep his promises and complete through us what he has given us to do? through the desert and storms of life . Noah got on with the job God had set before him while it was God who sorted out the rest and it was God who closed the door? you can feel the heart felt passion for God coming across while you read this . it will be a great blessing to many who read it . Thank you sister xx

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