”The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”“
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭17‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Yesterday, during my #lunchtimedevotions, the Word above came to me as I opened my Bible randomly and read what was already highlighted in green – from many years ago. And so it’s all about whether or not our hearts are clean before a holy God. This as “ the heart is deceitful and beyond cure, and beyond all understanding”.

Later on I would read in the New York Times about this:

Texas state troopers with protesters at the University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday.Credit…Jay Janner/USA Today Network, via Reuters

By J. David Goodman, David Montgomery, Jonathan Wolfe and Jenna Russell

This story was reported on the ground from campuses in Austin, Los Angeles, Boston, Rhode Island, San Antonio and New York.

Published April 24, 2024Updated April 25, 2024, 1:29 a.m. ET

A wave of pro-Palestinian protests spread and intensified on Wednesday as students gathered on campuses around the country, in some cases facing off with the police, in a widening showdown over campus speech and the war in Gaza.

University administrators from Texas to California moved to clear protesters and prevent encampments from taking hold on their own campuses as they have at Columbia University, deploying police in tense new confrontations that already have led to dozens of arrests.

At the same time, new protests continued erupting in places like Pittsburgh and San Antonio. Students expressed solidarity with their fellow students at Columbia, and with a pro-Palestinian movement that appeared to be galvanized by the pushback on other campuses and the looming end of the academic year.

Protesters on several campuses said their demands included divestment by their universities from companies connected to the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, disclosure of those and other investments and a recognition of the continuing right to protest without punishment.

Comment: The challenge , the existential challenge that students, and at one time many of us were in that mode, protesters, and adult also, face is that what they wish to change, the heart, is beyond their cure. And beyond their understanding. For how can you fathom the mindset that would lead to #GenocideinGaza. And #GenocideinGermany during world war 11, when Hitler exterminated 6 million Jews. Or Pol Pot regime in Cambodia, or Stalin’s reign of terror in Russia when millions died. Or Biafra. Or South Africa. And over 1000 murdered every year in Jamaica for years.

No! The problem of changing the hearts of men and women, sinful humanity, is not the gift of protesters, nor “progressive rulers”, but in what the Benedictus announces:

“ Blessed be the Lord God of Israel: for he hath visited and redeemed his people:

And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us: in the house of his servant David. A promise made to the one who God described as “ one after his own heart”. The one who cried out, after #Bathsheba :

”Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.“
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭51‬:‭10‬, ‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

And the Living God, creator of Heaven and earth, Gaza, and Israel, Jamaica and Haiti, who saw the heart of David, forgave him of his terrible and egregious sin. But like all the other great men of God had to :

”These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.“
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭39‬-‭40‬ ‭NIV‬‬.

Only together with us in Christ Jesus.

That’s the background for the Report of the Lord for today.

One that:

”For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”“
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

”For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.“
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭2‬:‭2‬-‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

And the second report rests on this first one. That:

”He must become greater; I must become less.”“
‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭30‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This as those who err, those who are disobedient, those who are tempted to preach “ Jesus and the Cross, plus other things”, those who find meaning and power in anything beyond the cross of Christ, are those who have become in their minds, whether consciously or subconsciously, greater, and Christ has become, in their preaching and in their livity, less and less. Despite their claim to believe in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One God.

And so that kind of Christianity has no power to fight against evil. And change the hearts of broken humanity. And so the land mourns as the children in Gaza, and all over the world suffer and die. Because of unchanged hearts. Thank God for Jesus, we have a remnant in the world, through whom God will effect his power to change the world. According to his purpose and timing ! And then one fine day, cometh The Judgement.

Until then those who preach and live Christ and Him Crucified, as first priority, and seek to become less , and allow the Christ in them to become greater, “ Christ in you the hope of glory”, and not seek glory for themselves , God will use those who repent of their sinful ways, whose hearts God alone sees, and “ change my heart O God, make it truly thine”. For his glory and honor. And use them to heal Gaza, and Israel, and Jamaica and Haiti.

Good and gracious God we beseech to renew thy church with those whose hearts have been washed and purified by the cleansing blood of the Lamb of God, even Jesus Christ and him crucified. Lord renew thy church that the church may renew the nation(s) where hearts which are evil cause pain and grief and no peace.

In obedience

Shalom

LWJ

NEWSLETTER

The Morning

How TikTok Changed Us

The app’s videos have become a fixture in the lives of tens of millions of Americans.

By Sapna Maheshwari

She covers media and technology.

In the coming days, Congress may advance a bill to ban TikTok or force its sale to an American company. Politicians in both parties call the app a threat to national security. But its reach is felt most acutely in our culture. Since it first arrived in the United States in 2018 (after merging with another app), its 15-second gulps of entertainment have become a fixture in the lives of tens of millions of Americans — including those who’ve never opened the app.

The engine that powers this juggernaut is TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, which figures out what users like and populates a customized feed of addictive videos. It’s called the For You Page, or FYP. It was not built to connect people with friends, the way Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat were. It was built to entertain.

…….A few schools have removed bathroom mirrors because so many students were leaving class to film TikTok videos there. These clips constitute “a TikTok genre, dating back at least five years, in which students use school bathrooms as film sets for dance routines, lip-syncing clips or critiques of unclean lavatories,” my colleague Natasha Singer, who covers tech use in schools, writes. School bathrooms have also become “arenas to stage, film and post videos of bullying, physical assaults on schoolmates and acts of vandalism.”

As I opened my iPad to write about what the Lord woke me up at 4:am, exactly, Thursday morning, this article, this very relevant article came up on my screen.

”As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying. When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”“
‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭10‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

A story about how Saul became king, and why Saul became King, and how God rejected Saul in due course. A story about how the children of Israel rejected God and asked for a King – just like the other nations. A story which began in the most ordinary way – a search for donkeys – and which ended up with the revelation that only God can change the hearts of raging, fighting schoolboys. Only God can change hearts. And as we know from the Good Friday and Easter experience “ Christ is Risen indeed”, God in his infinite mercy chose to change hearts in and through the shed blood of His only Son Jesus Christ.

And as I read this remarkable story in the “ dead of night”, into my heart, came this song:

Change my heart O God, make it be like yours:

Change my heart O God , may I be like you

Until I did a search and found the correct lyrics:

Change my heart O God,

Make it ever true

Change my heart oh God

May I be like you

https://youtu.be/cUjUvoynGMM?si=cCJqllRXH9BFM7Nf

…this is what I pray. This is what the church ought to pray. For changed hearts. In the schools – students and teachers. In communities. In homes. In the parliament. In the media. And O God especially in the church. and not just in Jamaica but also in the USA, where once something is popular the whole thing is exported all over the world. And so Tic Tok with all its allure is very current among schoolchildren here in Jamaica – that’s why we have videos of the six days of fighting. And no idea why! Except the reality that hearts need to be changed in this warring country. In warring Israel. In warring Gaza. In warring Iran. In warring Haiti. By soldiers of the defense of the Gospel of Jesus. which is what I was led to read about last night:

WILLIAM BOOTH

“In 1878, thirteen years after the Mission was founded, something happened that would profoundly alter how the organization was known – and how it saw itself. Booth was dictating a letter when his son Bramwell – then twenty two – overheard his father refer to the Mission as a “ volunteer army”.

Bramwell instantly retorted, “ Volunteer! I’m no volunteer. I’m a regular.

William saw the point and instructed his assistant to cross out the word volunteer and substitute the word salvation instead. The line thus read, “ The Christian Mission is a Salvation Army”.

https://youtu.be/BcsDgtI1U4c?si=dcMwQ_3auX8cW1CF

And so when Helen Baylor sings about soldiers of the defense of the Gospel, we as church need to see ourselves as a Salvation Army, spreading and living out the Good News that ( only) Jesus saves. Schoolboys. Teachers. Schoolgirls. And all Tic Tok users. For the glory of God and for the rescuing of the “ entire human race”.

Lord renew that church beginning with me; Lord renew thy church that the church may renew he nation(s) where the quest for entertainment and all costs has caused people to reject he true and Living God of mercy. I was a good girl once. And now I loose. On Tic Toc. In Kingston jamaica.

In obedience

Shalom

LWJ

”It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.“

Romans 9:16 NIV

Last night, after hearing news that one of my young patients, 21, years old, information shared by a grieving mother, had been murdered (over 30 shots) , this Word above was my “ song in the night”. Received according to Oswald Chambers, “ in the flesh and blood of life”.

The context of course was :

”What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.“

Romans 9:14-18 NIV……..God’s mighty act of deliverance of the children of Israel through Moses from Pharaoh, but the Biblical Truth is the same, “ yesterday, today, and forevermore”. That God in Christ Jesus reveals that he is a God of mercy.

Which is the same message I received after listening to a sermon last week by the visiting Primate of Scotland, Bishop Mark. A sermon which included Peter’s encounter with Jesus after the resurrection. And how Peter responded three times ( after having denied him three times) to Jesus’ question “ Do you love me’? And the answer I received was that Peter did not love Jesus only because he had been forgiven of having denied the Christ three times, but listen to this, which is what he actually wrote in his first letter – which I was led to read:

”Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.“

1 Peter 1:1-2 NIV

Note “chosen”, ( the name of a popular series …started watching it but lost interest. after a while ) according to God’s foreknowledge, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood. There is more,much more, but we do not need to go any further to understand the mind of Peter. But perhaps we should, I am being urged:

”Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.“

1 Peter 1:3-6 NIV

Here we come to understand why Peter was committed to “ feed my sheep” and take care of my lambs. Because of the great mercy of God the Father in and through the crucified Jesus; through the resurrected Jesus.

So throughout history, God has been a God of mercy. We need to hold fast to this Truth, in the midst of “ War and Peace”, whatever may come in our lives and in the lives of the church through which Body of Christ, we ought to declare like William Boothe of Salvation Army fame, “ God shall have all of Lucien Jones….all of Vivienne Jones….all of Howard Gregory….all of Georgia Cecile Jervis….all of all of us. To the glory of the God of Jacob. Why? Because by the shed blood of Christ Jesus “ we were bought by the price of blood “, we are no longer our own. But belong completely to the God who in his mercy rescued us from Sin and death and all evil.

Then, and only then, shall Justice, whether reparative or otherwise, one of the themes of Bishop Howard’s Synod charge:

”But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!“

Amos 5:24 NIV…roll on like a river in this country. And in Gaza! And in Haiti. Then and only then will the Anglican and other churches become “ salt and light “ in this nation where “murderers and thieves abound”, because we first, in response to the mercy of God on our lives, commit to bring news of this mercy, this mighty salvation by God in Christ, to all whom we meet.

And so we pray the prayer of the former Decade of Evangelism, which is still waiting to happen:

Lord renew thy church beginning with me; Lord renew thy church that the church may renew the nation(s). With thy mercy!

In obedience

Shalom

LWJ

The First Lesson

Acts 3:12-19

Peter addressed the people, “You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.

“And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.”

Cape Coast Castle, Ghana

Comment: I speak to you my fellow Jamaicans, in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Have you so easily forgotten that our forefathers were slaves, transported from Africa, taken past “ the door of no return’, in slaves ships to the “ New World”. And during which journey, Nina Simone’s haunting song “ I’d rather be a dead and and buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free”, inspired this challenging song by The Gospel Singers……

….and reminds us how many slaves jumped overboard and perished rather than be transported to hell.

Have you so easily forgotten what our former slave forebears when freed by the mighty hand of God, when given “ free villages” by the Baptists in the North, when taught about Jesus in south by the Moravians, taught their children about Puppa Jesus and Massa God” tek de case”. Placed their trust in the living God, and sang “ trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey”.

And so our society became by the grace of God, a Christian society, whose values and attitudes which reflected our belief in a saving God, defined the nation. A people who feared God. A people who gave thanks to God for Jesus in their “livity” and who once celebrated Good Friday and Easter with piety and thanksgiving.

Why then my people have you so easily forgotten what God has done for us, and turned our backs on the mighty salvation wrought for us, on Good Friday at a spiritual level, and which knowledge about freedom inspired our quest for independence. Why have we rejected the values of our forefathers and created broken cisterns, in the society and O Jesus, in the very church, that can hold no water.

”“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.“

Jeremiah 2:13 NIV

Sought to establish a way of life that ignores the Cross of Christ, sought to free ourselves, as church from “ living under the Cross”, and so behave like others who “ don’t even know how to blush”.

O God you know how many of our people joined in open rebellion to a call to be holy as you are holy, participated in the bacchanal on Sunday, celebrating baadness and rejoicing over the earnings of big bucks for the nation. 5 Billion. But with what effects on the morals of the young and impressionable? And then as a society suffering from the effects of murder most foul, and madness and death on our roads, we wonder about the “ hearts of men gone cold”. For out of the hearts of men come all kinds of evil thoughts!

Went for my early morning walk, and others thoughts came to mind, but this one more than all others, for “ the kingdom of God is not about talk, but about power”.

”Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.“

Revelation 2:4-5 NIV

For like church, so the society, as we are the “ salt of the earth “, we have forgotten that of first importance Jesus died for our sins. That’s why we ( ought to ) love him, above all else. For the truth is that Jesus did not come, of first importance, as a crusader for Justice, as a defender of human rights, as a beacon of hope in the struggle to mitigate Climate Change, and to fight for and preserve democracy. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance,of first importance.

”On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”“

Mark 2:17 NIV

When William Wilberforce famously declared that “ God Almighty has set before me two Great Objects, the suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners, he did so only after regaining his “Methodist faith”. The evangelical faith that people like John Wesley and others set in motion by preaching Christ and him crucified in 18th century Britain. Similarly when the young William Boothe of The Salvation Army fame, declared that “ God shall have all there is of William Boothe”, he did so after coming to true faith in the crucified Christ. The point is that the great benefits of Christianity “ the inalienable rights of all mankind”, are derived from God’s mighty salvation for “ all who have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. Broken humanity whose imageo dei, “ made in the likeness and image of God” was not destroyed, but marred in the Fall in the Garden of Eden, thus producing “ Adam’s helpless race”, out of whose hearts flowed all kinds of desires for bacchanal and murder and injustice and the reasons for climate change. And “ such men and women” can only seek justice and love mercy and walk humbly with God, if they first repent and turn to God and become a new creation by the shed blood of Jesus. Our first love! Otherwise we are behaving like Don Quixote – chasing windmills and talking a good talk. With no power ! This as power to change the hearts and souls of men comes only by living under the cross of Christ.

May the God of Jacob have mercy on all who have forgotten their first love, Christ the crucified, risen, ascended and soon coming again as judge, watch for him and not the eclipse, for the living and the dead. Renew us and empower us to call sinners to repentance of first priority. And then all other things will follow!

In obedience

Shalom

LWJ

PS- from the blog on Saturday

I heard the former head of the electoral commission and legendary educator, Professor Errol Miller,  recalling, this week,  his understanding, in a address to the JTA on the occasion of their Diamond Anniversary, of the priority that ordinary Jamaicans had for their children. Over and above passing any exams: Good manners; don’t steal, and don’t judge ( throw stones). Carried live on Nationwide News. Too many parents,  who no longer fear God, as our forefathers did, have thrown those values through the window, and so many in this age have become wild and loose. And therefore not acting for the good of the nation.

The Gospel

Luke 24:36b-48

Jesus himself stood among the disciples and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things

Comment: Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations.

Consider also, in addition to the Gospel reading for next week, this Word from the Epistle:

The Epistle

1 John 3:1-7

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

Comment : See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God

What love, that we should be called children of God? That Christ was revealed to take away sins – Gospel truth.

And as I considered such love, this song came to into my heart, without any help on my part. Only God! It’s been years since I encountered that song. Quite a minute.

1. Such love, pure as the whitest snow;
such love weeps for the shame I know;
such love, paying the debt I owe;
O Jesus, such love.

2. Such love, stilling my restlessness;
such love, filling my emptiness;
such love, showing me holiness;
O Jesus, such love.

3. Such love, springs from eternity;
such love streaming through history;
such love, fountain of life to me;
O Jesus, such love.

The point here is that we have no liberty to speak about the love of God without any reference to the cost that it took for us to fully comprehend that kind of love -agape. A sacrificial love.

Which is the point Paul was getting at many years ago, and his prophetic words, which is why I have been led to write in this fashion this morning, are eerily, being, well, prophetic in this age, when some Christians would have us understand God’s unconditional love, God’s amazing love, without any reference to Sin.

THE WORD OF GOD

”“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.“

Acts 20:22-24 NIV

Comment : what task? “the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” And which grace is God’s unmerited love, grace, in dying for us, in Jesus Christ for our sins- of first priority.

”For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,“

1 Corinthians 15:3 NIV

Paul continues:

”“Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.“

Acts 20:25-27 NIV

Comment : in order to understand fully what Paul meant by being “ innocent of the blood of anyone you, we have to go all the ay back to Ezekiel:

”“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.“

Ezekiel 3:17-18 NIV

So Paul could declare himself “ innocent of the blood of all of you”, because “ I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God”. And what did Jesus say:

”For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”“

John 6:38-40 NIV

Paul continues:

”Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.“

Acts 20:28-32 NIV

Finally all of this finds relevance in one of the most important passages of Scripture:

”And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.“

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NIV

but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.“

Our faith may not rest on human wisdom but on God’s power. And which is why the Lord woke me up last night to read this :

”Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”“

CARNIVAL

YOUNG GIRL AT CHURCH IN MAJESTIC GARDENS

Luke 11:5-13 NIV

Good and gracious Lord, in faith, and in obedience, I pray that we who know about your love in and through the death of your Son Jesus Christ for our many, many sins, may be filled more and more, day by day, by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, so that we can, as a matter of first priority, call people to repentance and to escape from this evil generation, lest we be found, on the last day, to be guilty of the blood of anyone. And then all other things we know Lord will be granted unto us, in and through “ power from on high”. “ To love mercy, to do justice and to walk humbly with you O God. Amen.

In obedience

Shalom

LWJ

I was sitting on a chair at CVMTV. Off camera waiting on the host, Neika Lewis, who was about to go live, reading the teleprompter for the midday news. And I’d be on with her next. Discussing  the shocking news that the night before,  three people, three precious souls, had died in a motor vehicle crash involving three vehicles. And that ten Jamaicans had lost their lives in the first four days of April. When, prompted by the good natured banter between the camera men, this song came into my heart, and I began singing. “

https://youtu.be/dv1vIjdyjO8?si=mp2RlSUS70kCAOCE

I was born a disciplined child. Never knew why I got so wild”. A song from ” back in the day”, when the late great Jacob ” Killer ” Miller, was a big singer. But as I thought about it this morning, as a nation moves from celebrating ” Christ is Risen, he is not here ( in the tomb), to ” I was once a good girl, but now I loose” ( Destra), from Easter to ( the Jamaican version of ) Carnival, Jacob Miller’s insightful lyrics are a metaphor for what’s gone wrong with our nation generally. With spill over effects on how we drive on the roads.

https://youtu.be/FcoPnR7qF9I?si=9RjqxeqX-PpIKFG4

The challenge therefore for the  Christian community,  mandated by ” Christ the King, my everything”, to ” bring light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death”, is no ordinary one. But rather a supernatural one that Jah Rastafari cannot manage, even as they call for a different kind of livity, and ” chant down Babylon ” for ” sucking the blood of the children “. Like a vampire!

( I wonder if the children of Babylon flocking to attend One Love understand what Bob Marley stood for). That no Prime Minister now, nor anyone calling for ” Time Come”, nor a bright new,  and for whom much is expected, Commissioner of Police, can manage either. Last night I heard on RJR’s Beyond the Headlines featuring another song from back in the day, which brought back pleasant memories. ” Killing me softly with his song”, by Robertha Flack. And this morning it came to me that until, and unless, as a people,  our consciences are disturbed, ” killing me softly ” in a whole new way, by Mahalia Jackson’s challenging lyrics, ” were you there when they crucified my Lord”, and then we ” tremble, tremble”, and repent of being ” so wild, and ” I loose”, then not only will the carnage on the roads continue but also ” bloodshed following bloodshed”.

https://youtu.be/3ji7eP7k8cA?si=RzHZ5hxACao5jSjJ

As prophesied by the Prophet Micah. Why? Because the New Testament update is that ” Where there is no vision, where there is no belief in Jesus the  crucified One, the people perish. In Jamaica, in Gaza ( the real one,  not the Kartel version in Portmore, but there also) in Israel, in Haiti. Forver! That’s what the Bible teaches. And no voice on TVJ, nor CVM, nor CNN, nor RJR ( acting for the good of the nation)  nor Irie FM, nor Nationwide News, nor on Social Media, can compete with any Word from the living God. This as I concluded a very useful and pleasant discussion with a Jehovah’s yesterday at work, by words which the Lord placed in my heart. ” The Kingdom of God is not about talk, but about power”. To make all things new! In and through Christ alone. On the roads and in our hearts. Glory to God. No! No reference to any letter to my church today. This is sufficient. Killing me softly indeed. A new way to understand what the Holy Spirit does when we are convicted of Sin. And no longer ” loose”. And get on ” baad”.

https://t.co/laO7bN8RUo

Wherever and whenever. Because ” I sought the  Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from every sin. And Destra! And Kartel. And ( dunce) Valiant. Oh Jamaica ” Taste and see that the Lord is good”. Never fail anyone yet. And will never. Which is how we should understand Calvary. #FaithfulGod.  The video below from Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir says it all. I sought the Lord and he answered me. Mercy Lord. Have mercy on my country.
https://youtu.be/DfW2mkkMTAg?si=Cb7XdE6BKiNNQNYR

The First Lesson

Acts 3:1-10

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him

The Collect

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

or

Psalm 118:19-24

Confitemini Domino

19 Open for me the gates of righteousness; *
I will enter them;
I will offer thanks to the Lord.

20 “This is the gate of the Lord; *
he who is righteous may enter.”

21 I will give thanks to you, for you answered me *
and have become my salvation.

22 The same stone which the builders rejected *
has become the chief cornerstone.

23 This is the Lord’s doing, *
and it is marvelous in our eyes.

24 On this day the Lord has acted; *
we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Easter at Saint Andrew Anglican Church in Kingston Jamaica

Comment: One thing led to another as I read the passage above for Wednesday in Easter Week. A familiar story told time and time again. “ Silver and gold have I none “ is firmly etched in our memories, using the KJV, from when we were, children, “ but in the name of Jesus get up and walk”. Walk right in the church and praise God. Walk right not the church every Sunday morning, celebrating Easter, without ceasing. What a celebration, what a joy should be in the heart of every Christian, not just on a Sunday morning, but particularly so, as we meet together to “ break bread together”. And experience the Lord with us in a special way, revealing Himself to us through the breaking of bread. Hallelujah, Hallelujah indeed. Moved by the spirit of celebration I went searching for a jazzed up version of the Hallelujah Chorus, I heard on Easter morning coming home from church,but could not find it. But the Psalmist provides words of eternal praise for us:

19 Open for me the gates of righteousness; *
I will enter them;
I will offer thanks to the Lord.

20 “This is the gate of the Lord; *
he who is righteous may enter.”

21 I will give thanks to you, for you answered me *
and have become my salvation.

22 The same stone which the builders rejected *
has become the chief cornerstone.

23 This is the Lord’s doing, *
and it is marvelous in our eyes.

24 On this day the Lord has acted; *
we will rejoice and be glad in it.

For “ on this day the Lord has acted”. Two thousand years ago, the Lord acted, and we shall celebrate for the rest of our lives. Hallelujah! The “ same stone which the world has rejected has become the chef corner stone”. The chief corner stone that the world continues to reject, is the foundation of our renewed relationship with a loving merciful Father. Not even Covid could prevent us from “ open for me the doors of the church, and I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. Worship Him in Spirit and Truth. Hallelujah indeed. Even when :

”Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.“

Habakkuk 3:17-18 NIV

Even when murder most foul is being committed daily in my country, even when corruption and iniquity feature daily on national TV, and have mercy, creep into the church of the crucified for sin Jesus, I will rejoice and be glad on this day. Thank God for Jesus indeed. Every minute of the day.

I close. Close with words from John Stott the great theologian, appointed by God to reveal his truth.

THE CROSS OF CHRIST

SECTION – LIVING UNDER THE CROSS

CHAPTER – THE COMMUNITY OF CELEBRATION

This intimate relationship to God, which has replaced the old and painful estrangement, has several characteristics.

First it is marked by boldness

…….The second characteristic of our new relationship with God is love………….

Joy is a third mark of those who have been redeemed by the cross…..the early Christians could hardly contain themselves : they shared their meals together “ with unaffected joy”.

Boldness, love and joy are not to be thought of as purely private and interior experiences, however; they are to distinguish our public worship. The brief time we spend together ( please come back to church) on the Lord’s Day, far from being divorced from the rest of our life, is intended to bring it into sharp focus. Humbly ( as sinners) yet boldly ( as forgiven sinners), we press into God’s presence, responding to his loving initiative with an answering love of our own. And not only worshipping him with musical instruments, but articulating our joy in songs of praise……The Christian community is a community of celebration.

For salvation!

Healing Conference

Father God, we beseech thee to renew our church beginning me and all of us whose joy is the Lord, for the mighty salvation wrought on Calvary; O God renew the church that the church may renew the nation(s).

In obedience

Shalom

LWJ

The First Lesson

Acts 2:36-41

Peter said to the multitude, “Let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.

Easter Sunday at Saint Andrew Anglican Parish Church in Kingston Jamaica

Comment: This morning as I read ( i was tempted to skip this week and go right to the reading for next Sunday) the passage above, for Tuesday in Easter Week, I wondered about the fate of the Jews. And the thought did not originate in my soul but was placed there earlier as I prayerfully read, again, The Benedictus; especially “ To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadows death. In the sense that what John the Baptist was called to do, is what the entire nation called out by God, was purposed to do – to give glory to God, and to carry the Good News of the mighty salvation of Jesus to the entire world. That was their purpose in life on earth! And by extension, we who are the Judeo-Christian church, are called out, and purposed, to be witnesses to the Risen Christ, in all the world. For the glory of God!

So back to the Jews, and the 3000 person whose conscience were “ pricked “ by the Word of God preached by Peter, and who in turn cried out “ what shall we do”? And the answer was not : vote for this party; make sure to provide the best education for your children; make sure to put up cameras all over your home, inside and outside; buy the name brand and not the “ knock off one”, ask for the brand name medication and not the generic one; purchase 87 gas for your car and don’t waste money buying E-90; make sure you add Dubai to your “ bucket list for traveling “ and don’t forget to book the flight with Emirates; don’t bring any knotty head boy nor bleach faced boy, or tattooed girl in my house #wrongmove; you cannot wear pants suit to church, nor make up too much noise and attract attention to yourself in church, nor “ get in the spirit”; make sure you dont buy no yeng yeng bike, you going to kill your self on it, plus de mek too much noise; you cannot play any dance hall music in my house, no “ sketel” ; reggae music in church, you mad!

But what Peter told the early church, about to be formed, had nothing to do with the cares of this world, and the desires of modern man, but rather, the eternal message for all mankind, all of Adam’s helpless race, all of broken humanity ever since the Fall in the Garden of Eden – “Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

And : “And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation”.

So we need to understand and appreciate and live our lives accordingly, that there are two kinds of people in this world. Those who have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, and “ the corrupt generation, who sit in darkness and are in the shadow of death”. Regardless of how huge or how small their light bill is at the end of the month. Regardless of whether they live #wrongadresses or in Beverley Hills California or Jamaica.

Organized religion, mandates the holding of Synods and Conventions and all kinds of Assemblies. Useful, very useful and important, but what did the Lord lay on my heart this morning? Not my Anglican Church, even though I pray without ceasing for renewal. Not my brothers and sisters in the Baptist, or Methodist, or United, or Roman Catholic, or Pentecostal or Church of God,or SDA, or many other denominations scattered across the island. And yes we pray for each other, I hope, without ceasing. But who the Lord brought to my attention for prayer this morning, are the people for whom Paul cried out:

”Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.“

Romans 10:1-4 NIV

Remember now, that we began with the 3000 Jews who were “ saved”. So Paul is not travailing on his knees for them, for they formed the nucleus of the early church to which numbers God “ added daily”. But for the rest of the Israelites who did not believe. And who up to this day still do not believe in Jesus the Risen One!

Do they then fall into the category of “this corrupt generation”? But of course, for that’s how Peter described them. From day one! 100% as the young people would say.

Then what shall we make of this revelation!

”I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.“

Romans 11:25-32 NIV

I close with a Word the stayed with me, and explains all of what I was led to write about, in limited and perhaps introductory way, as there is more to this story, including:

”I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.“

Romans 11:1-6 NIV

And this is the Word:

”It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.“

Romans 9:16-18 NIV

And the session with God ended in this fashion:

”Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.“

Romans 11:33-36 NIV

Aid workers killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza

The point here that the God we serve is a mysterious God indeed. And recall that Jesus came first to the Jews, to the children of Israel. And so as it was in the beginning, so shall it be at the end of the ages. In the sense that what happens to Israel for the rest of the history of mankind, will shape what will happen to the rest of this world. This corrupt generation which now includes Israel and is the cause of so much grief and pain in the world. A people living in darkness who will one day see The Great Light who is Jesus, according to how obedient we as Church will be. So when Israel turns back to God then who knows what will happen. We do well then to hold our conventions, attend our Synods, pursue Constitutional change, help the weak, seek the stray, bind up the wounded, celebrate milestones, help Haiti, pray for the children in Gaza, but in particular like Paul:

Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For the glory of God and for the salvation of this corrupt generation.

In obedience

Shalom

LWJ

The First Lesson

Acts 2:14,22b-32

Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed the multitude, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know– this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says concerning him,

`I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;

therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
moreover my flesh will live in hope.

For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One experience corruption.

You have made known to me the ways of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

“Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying ,

`He was not abandoned to Hades,
nor did his flesh experience corruption.’

This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.

Comment: I invite you, as I inspired was to do, to pay particular attention to the end of one of the reading for Monday in Easter week above ;

“This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.”

Then consider this other response, filled with all the redundancy of evil that the devil could muster, and which version of the events of Easter, haunts the Jews to this very day, and has contributed, in particular, and in part only, to their non-belief in Jesus as Messiah – with tragic consequences for them and their neighbors, especially in Gaza.

The Gospel

Matthew 28:9-15

Jesus met Mary Magdalene and the other Mary and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You must say, `His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day.

Comment : “And this story is still told among the Jews to this day.”

Question is what and who are we witnesses to, in this age? As church. As a Judeo-Christian church! It’s great and wonderful to celebrate and sing “ He is Risen, He is not here”, in church yesterday, as we all did, but to what are we witnessing 24/7, week after week, and year after year, with our, what the Rastaman calls “ livity”.

Gaza devastated by Israeli forces

We know, we know tragically, who Israel is not witnessing to in Gaza. But that’s because they have, until this day, not accepted Jesus as the Messiah. And so they justify their wicked actions in Gaza, after the equally wicked, but proportionately less heinous action by Hamas, as “ defending themselves”. And the world looks on, including elements of the church, and declare that Israel has “ the right to defend itself”. By committing genocide! In whose name? Not the God of Abraham. Not the God of Jacob. Not the God and Father of our “ Saviour of the world”.

THE WORD OF GOD

I close with this train of thought as inspired by the Holy Spirit. Yesterday, during his sermon, our Rector, posed, and answered, the question, in the context of speaking the power of the Living God,” who raised Jesus from the dead”? God, he said. And immediately into my mind came this passage of Scripture:

”For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.“

Ephesians 1:15-21 NIV

“and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead “.

My friends in Christ Jesus, this is the power we have to witness to the mercy and grace and love, and yes, the wrath when necessary, and always in the context of disobedience – to the max, of the God we serve in Christ Jesus. But note, and this only came as I went home and in obedience read the passage, that Paul writes “ I keep asking”. Let us then be in believing prayer, and Spirit filled and Spirit-led action, without ceasing, so that the power of God may “ open the hearts” of men and women to the mercy of God in Christ, and convict, “prick their consciences”, unbelievers of sin, so that they repent, and believe the Gospel and escape from this dead way of life, this ungodly life. We need to have patience as Moses did with Pharaoh, whose heart the God of Abraham hardened for “ His glory”. But we need to be assured that in Christ we already have the victory, and that in the fullness of time, this same God, will rescue this nation from crime and violence and wickedness plus tax, that we are experiencing without ceasing and without relief every day. Pray for Israel too, that they may come to faith. And Haiti, that they may escape the consequences of syncretism – trying to worship both God and “ spirits” #vodoo and Gaza and wider Palestine that they come to know the God of Jacob. The one true and Living God and his Son the Messiah, the only mediator between a holy God and sinful mankind. The second Adam!

Lord renew thy church with your mighty power beginning with me, and all who believe in your Son, the Crucified and Risen and Ascended One and soon coming again one; Lord we beseech thee without ceasing to renew thy church so that the church may renew this nation(s) in whose people Satan has entered. And it is night! Midnight in the USA and in Gaza, and Haiti and Jamaica. Let our light then shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify you, our Father in heaven.

In obedience

Shalom

LWJ