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Showing posts from July, 2020

You're blessed when...

Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 31/7/2020 Text: Matthew 5:1-12 (Message Bible) [1](1-2) When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said: [3]"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. [4]"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. [5]"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought. [6]"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat. [7]"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-f

Establishing unwavering belief.

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 30/7/2020 Please read carefully, it might as well be the most important Spirit Breakfast I've shared so far this year... Text: 2 Timothy 1:12 (King James Version) For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. All over the globe we see many leaving the faith. Many rejecting God and His Son. Many are shunning the Christ in the name of enlightenment and illumination. This trend seems to be prevalent with the younger generation. They are a class of people who haven't been able to balance the truth of what they've been taught and the realities of life. Many of these individuals were believers from infancy, children of devoted believers, children of pastors and spiritual leaders, some of them even held offices in the body of Christ, and some were even pastors. When I see such devia

Temptation comes from our desires

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 29/7/2020 Text: James 1:12-18 (Message Bible) [12]Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. [13](13-15) Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer. [16](16-18) So, my very dear friends, don't get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown

Profiting from challenges

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 28/7/2020 Text: James 1:2-8 (Message Bible) [2](2-4) Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. [5](5-8) If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open. Have a graced day... #SpiritBreakfast™ #TestimonyTuesday™ #PastorMuve™ #power #profit #tests #challenges #trials #faith #patience #perfection #wisdom #ask #believe

Shout praises to God

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 27/7/2020 Text: Psalms 97:1-12 (Message Bible) [1]God rules: there's something to shout over! On the double, mainlands and islands—celebrate! [2]Bright clouds and storm clouds circle 'round him; Right and justice anchor his rule. [3]Fire blazes out before him, Flaming high up the craggy mountains. [4]His lightnings light up the world; Earth, wide-eyed, trembles in fear. [5]The mountains take one look at God And melt, melt like wax before earth's Lord. [6]The heavens announce that he'll set everything right, And everyone will see it happen—glorious! [7](7-8) All who serve handcrafted gods will be sorry— And they were so proud of their ragamuffin gods! On your knees, all you gods—worship him! And Zion, you listen and take heart! Daughters of Zion, sing your hearts out: God has done it all, has set everything right. [9]You, God, are High God of the cosmos, Far, far higher than any of the gods. [10]God loves all who ha

Think of yourself the way Jesus thought of Himself

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 25/7/2020 Text: Philippians 2:1-11 (Message Bible) [1](1-4) If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. [5](5-8) Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the st1atus of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incr

The Good Shepherd

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 24/7/2020 Text: John 10:11-18 (Message Bible) [11](11-13) "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. . A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He's only in it for the money. The sheep don't matter to him. [14](14-18) "I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They'll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life. And so I am free to take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own fre

Throw stones only if you are sinless

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 23/7/2020 Text: John 8:3-11 (Message Bible) [3](3-6) The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?" They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him. [6](6-8) Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, "The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone." Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt. [9](9-10) Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?" [11]"No one, Master." "Neither do I,"

Christ holds all things together

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 21/7/2020 Text: Colossians 1:15-20 (Message Bible) [15](15-18) We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. [18](18-20) He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get pro

Live by the royal rule

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 20/7/2020 Text: James 2:1-13 (Message Bible) [1](1-4) My dear friends, don't let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith. If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, "Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!" and either ignore the street person or say, "Better sit here in the back row," haven't you segregated God's children and proved that you are judges who can't be trusted? [5](5-7) Listen, dear friends. Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the world's down-and-out as the kingdom's first citizens, with full rights and privileges. This kingdom is promised to anyone who loves God. And here you are abusing these same citizens! Isn't it the high and mighty who exploit you, who use the courts to rob you blind? Aren't th

Give up all to know Christ

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 18/7/2020 Text: Philippians 3:1-10 (Message Bible) [1]And that's about it, friends. Be glad in God! I don't mind repeating what I have written in earlier letters, and I hope you don't mind hearing it again. Better safe than sorry—so here goes. [2](2-6) Steer clear of the barking dogs, those religious busybodies, all bark and no bite. All they're interested in is appearances—knife-happy circumcisers, I call them. The real believers are the ones the Spirit of God leads to work away at this ministry, filling the air with Christ's praise as we do it. We couldn't carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it—even though we can list what many might think are impressive credentials. You know my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God's law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting the churc

Avoid sexual sins

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 17/7/2020 Text: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (Message Bible) [12]Just because something is technically legal doesn't mean that it's spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I'd be a slave to my whims. [13]You know the old saying, "First you eat to live, and then you live to eat"? Well, it may be true that the body is only a temporary thing, but that's no excuse for stuffing your body with food, or indulging it with sex. Since the Master honors you with a body, honor him with your body! [14](14-15) God honored the Master's body by raising it from the grave. He'll treat yours with the same resurrection power. Until that time, remember that your bodies are created with the same dignity as the Master's body. You wouldn't take the Master's body off to a whorehouse, would you? I should hope not. [16](16-20) There's more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spi

How to discipline sexual immorality in the body of Christ

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 16/7/2020 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 (Message Bible) [1](1-2) I also received a report of scandalous sex within your church family, a kind that wouldn't be tolerated even outside the church: One of your men is sleeping with his stepmother. And you're so above it all that it doesn't even faze you! Shouldn't this break your hearts? Shouldn't it bring you to your knees in tears? Shouldn't this person and his conduct be confronted and dealt with? [3](3-5) I'll tell you what I would do. Even though I'm not there in person, consider me right there with you, because I can fully see what's going on. I'm telling you that this is wrong. You must not simply look the other way and hope it goes away on its own. Bring it out in the open and deal with it in the authority of Jesus our Master. Assemble the community—I'll be present in spirit with you and our Master Jesus will be present in power. Hold this man's conduct up to publi

Those who know God keep His commandments

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 15/7/2020 1 John 2:2-11 (Message Bible) [2](2-3) Here's how we can be sure that we know God in the right way: Keep his commandments. [4](4-6) If someone claims, "I know him well!" but doesn't keep his commandments, he's obviously a liar. His life doesn't match his words. But the one who keeps God's word is the person in whom we see God's mature love. This is the only way to be sure we're in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived. [7](7-8) My dear friends, I'm not writing anything new here. This is the oldest commandment in the book, and you've known it from day one. It's always been implicit in the Message you've heard. On the other hand, perhaps it is new, freshly minted as it is in both Christ and you—the darkness on its way out and the True Light already blazing! [9](9-11) Anyone who claims to live in God's light and hates a brother or s

Walk in God's Light

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 14/7/2020 Text: 1 John 1:5-10 (Message Bible) [5]This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there's not a trace of darkness in him. [6](6-7) If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we're obviously lying through our teeth—we're not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God's Son, purges all our sin. [8](8-10) If we claim that we're free of sin, we're only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we've never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A

History is a teacher

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞🍵 13/7/2020 Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-14 (Message Bible) [1](1-5) Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea. They went through the waters, in a baptism like ours, as Moses led them from enslaving death to salvation life. They all ate and drank identical food and drink, meals provided daily by God. They drank from the Rock, God's fountain for them that stayed with them wherever they were. And the Rock was Christ. But just experiencing God's wonder and grace didn't seem to mean much—most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased. [6](6-10) The same thing could happen to us. We must be on guard so that we never get caught up in wanting our own way as they did. And we must not turn our religion into a circus as they did—"First the people partied, then they threw a dance." We must not be sexua

Shut out the world

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Spirit Breakfast 🍞☕ 9/7/2020 Text: 2 Kings 4:3-5 (Message Bible) (3-4) "Here's what you do," said Elisha. "Go up and down the street and borrow jugs and bowls from all your neighbors. And not just a few—all you can get. Then come home and lock the door behind you, you and your sons. Pour oil into each container; when each is full, set it aside." (5-6) She did what he said. She locked the door behind her and her sons; as they brought the containers to her, she filled them. When all the jugs and bowls were full, she said to one of her sons, "Another jug, please." He said, "That's it. There are no more jugs." Then the oil stopped. One of the problems of many believers is listening a lot to what the world is saying. We fix our hearts and minds on the events surrounding us that we forget and neglect what the Word is saying. This prophet's wife in our anchor text had a poblem and came to Elisha for help. The man of God gave he