🔰 *WORD4TODAY* 🔰

*Ezekiel 16:9 MSG*
I gave you a good bath, washing off all that old blood, and anointed you with aromatic oils.
Ezekiel 16:11 I adorned you with jewelry: I placed bracelets on your wrists, fitted you out with a necklace,

Really don't know how to describe this foolish text from an online loan merchant.?.

They sent me this annoying text just now.?

"Debtor with name xxxxxxxx 08162126479 who used you as a referee to get a loan, has been acting fraudulent with a repayment and is hereby wanted by

the company's taskforce. please do inform him that failure to make payment of the loan will result in arrest, and a litigation will be filed against him."

The fellow USED ME as a REFEREE and I am unaware of being USED..

The debtor, I don't even know, probably a random Facebook

friend. I struck out his name, but deliberately left his number for him to see.

This is what you get when you decide to operate with foolishness as one of your core values.

Why I should be involved in loan recovery is what I find extremely difficult to comprehend.

Results of Secret Sin.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, loved practical jokes.
Once he sent a telegram to each of 12 friends.

All were men of great virtue and respected in society.
The telegram said, "Flee at once, your secret is discovered!"

Within 24 hours, the story goes, all twelve had left  the country!
There may be some playful exaggeration here, but the
point is usually true that many people, including
Christians, are not what they seem to be.

James 1:15 "Then after our desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death."

SIN GROWS.
Sin always takes you further than you wanted to go.
Sin Cost you more than you want to pay,
Sin keep you longer than you want to stay.

In a conservative southern church (name withheld) , the pastor's wife found pornography on her husband's computer. After confronting him with the evidence, he admitted downloading d images off d internet, even using d computer in his study which was located in d church itself. .

In another bible-believing church not far from my home, a Christian businessman sought investment capital from other Christian individuals & businesses. He promised to invest d money in new Christian enterprises & promised a high rate of return on their money.  Alas, however,

🔰 WORD4TODAY🔰

Esther 2:2 MSG
the king's young attendants stepped in and got the ball rolling:"Let's begin a search for beautiful young virgins for d king.

Here, there was an occasion.
An open vacancy.👇🏼

👉🏼A void, only God could fill.
👉🏼A void, only God wld handpick & fill in

👉🏼The king's young attendants stepped in and got d ball rolling:

Unknown to anyone, God was already working behind d scenes.

👉🏼When the young attendant stepped in & got d ball rolling, no one knew where d "ball" was going to stop.

👇🏼Alas, the "ball" *stopped* at Esther's feet

*This New Year;*
👉🏼You will not lack a voice in the "palace"

👉🏼You will not lack men and women who will do the work for you...All you will do, is step in and sit on the throne.
👇🏼
Today, things will be set in motion that will eventually advance you to greatness.
👇🏼

A SHORT EXHORTATION, this 1st Day of August.

Theme -A FRESH START.

Today can mark the day God gave you a fresh start..

It can mark the day you had a new beginning and have you celebrating this 1st day of August as a memorial for the rest of your life.

For sure, everyone desires a break from 1 thing or d other, a respite from disappointments, setbacks. That break is called a FRESH START.

We all desire a fresh lease of life from all that has been unpleasant.

1 Sam 7:12b MSG
saying,"This marks d place where God helped us."

This day too can mark d day God Indeed MARVELOUSLY HELPED you

1st STEP

1. Psalms 18:20 God made my life complete WHEN I PLACED ALL d PIECES b4 HIM.WHEN I GOT MY ACT TOGETHER,He gave me a fresh start

A. Place all d pieces b4 Him
B. Get your acts 2geda & quit sulking & whinning

2.
Psalms 32:1 MSG
Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be - you get a fresh start, your slate's wiped clean.

A. After a fresh start, your slate is automatically wiped clean. Nothing to bring you bad memories again. If it's God, then, it is indeed a fresh start, no scars.

3.
Psalms 51:10 MSG
God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis wk from d chaos of my life.

A. Bc, u have a fresh start,it's a GENESIS WK from d past chaos of your life

Hosea 14:5a MSG
I will make a fresh start with Israel. He'll burst into bloom like a crocus in d spring

A SHORT EXHORTATION

They wanted to make sure He remained dead, but...

Matthew 27:63 MSG
They said, "Sir, we just remembered that that liar announced while he was still alive, 'After three days I will be raised.'

Matthew 27:64 MSG
We've got to get that tomb sealed until the

third day. There's a good chance his disciples will come and steal the corpse and then go around saying, 'He's risen from the dead.' Then we'll be worse off than before, the final deceit surpassing the first."

Matthew 27:65 MSG
Pilate told them, "You will have a guard. Go ahead and secure it the best you can."

Matthew 27:66 MSG
So they went out and secured the tomb, sealing the stone and posting guards.

Men were assigned to the tomb Jesus was buried. They were not mere men...

they were trained soldiers. They wanted to make sure He remained dead.

His adversaries had so much hatred for him, yet, they feared every word He spoke about resurrecting again on the third day.

Even if He arose, He would not be able to get out of the tomb, they said to

themselves, but, they were soooo wrong. His purpose must be accomplished.

I don't know what or who has been assigned to keep you down.

Keep you down from achieving your purpose.

Jesus broke through. You will break through that hindrance.

They could not keep Jesus from coming

#Just two questions for you before you go on to the next page....

-When was the last time you made a conscious and consistent effort in checking your spiritual gauge?

-Have you been intentionally monitoring your spiritual life even in and with your busy schedule?

You will

however agree that most of us make very conscious efforts monitoring almost every other thing in life, but our spiritual lives.

From the petrol in our car to that in our generators.

We monitor the money in our banks as well as that in our pocket....

We monitor our performances

at work and those of our subordinates.
We monitor our health,

we monitor the temperature gauge on the dashboard of our cars, monitor and gauge the air in our tyres.

We monitor virtually everything and take action(s) where necessary to ensure things go on smoothly.

These

action(s) gives us great satisfaction, yet, the most important things are left unmonitored.

Our spiritual gauge may have been reading zero for a longtime unattended to.

Our walk with God may have been crooked, yet little or no attention has been paid to this....

Our desire to

study the Word may have been on the decline for as long as possible because of our seemingly important busy schedules.

Prayer meter keeps dropping daily.

Fellowship with God is now a quickie, done only when convenient and at times during rush hour in the bathroom, toilet or

Secret Sin -3
The 5 principles on sin.

A. A Holy God cannot tolerate sin.
1) One sin can make all d difference in the world.
a) It made a difference for Israel.      (defeat)  
b) It made a difference for Achan.       (death)
c) It can make a difference for you.     (damnation)

2) God does not "grade on curve," but on absolutes.

B. Sin is never purely private.
1) ISRAEL has sinned, THEY have stolen, THEY have lied.Josh 7:11
a) Yet Achan is only one to be revealed
2) One bad apple ruins the barrel.
a) Reason - toxic gas is given off, encouraging rot

b) Same in churches.
c) Unchecked sin by one person can pull everyone down.

3) Private sin off-limits?  Not to God.                  
There is the story of a Lonely woman who met a widower in a church and had an affair She had no guilt or remorse.

She confided in her Christian friend Tony Campolo, "He makes me feel wonderful about myself & I help to meet some of his needs.Nobody's hurt.Nobody suffers she said" "What about Jesus?" Campolo responded.

James Dobson said-the problem is all of us, Our standards have slipped, we are unshockable.

Secret sin is still sin.
1) What are you hiding from others?

2) What are you hiding from God?

Sin will be found out.

WHY SHOOT OUR WOUNDED?
Yes, read that again...Why Shoot Our Wounded?

- Ps. 109:21-31
A Detroit newspaper reportd that a patient in a local hospital was shot and killed as he lay in his bed recovering from a previous gunshot wound. The victim had been listed in fair condition

prior to the shooting and was looking forward to going home. Hospital patients and employees were stunned. A spokesperson said that nothing like this had happened in the 50yrs of the hospital's existence.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could say the same for our churches?

Wouldn't it be encouraging if we were able to say that in 50yrs of meeting together for worship, fellowship and spiritual healing, we had not had a single instance of a wounded member being cut down by the unkindness of a fellow Christian?

Many among us have experienced the

pain that David expressed in Psalm 109. When he was hurt and vulnerable, insensitive people took advantage of him. Certainly, if he ad sinned, he needed their loving correction. what he didn't need was their scorn, gossip, and selfish neglect. Who shoots his foot after stubbing

his toe? No one in his right mind. Neither should anyone with the mind of Christ act unmercifully toward a wounded brother or sister in the body of Christ. Rather, we must "show mercy" (v.16).

Give me, Lord, a lot of mercy
For my fellow men each day,
Mercy in their many failures

🔰 *WORD4TODAY* 🔰

*Isaiah 51:2b MSG*
... *but once I blessed him, he multiplied.*

This was the Lord talking about Abraham & Sarah.

*Note* -👇🏼
He said, "but once I blessed him, he multiplied".

*This is very profound.* 👇🏼
God's blessing, provokes multiplication.

We see the same sequence in👇🏼
*Matthew 14:19-20 KJV*
And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, *He blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude

20] *And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that* *remained twelve baskets full* .

Just 5 loaves and 2 fishes were presented to Jesus to feed over 5k people. He blessed the bread & fish and the rest they say is history.
👇🏼
His blessing upon the

meagre food provoked multiplication and even had leftovers. Wow😱

His blessing provoked the multiplication. *Let that sink in*

👉🏼God bless your home.
👉🏼God bless your business.
👉🏼God bless your ministry.
👉🏼God bless you in your workplace.
👉🏼God bless the ground you walk on.👇🏼

WHY SHOOT OUR WOUNDED? - Ps. 109:21-31

A Detroit newspaper reportd that a patient in a local hospital was shot and killed as he lay in his bed recovering from a previous gunshot wound. The victim had been listed in fair condition prior to the shooting and was looking forward to

going home. Hospital patients and employees were stunned. A spokesperson said that nothing like this had happened in the 50yrs of the hospital's existence.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could say the same for our churches and relationships?

Wouldn't it be encouraging if we

were able to say that in 50yrs of meeting together for worship, fellowship and spiritual healing, we had not had a single instance of a wounded member being cut down by the unkindness of a fellow Christian?

Many among us have experienced the pain that David expressed in

Psalm 109. When he was hurt and vulnerable, insensitive people took advantage of him. Certainly, if he had sinned, he needed their loving correction. what he didn't need was their scorn, gossip, and selfish neglect.

Who shoots his foot after stubbing his toe?
No one in his

right mind and neither should anyone with the mind of Christ act unmercifully toward a wounded brother or sister in the body of Christ. Rather, we must "show mercy" (v.16).

Give me, Lord, a lot of mercy
For my fellow men each day,
Mercy in their many failures
As they struggle on