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Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 15, 2023 | MATTHEW 4:5-7 KEY VERSE: Matt 4:7(NIV) Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" MESSAGE: The second Temptation was based on a misapplication of God’s Word, and an invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ to use His Messianic powers to seek human fame, as the man who jumped and landed safely from the highest point of the Temple. To attempt such an action was to call into question God’s faithfulness to fulfil His Word as misquoted by the Devil. We must be careful not to take decisions and pursue actions that, in the guise of exercising faith in God, may expose us to dangers to which God has not intended for us to expose ourselves. When we put ourselves in compromising and dangerous situations and “trust” God would take care of us, we are tempting God. Faith does not mean presumption or brainlessness. True faith must be intelligent, and act reasonably. To attempt to walk on water has landed some people on the other side of eternity in super-record time. Prolonged fasting without due caution, refusing medical attention, staying off medication in the name of divine healing, irresponsible financial management or the refusal to follow available education opportunities are all examples of putting God to the test. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: If we think God will sustain us in dangerous and generally irrational steps we take in the Name of the Lord, let us share our thoughts with other members of our community of faith. God does not need our extraordinary feats to prove His reality and power. God can and is glorified in the ordinary course of life. Do not tempt your God! PRAYER: Dear Lord, please help me to see your power and your glory in the ordinary course of things. Lord, do extraordinary things in your time. I shall be content to praise and worship you by what you choose to do or not to do. In Jesus’ Name Amen! SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 14, 2023 | MATTHEW 4:1-4 KEY VERSE: Matthew 4:4 (NIV) Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " MESSAGE: The first Temptation in the wilderness took the form of the Devil asking the hungry Son of Man to turn the stones which abounded in the wilderness into bread, apparently to satisfy a real need, for after forty days of fasting, the Lord was truly hungry. Satan takes advantage of our felt and real needs, and the circumstances we find ourselves in to push us to violate who we are and to digress from our divine mission. The first Temptation was an attempt to lure the Lord Jesus Christ to misuse His divine power to satisfy a real personal physical need, to behave like the First Adam who let food, the satisfying of a natural appetite, take the place of a sustained relationship with God by keeping God’s commandment. The response of the Lord redefined what life and living should be. Bread is important, but bread is not what sustains the God-kind of life. The God-kind of life, which is the real true life of the person, is derived from a knowledge of and dependence on the written and revealed Word of God, which ensures a positive relationship with God. True Followers of Christ must wean their hearts away from material orientations, and develop a deep reliance on God and His demands of them. God has been teaching this lesson from the Old Testament: ¹Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers. ² Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. ⁴Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Deut 8:1-4 (NIV) The Lord Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Luke 12:15 (NIV). FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Determine to be alive over and above what you have or do not have. Find real satisfaction not in a full mouth, a full stomach, a full wardrobe, or a full bank account. That is not what defines who you are. Tune your mind to find satisfaction in your relationship with God. PRAYER: O Lord, please help me to be weaned away from all attachments and self-definition that are built on material things. May I find real life in you and your Word. And according to your word, please meet all my needs according to your riches. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 13, 2023 | MATTHEW 4:1-11 KEY VERSE: Matthew 4:3 (NIV) The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." MESSAGE: The Temptation of the Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness was a key event in salvation history. God the creator of Heaven and Earth, was subjected to tests that sought to undermine the integrity of the mission of the salvation of the human race that He had come to undertake. While different forms of the temptation of succeeding generations of Christ-followers are woven into the form of the Temptation of our Lord, we want to focus today on an underlying principle involved in the case of the Lord Jesu Christ, and which principle still lies behind every temptation we face in our times. The Temptation of the Lord Jesus was principally an attack on the identity of the Lord, and if He would hold on to who He was so that He would be qualified to save humanity. If the Lord Jesus had failed to uphold His identity in the wilderness, then the Second Adam would have sold out to the Devil like the First Adam did, and the rescue mission would have failed right from the onset. Take note of how Satan attacked the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the first temptation: “The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." (4:3 NIV). The temptation here was not necessarily about stones becoming bread. It was about the identity of Jesus Christ as the Son of God (God implied), who did not count life from a frivolous materialistic physical orientation, but from the spirit. In the second temptation: "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: . . . “ (Matt 4:6 NIV). The temptation here was not necessarily about gymnastic abilities. It was about the identity of Jesus Christ as God who did not need to seek to impress humans by how He keeps His Word. In the third temptation: “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. ⁹"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." (Matt 4:8-9 NIV). Here again, the temptation is not about a test of the genuflective skills of the Lord. It was a test of proof of His identity as the God-Man. The creatures of God are meant to bow to Him. If the Lord Jesus had bowed to Satan then He would have enthroned Satan as the de facto God of the universe, and humanity’s enslavement would have been confirmed irrevocably. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Whenever we are tempted to lie, to gossip, to be sexually deviant, to be lazy about our Bible reading and prayer, tempted to be tribalistic, proud etc, remember that our identity as children of God is being called into question. Will you stand your ground, like the Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness, and affirm your true identity, by siding with God’s Word about us, that we are no more sinners but saints, beloved children of God, one new humanity in Christ? We are because “it is written” in the Bible. PRAYER: Dear Father above, forgive me for the times I have forgotten who I am and have allowed the enemy to trap me. May I, like my Saviour. remember and assert whom you have made me through His sacrifice, and win every time my identity is called into question. In Jesus’ Name, Amen! SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 12, 2023 | MATTHEW 3:16-17 KEY VERSE: Matthew 3:16-17 (NIV) ¹⁶As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." MESSAGE: The baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ at the beginning of His ministry has been shown in the last devotional to have been a necessary part of His total mission. Today we want to stress that when we follow divinely mandated protocols we naturally attract divine approval and unleash divine benefits to ourselves, and to the group dynamics of family, business, the Church and society. Our text asserts that “¹⁶As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:16-17). The time element of THAT MOMENT is meaningful. It means that the fulfilment of the baptismal requirement brought the God-Man Jesus Christ to the point where God the Father would announce and showcase Him to the world. There are many of us who want to see Heaven opened, without wanting to stand in some cold Jordans, or be “reduced” by abiding by some church requirement we think below our dignity. Many seek for God to announce us when we have not shown by our new transformed character and a new way of thinking, which is scorned by the world, that God has come into our lives as Saviour and Lord. O, how the Holy Spirit descended upon the self-humiliated Christ, to announce His divine identity because He had identified with lowly humanity by His baptism. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Ask God to show you what things He expects of you to do, as part and expression of your submission to His will, from His Word and from Church requirements. Do you have to regularize your “marriage” or submit yourself to baptism? Do you have to revise your financial contribution to the upkeep of the Church? What about your roles as a Christian, as a father, or as a mother of a child? PRAYER: Lord, help me place myself where the moment arrives, from today, where Heaven is opened over me, and Heaven announces me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen! SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 11, 2023 | KEY VERSE: Matthew 3:15 (NIV) Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness." Then John consented. MESSAGE: The conversation between John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ at the banks of the River Jordan leading to His baptism will always make a good cinematographic scene. Two men conceding one to the other, John being surprised at the condescension of the Lord of the universe in human flesh, seeking to identify with fallen human dust in their declaration of sin and baptism to show repentance. The sinless one seeking to be baptised in the baptism of repentance. With that deep understanding of what he was handling, John rightly sought to prevent the Lord Jesus from subjecting Himself to John’s baptism. Our lesson today is that all matters of laid down rules and regulations in our discipleship life must be respected and given the necessary attention. Christ had come as God in human flesh, to die to save humanity from their bondage to Satan and sin. The self-identification was not only in the taking on of the physical form of humans (Phil. 2:5-8) but also in identification with the despicable human lostness to sin and enslavement to Satan. He, therefore, needed to make that fact clear, that He had come as the representative man, who needed to acknowledge sin and be baptized to announce repentance from sin. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: You need to be baptized as a public and spiritual declaration of your acknowledgement and repentance of personal damning sin. The protocols of the Lord’s Supper must be attended to with seriousness. Different regulations set out by different local expressions of the body of Christ, for example, premarital counselling, modes of financial contribution, and membership processes, need to be adhered to by members of the community of faith. We are not talking about legalism here, we are talking about protocol. Follow due protocol! PRAYER: Lord, please help me to align with you in my life and practices in the context of your Church. May the Church be an orderly body because its members keep to laid down rules. For your Name’s sake. Amen! SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 10, 2023 | MATTHEW 3:11-12 KEY VERSE: Matt 3:11 (NIV) "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. MESSAGE: Baptism is an initiatory ceremony that is required of new believers in Jesus Christ into the new people of God. Of course, the antecedent practice in Judaism where non-Jews who sought to worship the God of Israel were baptized in water, or the baptism of Jewish people who responded to the preaching of John the Baptist announcing the approach and inauguration of the long-awaited Kingdom of God, as we see in our text. The danger of ceremonial participation in a religious requirement like baptism, without the required spiritual effects, has always been with all religious activity, particularly baptism in the context of the ministry of John through that of Christ and His immediate followers, into the present-day Church. However, Christian baptism is expected by God to go beyond a mere external washing of the body to an internal cleansing with eternal implications. Water baptism for the true Jesus-follower must first be a spiritual baptism that takes place in the inner-man: Titus 3:5-6 (NIV) He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, 1 Cor 12:13 (NIV) For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. The spiritual dimension of the baptism we receive is the fiery dimension, often overlooked, maybe because we are not made to understand and appreciate the dynamics of Christian baptism. The baptism with fire puts within the Christ-follower the consciousness of divine judgment; fire is always a symbol of judgement, and no true believer in Christ would live without that consciousness. That consciousness burns the chaff of sin and sinful living, and propels the believers to the pursuit of the separated life, separated from sin and all the contaminating influences of the world around and the self within. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Have you received baptism with water? If not seek out the next opportunity quickly. Do you have evidence in your soul of the baptism with fire? Do you hate sin and have a repulsion to the tantalizing temptations that face every human soul? Baptized with water, yes, but can we see evidence of the baptism with fire? PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I desire to experience the baptism of fire. Please let the holy fire rush over my human soul. That transformed within by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, my water baptism will testify only of an inner truth. Thank you for the baptism of water, but more so, of the fire of the Spirit. Amen!!! SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 9, 2023 | MATTHEW 3:7-10 KEY VERSE: Matthew 3:7 (NIV) But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? MESSAGE: Preaching is one of the major ways of God’s outreach to lost humanity to bring us back to Himself in salvation, and to nurture us in righteous living. There have always been people filling the pulpit of the Church over the centuries. From the Old Testament through the New Testament, into the modern era, there have been preachers. The quality and spiritual relevance of preachers and their preaching vary from time to time, from location to location from circumstance to circumstance. In our text today we have an excellent preacher who exhibited one of the very important characteristics we should seek out in anyone we follow as our preacher, or if we are preachers, a characteristic we should pray for and seek to demonstrate, the quality of God-backed directness. We need spiritual vitality in the Church, and one forceful way this will come about is through forceful direct preaching. John the Baptist will not be invited back to many churches today, because he spoke God’s truth without reservation, and called religious manipulators who had sold out to the Devil, vipers, and not little wiggly things. We need preachers who will have sold out to God and are not seeking the comforts of crumbs from the table of some puny money-people or connected power brokers. Preachers who call out the sins of God’s people. We need direct preachers who talk of sin as an offence to a holy God. We need preachers who talk of the coming judgment and announce that the axe is already laid at the root of the trees. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Are you a preacher, go before God and ask for a new unction. Are you a church member, will you pray for the new anointing upon the preachers in God’s Church? PRAYER: O God, please pour the spirit of fire upon our preachers. Lord, light again the holy fire on the pulpits across the nations and through every denomination of the Church. Give us direct men and women of the Word. Lord, send a revival of the Word and the Spirit, in Jesus’ Name. Amen! SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 8, 2023 | MATTHEW 3:1-6 KEY VERSE: This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one calling in the desert,' Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"Matt 3:3 (NIV) MESSAGE: Matthew 3 introduces the ministry of John the Baptist, the first of five witnesses to the King presented in Matthew 3 and 4). He must have been an interesting figure to behold; “John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.” (Matt 3:4). He dwelt in the wilderness, an austere personality. But the most fascinating thing about John the Baptist for reflection today is the message that he carried. His message shaped his thinking and behaviour and inspired his preaching. Israel had sinned against the God who chose them in Abraham to be that nation through which all humankind will receive salvation, the God who saved them from slavery in Egypt and gave them victory over nations more populous and better skilled at war than them and gave them the inheritance of their enemies round about them. Israel had desired to be like the nations and had actually adopted the gods of the nations as their gods. The Law given through Moses had become a mechanical system of religious formality, and the Temple in Jerusalem had become a national pride from which the divine presence was soon to move away. The message of John was “REPENT, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NEAR!” “PREPARE THE WAY FOR THE LORD!!” MAKE STRAIGHT PATHS FOR THE LORD!!!” Don’t we need a voice like John’s for our day? When Christianity has become a formality, ceremonies without deities, and marketing strategies of group manipulation. When there is no love among people in the church. When men of low spiritual fervour measure themselves by themselves and seek worldly acclamation. When the pulpit is turned into a comedian’s stage, church services are reduced to caricatures of apprentice showmanship, and singers of what is dubbed “GOSPEL” must dress like some forgotten characters of Hollywood. Don’t we need a voice to cry in the wilderness, “REPENT, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NEAR!” “PREPARE THE WAY FOR THE LORD!!” MAKE STRAIGHT PATHS FOR THE LORD!!!” When the rapture is around the corner, and the trumpet could sound any moment are we not attentive to the voice that shouts in our wilderness, “REPENT, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NEAR!” “PREPARE THE WAY FOR THE LORD!!” MAKE STRAIGHT PATHS FOR THE LORD!!!” FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Are there known sins in your life? Confess them to the Lord, He will forgive you. You can make straight paths for the Lord in your life. Whether He comes now or in the next century, He will come into your heart and live in and through you. Pray for grace to live a holy life in which God lives and moves and gives expression to His being. PRAYER: Dear Lord, I repent of all known and unknown sins and ask that you help me to live a life prepared for your coming, every day and in all my ways. In Jesus’ Name. Amen! SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 7, 2023 | MATTHEW 2:16-22 KEY VERSE: After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt," Matthew 2:19 (NIV) MESSAGE: Have you dreamt recently, do you dream sometimes? The Oxford Dictionary defines a dream as “a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal” or as “a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep.” I am inviting you to consider dreams in the sense of the pictures, words and scenes that appear to us in our physical sleep, and pointing to them as important experiences that may make a difference in your development, because they could be effective ways through which God may be communicating to you, to bring you to the accomplishment of His purposes for you. I have used “may,” to imply that not every dream is a message from God. Some dreams may present themselves to us because of emotional challenges we have in wakeful life, over-tiredness, excessive time surfing the internet or even over-eating before sleep. However, there is a dimension in our walk with God in which He gives us dreams as a means of His communication to us. Throughout the narrative of the birth of the Lord Jesus, we see how much the Lord used dreams to communicate strategic information concerning the King. Take some time today to reflect on divine communication through dreams to Joseph (Matthew 1:20; 2:13, 19, 22) and to the Wise Men (Matthew 2:12). It is interesting that when the Lord Jesus approached the cross, another dream was issued to show His innocence, and to point to His death as not being deserved (Matthew 27:19). Can you imagine the twists and turns that could have developed if Joseph and the Wise Men had failed to get the messages sent through dreams? Does God still speak through dreams? Yes! Should we expect God to speak to us through dreams? Yes! A sanctified mind is a platform for divine communication through dreams! FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Keep your mind pure so that God could use that faculty to communicate to you. Ask the Lord to speak to you in and through your dreams. Value your dreams, and ask the Lord to tell you what your dreams mean. Test your dreams, how? Subject your dreams to the written Word of God, the Bible. Seek pastoral counsel on your dreams, and act on your dreams. Don’t waste your dreams! PRAYER: Dear Lord, you have spoken to many in dreams throughout Bible history. I yield myself to you so that in my dreams your communications will be clear, for the rest of my journey. In Jesus’ Name. Amen! SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 6, 2023 | MATTHEW 2:13-14 KEY VERSE: When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." Matt 2:13 (NIV) MESSAGE: Herod had his plans well laid and was convinced that the godly Wise Men would comply with his deceptive plan and bring him information of the whereabouts of the new-born King. The Most High sits on His throne and laughs at the schemes of Satan and his evil demonic and human accomplices. They plan but God out-plans them and outwits them on every front. The Wise Men were directed by God to go in a different direction away from Herod. Joseph was directed in a dream to escape with the Baby and His mother, to go into hiding in Egypt to escape the cruel plan of Herod. With the gold, frankincense and myrrh Joseph and Mary had enough foreign exchange to make the journey and to easily settle in in Egypt. Oh the marvels of the intricate wisdom of our infinite God. As we travel the rest of life’s journey you can be sure that the enemies of your souls will scheme, but God is the greatest of schemers and will outwit them always to your advantage. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Trust God to outwit and outdo the enemies of your soul and your faith. Obey God in all the word He sends to you like Joseph did. PRAY Father, as I go through life, give me the fortitude to obey your word so that I will overcome all the schemes of the enemy. Amen SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 5, 2023 | MATTHEW 2:9-12 KEY VERSE: On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. Matt 2:11 (NIV) MESSAGE: The Wise Men were guided by God to the location of the Baby-King Jesus. Their joy knew no bounds, their effort had been rewarded. They could have returned to their homeland, with the news of the journeys, the meeting with the rival king Herod, and the surprising ignorance of the people of Israel that their King had been born. But before any of that the Wise Men, represented the Gentile world to worship Jesus in His infancy, the first fruits of all Gentiles who would come into His Kingdom. Their intellectual, emotional and spiritual act of worship when they bowed down before this infant of about two years-old, was completed by the giving of their treasures to the King. Worship without the giving of our substance is incomplete worship by Bible standards. Their offering was not only worthy but also meaningful. “Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” The gold affirmed the kingship of Jesus, the frankincense proclaimed His High Priestly role, and the myrrh foretold His sacrificial death by which He would save humanity from our sins. Your sacrifices say something! Our worship and our giving in that process must be meaningful. When we offer our time, talents and treasure we are declaring the eternal universal ownership of all things by Christ the King. We are declaring with the heavenly hosts; "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." Rev 4:11 (NIV) FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Seek out the Lord of history. Worship the King immortal. Offer meaningful gifts to God PRAY O dear Lord, may my worship and my giving to you be meaningful at all times, in Jesus' Name. Amen. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 4, 2023 | MATTHEW 2:3-8 KEY VERSE: Matt 2:7-8 (NIV) 7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him." The announcement of the birth of a child born to be the ruler of the nation of Israel provoked intense jealousy in Herod and called into operation his skilful political elimination instincts (he was the sly fox as extra-biblical writings will show). To cover his thirst for the blood of this new and superior king, Herod borrows the language that sounded the appropriate thing to say to the Wise Men who had travelled for some two years to come and seek and worship this Baby-King; "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him." (verse 8). It is very easy to hide behind the cloak of a pretended follower of Christ in order to perpetrate our personal negative hidden political ambitions and agenda. We may speak the language of worship, but actually have a plan to defraud others, to make a name for ourselves or deceive people and to get them where we can take advantage of them. It is easy to say “go and worship him” when we mean “go and murder him.” May we become true worshippers of the incomparable Jesus, and not become like those who by our lack of conformity to his Person and purposes, crucify again the Son of God. Worship in spirit and in truth. Refuse to expose the Name of the Lord to shame. PRAY Dear God, please help me to be authentic in my worship. Amen SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!