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Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 4, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:29-30 KEY VERSE: If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. Matthew 5:29 (NIV) MESSAGE: You can imagine what is likely to happen to a person who badly needs some surgery done on a leg or an arm, but who chooses to buy the most expensive clothes to cover those parts and stay away from the doctor. In the end, the diseased part will get worse and worse and may lead to the death of the person. When the Lord Jesus Christ taught against the sin of sexual misconduct by Kingdom standards, He went further to underline how serious the matter was. Sexual misconduct is a serious disease that calls for a surgical procedure, but which the world treats with flippant cosmetics. The world calls sexual sin fun and invites the believer in Christ to come and experiment. Sexual perversion is described as an alternative lifestyle. The original divine design of our maleness and our femaleness is subjected to redefinition which is not biological but sentimental and psychological. Our mishandling of human sexuality makes us look like creatures that are moving backwards as we advance in our knowledge of science and improve our political sense of freedom. It is politically incorrect to say that some of the choices that freedom leads us to shout from the rooftops are actually violations of the intentions of God as communicated in the Bible. The life of the Kingdom requires of the citizens of the Kingdom radical and irreversible turning away from the things that make us sin against God, ourselves and our fellow humans. The things and people who drag us into sin must be removed by ourselves from ourselves in ways that will make it impossible for them to get re-attached to us, like the eye pulled out, or the hand cut off. Certainly, the Lord was talking figuratively, and we must understand Him as such. The pain of self-denial or separation from a certain company in order to stay pure for the Lord is compensated for by the bliss of experiencing the presence of God in this life and enjoying His presence forever in Heaven. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: What are the factors that move us to sin? Let’s identify the offending elements and consciously, deliberately, and voluntarily remove them away from our lives, even if the action will give us some pain. PRAYER: Dear Lord, who suffered pain to attain my salvation. The surgery of the cross separated you from the Father so I may be healed of sin and Hell, restored to God forever. Please grant me the courage to undergo the necessary surgery. Heal your Church of the spirit of political and moral cosmetics! In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 3, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:27-28 KEY VERSE: (But) I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:28 (NIV) MESSAGE: The modern world has made a huge god out of human sexuality, from projecting it by making it a multi-million business to corrupting it with unnatural and unbiblical alternatives that beat the imagination of right-thinking decent people. Sexual attraction and the legitimate satisfaction of sexual desire in humans have been taken hostage by Satan, and he uses it powerfully to distract God’s people from their duty to maintain their bodies as living holy temples of the holy living God. While most Christians, because of a limited definition of adultery, will not go out of their way to indulge in premarital or extra-marital sexual misconduct, the standards of the Kingdom of God make many of us guilty of breaking the seventh command. By the Lord’s teaching the sin of sexual misconduct is primarily a mental-spiritual thing. When we harbour lustful desires and thoughts about a person and take our initial natural sexual thoughts or feelings to the level of dwelling upon what we could do if we had the opportunity, we cross the line of natural admiration and attraction to the opposite sex (for God created us as sexual beings, male and female), and enter the sphere of lustful sin, even when we do not engage in the physical act. The only missing factor is this sin at this stage is the opportunity to engage in the physical act. We may point the finger at one who has been caught in an awkward situation, with evidence that they cannot deny. But we need to look inside our own souls, and to see the fingerprints of our sinfulness and to own our guilt. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: In a world that is sex-crazy, and which invades our simple attempt to use the internet or other tools, with pictures, videos and images that prick our minds and infest our souls and bodies with sexual desire, will you make up your mind to battle the invitation to poison your mind and spirit by choosing to refuse to dwell on sexual junk? Or is it possible that by your choices of how you carry yourself, in fashion, manners and content of conversation, you are exposing another person to sin sexually- mentally or physically? PRAYER: Lord, I am attacked on every side by sexual suggestions and sex-related information. It is difficult to keep my mind free from the suggestions in music, fashion, billboards, videos, and everything around me. Please help me to stay chaste by Kingdom standards in an infested world. May my choices of music, fashion, images, videos, and everything I do, not endanger another person to fall into adultery by Kingdom standards. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 2, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:23-26 KEY VERSE: "Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court.” Matthew 5:25a (NIV) MESSAGE: I have heard the story of a Police officer somewhere who quoted our key verse to a Pastor he had arrested on the road for a supposed traffic offence, implying to him to pay up a bribe quickly before he hauled him to court. That may be an abuse and a misapplication of the intent of the Master in giving this directive. But the message is clear; when you have obvious differences with your brethren, settle them quickly to free you up for your Kingdom acts of worship. Differences occur between couples, in the family, in the workplace and in the Church. It is the natural human response to take entrenched positions and to want to escalate the tension and the hatred and divisions such differences bring about. The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us as Kingdom citizens to learn to keep a short account with those around us. Retained anger retains us from the freedom of experiencing true worship. The person who chooses not to forgive imprisons themselves and is not able to realize their fullest potential because of unforgiveness and an unforgiving spirit. The biggest score that needs to be settled is the separation between the human soul and the holy God. As long as we live, we are on the road to the courthouse of judgment day. Every one of us has an opportunity to settle the difference between us and God by accepting His free offer of eternal life in Jesus Christ. If we do not do this and die, then we will be handed over to eternal torment in Hell. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Have you settled your difference with God concerning your eternal soul? Are there issues in which you still have not settled your differences with God? Do you want to settle matters with people who have hurt you, or whom you would have hurt? We are on the road to the courthouse, settle the differences now! PRAYER: Lord, I settle every difference between me and you, those known (which I mention to you now), and those I may not know. May I have the power it takes to settle issues with my fellow humans. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 01, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:21-22 KEY VERSE: (But) I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Matthew 5:22 (NIV) MESSAGE: STOP THE MURDER? Not many of us can be said to be murderous, at least so it seems. But the Lord Jesus Christ is going to show us in this and the next few verses how very much Kingdom discipleship raises the bar of measuring proper moral behaviour and makes all of us guilty of murder, fornication, adultery etc, things we may never be physically likely to be doing. The spiritual essence of what we do or do not do is as important, as what we do or do not do physically, if not more important than that. The demands of the Kingdom's understanding of things take the sixth commandment to the ultimate level. In Matthew 5:21-26 the Lord defines murder in the context of the Kingdom of God, not only in terms of physically taking the life of another person, but more. When we are angry with people “without a cause” (see the footnote in some versions of the Bible), we commit murder (v. 22). Parents, we murder our children when we allow our personal frustrations to make us angry at them, for their natural childishness. Bosses, we murder our colleagues and subordinates when we are angry with them because we are under pressure, and they are ready punching bags for our anger and stress. When we use insulting words on people, behind them or to their faces, we murder. When we speak evil of the good name of others to make them look less than human or separate them from what their achievements are, most of the time to put ourselves in a better light, we kill (that is why it is called “character ASSASSINATION.”) Note that such killing of the higher form described here by the Lord attracts punishment from God, and we cannot hide nor escape how and when He chooses to give that punishment. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Let’s search our hearts. Let’s repent of the anger, the insults, the screaming, the gossip and all the murderous killings that we have engaged in. Let’s pray for God’s forgiveness and decide to kill no more! PRAYER: Dear Lord, your high standards make me see myself in a new light. I have sinned, for by Kingdom standards I have killed. Please forgive me and give me the power to control the tendency to kill, and to begin to give life to those around me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 31, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:17-20 KEY VERSE: "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:20 (NIV) MESSAGE: BE BETTER THAN THE PHARISEES! What a shock to the disciples who heard these words from the Master. The Lord Jesus has just been telling the disciples that they are the salt and light of the world, and now He tells them they must be and do better than the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, the champions of Jewish religious doctrine and practice. The scribes were the teachers of the Law, and the Pharisees were the chief practitioners of the Jewish religion. It was believed among the Jews that the Pharisees were the closest to God in view of their insistence on their understanding of what constituted righteousness, and how they kept to it, even though it deviated from what God intended. The Pharisees had something to their advantage; they stressed on ceremonial cleanliness, they fasted regularly and prayed regularly too. They were concerned about keeping the ceremonies that God gave to Moses, and their colleagues the scribes stressed on the teaching of the law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets. However, there was much that the Lord Jesus found unacceptable in them; their religion was only external without an inward power, they gave their tithes regularly and with exactness, but they did not give their hearts to God to work in it and through it the compassion, mercy and love which reflect the loving just nature of God. They loved the praise of people and did their religious practices to attract such praise, while they did not seek, nor did they have the praise of God. They had confidence in their religious works as the bases of their favour with God and therefore downplayed the grace of God by which alone anyone can stand before God. Disciples of the Lord Jesus must avoid the wrongs of the Pharisees. Disciples of Christ must be better, do better, and also do more than the hollow superficial Scribes and Pharisees. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: How do you measure up in the scales against the scribes and Pharisees? Can we move away from the attitude of the scribes and Pharisees, and be better learners, teachers and practitioners of the Word of God? You must surpass the Pharisees in religious practice, and surpass the scribes in Bible knowledge! PRAYER: Lord, save me from blind religion that is merely external, seeks the praise of humans and fails to demonstrate the love and mercies of God. May I grow in my knowledge of the Word of God, Lord please make me more than a scribe. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 30, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:14-16 KEY VERSE: "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." Matthew 5:14 (NIV) MESSAGE: The Jewish and Christian use of the concepts of light and darkness to symbolize the difference between God and Satan, good and evil, right and wrong is shared by other human societies across the globe. The difference between light and darkness and how each of the two is appreciated is seen when electrical power goes out in a community, and you hear the “Oooh” all around you. Similarly, when the power comes back on you hear the “Yeaaah” from the children as well as the adults. Light is always preferable, except for those whose evil activities require the cover of darkness. The Lord Jesus Christ continues to teach His disciples, including present-day disciples, of their place in the context of the spiritual, moral, social and physical reality of life on earth. He makes the startling declaration to those who were His disciples, “You are the light of the world.” What did the Lord mean? The believer is a presence that works contrary to the forces of darkness that seek to overpower individuals, communities and the whole of human society. The presence of the believer should make evil disappear or at least want to hide. The believer is an attraction; something happens to the person who chooses to follow the Christ, so much so that they become the interest of those who see them. They are like a city set on a hill; they cannot hide nor be hidden. Believers must cause heads to turn in a positive way! The ordinary nobodies that the men the Lord called to Him were, before their calling, became known as those who “had been with Jesus!” This also means that they are under the scrutiny of others and are hated or disliked by some because their brightness exposes the darkness in those others. The light must shine to be truly the light. A hidden lamp is an anomaly. The light is good and does good and must not be ashamed to stand out as the light. The disciples of the Lord Jesus fetch their light from Christ “the Light of the world.” As we shine out in a world of darkness people see our brightness and give praise and thanks to God, our light-source. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Are you daily conscious that you are the light of the world? Is your life bringing praise and glory to God the source of our light? Do not be ashamed to be different from the darkness. You are the light of the world! Arise up and shine. PRAYER: Dear Light of the world, Lord Jesus, thank you, not only for transferring me from the kingdom of darkness but for making me the light of the world. Please help me to shine, and to bring glory and honour to you. For your dear Name’s sake, Amen. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 29, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:13 KEY VERSE: Matthew 5:13 (NIV) "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. MESSAGE: The Lord Jesus Christ continues in His sermon to tell His disciples something more of their identity and their mission. They are the salt of the earth. The assignment to be fishers of men did not limit their ministry to Israel, the whole of the earth was in mind. The imagery of salt was to let the disciples realize that they were going to be effective in the global mission as salt works quietly by extensively wherever it is placed. Believers are to flavour society and make life appealing. Salt has a cleansing effect and it also preserves food from corruption. The world should be a better place to live in because of the presence of Christians. As salt, we are to bring transformation to the world. In Mark 9:50 the Lord spells out the need to “have salt in yourselves.” All that we believers are to do in the world must first be seen at work amongst us. In teaching us that we are the salt of the earth the Lord also cautions us about the salt losing its saltiness. We must be careful that our Christianity does not become Christianity only in name, as an individual person or as the Church. When we fail to exercise the preservation, flavouring and cleansing effects on society the consequences are dire; rejection of Christianity by society and disrespect by all around. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Take up the great designation as salt of the earth. We have been cleansed to cleanse, and saved from spoilage to preserve society. Determine to never lose your saltiness. PRAYER: Dear Lord, I am grateful that I am saved to save others from the corrupting influences of the world. Please help me to preserve my saltiness and be a positive saving influence wherever you send me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 28, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:10-12 KEY VERSE: Matthew 5:10 (NIV) Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. MESSAGE: It is interesting that the Lord Jesus Christ did not shy away from telling His disciples that persecutions were part of the Christian package. It may seem politically incorrect and strategically counter-productive to tell people whom He was trying to get to follow Him that their path would include suffering from persecution, but He did it. Christian faith and practice attract persecution from humans acting by sheer dislike of the believers, or by the inspiration of the Devil to thwart the advancement of the Kingdom of God. In whatever persecution that the believer faces, we must ensure that the cause of the affliction is that we are pursuing the righteousness of the Kingdom. The Apostle Peter says "¹⁹For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. ²⁰But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.” 1 Peter 2:19-20 (NIV). The blessedness of the persecuted-just is the possession of the Kingdom of Heaven The Kingdom is theirs in this life and will be theirs after death. The God of the Kingdom becomes their God in a special way. The resources of the Kingdom are theirs and will be dispensed by the King at His bidding. The protection and preservation and all the blessings of the Kingdom are actively theirs. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Make sure you do not become an agent of persecuting Kingdom citizens. If you are suffering persecution because of righteousness, be encouraged, God is with you, and His resources will speak for you. PRAYER: Dear Lord, who suffered, and left me an example, I pray that you keep me from ever becoming the tool Satan uses to persecute your people. Please give me the stamina to withstand persecution in my life. And, Lord, may I see Kingdom reality working for me as I face persecution. Lord, sustain your people around the world who face daily persecution. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 27, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:9 KEY VERSE: Matthew 5:9 (NIV) Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. MESSAGE: Peace-making is one activity that the United Nations has undertaken in many parts of the world and continues to spend billions of Dollars on pursuing. The world since the Fall has been a battleground of individuals in families and in society and of nations against nations. One would have thought that with civilization advancing humans would be more peaceful, but we have become more and more at war as the years have progressed. The Kingdom of God is here said to require citizens who are peacemakers. A peacemaker is one with a disposition to peace and quiet. It is first an inner orientation that manifests in general conduct. They are peacemakers because they have benefitted from the peace of God which came through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and have become agents of the peace of God. Peacemakers desire, love and work for peace; they seek the preservation of peace and its restoration as quickly as possible when it is broken. Peacemakers are blessed because they have the quiet of their inner state, something no one can take from them. Their inner disposition removes all turmoil that could spell or be the cause for various kinds of emotional diseases. Their spirits are at rest and can communicate better with God. They are children of God because they reflect the character of God, the God of peace (Phil. 4:8) FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Is there any situation of confusion around you? Any situation of disagreement or sharp difference. What can you do to bring peace? PRAYER: Dear God of peace, thank you for restoring me to yourself through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Please help me to be an agent of your peace. And may I truly be a child of God. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 26, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:8 KEY VERSE: Matthew 5:8 (NIV) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. MESSAGE: We are used to the external expression of things, and often in the matter of spirituality, we use external expressions to cover up what are the realities in the sight of God. The heart is often used in the Bible to refer to the inner man, the spirit part of our being. It is possible to have a corrupt heart, a sinful infested poisoned spirit, and appear before people as worshipping God. The Lord Jesus demands and indicates that those who are His true Kingdom citizens must be people of pure hearts. A pure heart is one that has been cleansed by God of the contamination of the original sin of Adam and Eve which we inherit as humans. It is a heart that has been yielded to God as His throne and in which God rules by His Spirit through His Word. A pure heart is one which has determined to sacrifice all the allurements and attractions of sin and to honour God in all things, even to the point of dying for the truth of God and His Kingdom. We need pure hearts! The reward for the pure-hearted is that they will see God. They will see God means that they will experience God in this life. Their Christianity will be one in which God is not a far-away ancient personality trapped in the pages of an ancient book. They will come to the place where they receive interactions with God. The Lord Jesus said, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." John 14:21 (NIV). Wow, what a prospect that God will visit you and me! When God visits us, He will meet our needs. “They will see God” means that they will experience God in Heaven. The state in which we shall see God face to face and live in His presence forever in Heaven. The pure in Heart alone will enter into God’s holy Heaven (Rev. 21:27). FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Search your heart before God and see the state in which you are. Is the heart pure or polluted, or even mixed up? Determine to maintain a pure heart always. PRAYER: Lord, I bring my heart before you and ask that you reveal me to myself as I wait in your presence. Forgive every pollution of my heart, make me pure, and help me keep pure. In Jesus’ Name. Amen. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 25, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:7 KEY VERSE: Matthew 5:7 (NIV) Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. MESSAGE: The human condition is a pitiable one, and people around us need the show of mercy to support them in their affliction. However, the natural trend in society is for each one to look towards their own welfare and care less about what happens to other people. The Kingdom citizen is called to a character of being merciful. To be merciful is to have the attitude of having pity on other people and taking steps to bring them out of their challenges. This call to Christian mercifulness does not deny the fact that each of us may have our own burdens to bear. When we are merciful it shows that we have become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), for God Himself is merciful. Mercy for humanity will move us to want to share the Gospel with those who do not know the lordship of the Saviour Jesus Christ. The merciful are blessed because: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' (Acts 20:35 NIV). “… if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." (Matt 6:14 NIV). “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done.” (Prov 19:17 NIV). “The Lord will protect him and preserve his life; he will bless him in the land and not surrender him to the desire of his foes.” (Ps 41:2 NIV). FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Look around you for people who may need your help. Overlook personal burdens and reach out to the needy. Expect God to show you mercy from above and through humans around you. PRAYER: Merciful Father, thank you for reaching down into the darkness to save me and bless me. Please make me desirous of reaching out to people around me in mercy, to share physical and spiritual blessings. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | JANUARY 24, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:6 KEY VERSE: Matthew 5:6 (NIV) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. MESSAGE: A universal human feeling that is overpowering and calls for satisfaction is hunger and thirst. The Lord Jesus uses this reality to teach us how much the desire for righteousness should overpower and identify the Christian soul. The true follower of the Lord Jesus must have a great desire to see righteousness done, for His Kingdom is a Kingdom of righteousness. Followers of Christ must have an overwhelming desire to see righteousness in their own individual souls. The believer weighs themselves in the scales of God, finds themselves deficient of some virtue, and yearns to see those godly traits formed in them. They seek justice and righteousness for the harms done to them by evil people and an evil world, in view of their meekness, and like the saints under the altar of God cry out "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" (Rev 6:10 NIV). They hunger and thirst after righteousness, not only as a momentary one-time experience but as a repeated experience of their soul, where they hunger and thirst over and over again. Our hunger and thirst for righteousness must move us to work for righteousness. Our time alone with God in reading the Bible, meditating on it and praying, our time with God’s people in joint worship at home and in Church, our advocacy for justice for those who are treated unfairly in society and in the Church, all of these must form ongoing work to see righteousness done. “They shall be filled” by the gratification that the desire and pursuit of righteousness itself gives. The journey of holy living is an exciting adventure, try it. But Heaven is the fulfilment of the truest satisfaction of the righteousness that righteous souls hunger and thirst for. The Apostle Peter captures it for us “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:13 NKJV). The believer's quest shall receive its fullest satisfaction by the ambience of Heaven and the righteous rule of God. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Be sensitive to the pangs for righteousness in your inner man. Yearn for righteousness in your thoughts and actions. Work for righteousness in your environment. Trust God to receive satisfaction in this life and in Heaven. PRAYER: Righteous King, thank you that you have put in Kingdom souls, a hunger and thirst for righteousness. May I be a righteous person, in thought, word and deed. May I promote righteousness wherever I find myself. In Jesus’ Name. Amen. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!