GAW Sunday School Department

30/07/2024

25/07/2024

July 25th.

AM I BLESSED LIKE THIS?

Blessed are . . ." Matthew 5:3-10

When we first read the statements of Jesus they seem wonderfulysimple and unstartling, and they sink unobserved into our unconsciousminds. For instance, the Beatitudes seem merely mild and beautiful precepts for all unworldly and useless people, but of very little practical usein the stern workaday world in which we live. We soon find, however, thatthe Beatitudes contain the dynamite of the Holy Ghost. They explode, as itwere, when the circumstances of our lives caused them to do so.

When theHoly Spirit brings to our remembrance one of these Beatitudes we say -'What a startling statement that is!' and we have to decide whether we willaccept the tremendous spiritual upheaval that wil be produced in ourcircumstances if we obey His words. That is the way the Spirit of Godworks. We do not need to be born again to apply the Sermon on the Mountliterally. The literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount is child'splay; the interpretation by the Spirit of God as He applies Our Lord'sstatements to our circumstances is the stern work of a saint.

The teaching of Jesus is out of all proportion to our natural way oflooking at things and it comes with astonishing discomfort to begin with.We have slowly to form our walk and conversation on the line of the
precepts of Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit applies them to ourcircumstances. The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of rules andregulations: it is a statement of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit isgetting His way with us.

Bosomtwe Broadcast

24/07/2024

July 24th.

DISPOSITION AND DEEDS

"Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of thescribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom ofheaven."Matthew 5:20

The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but thathe is good in motive because he has been made good by the super-naturalgrace of God. The only thing that exceeds right -doing is right -being. JesusChrist came to put into any man who would let Him a new heredity whichwould exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus says - Ifyou are My disciple you must be right not only in your living, but in yourmotives, in your dreams, in the recesses of your mind.

You must be so purein your motives that God Almighty can see nothing to censure. Who can
stand in the Eternal Light of God and have nothing for God to censure?Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that by His Redemption Hecan put into any man His own disposition, and make him as unsul ied andas simple as a child. The purity which God demands is impossible unless Ican be remade within, and that is what Jesus has undertaken to do by His
Redemption.No man can make himself pure by obeying laws.

Jesus Christ does notgive us rules and regulations; His teachings are truths that can only beinterpreted by the disposition He puts in. The great marvel of Jesus Christ'ssalvation is that He alters heredity. He does not alter human nature; Healters its mainspring.

Bosomtwe Broadcast

05/06/2024

June 5th.

GOD'S SAY-SO

"He hath said . . . so that we may boldly say . . ." Hebrews 8:5-6

My say-so is to be built on God's say-so. God says - "I wil never leavethee," then I can with good courage say - "The Lord is my helper, I wil notfear - " I wil not be haunted by apprehension. This does not mean that I wilnot be tempted to fear, but I wil remember God's say-so. I wil be ful of courage, like a child "bucking himself up" to reach the standard his fatherwants.

Faith in many a one falters when the apprehensions come, theyforget the meaning of God's say-so, forget to take a deep breath spiritualy.The only way to get the dread taken out of us is to listen to God's say-so.
What are you dreading? You are not a coward about it, you are goingto face it, but there is a feeling of dread. When there is nothing and no oneto help you, say - "But the Lord is my Helper, this second, in my present
outlook." Are you learning to say things after listening to God, or are yousaying things and trying to make God's word fit in? Get hold of the Father'ssay-so, and then say with good courage - "I wil not fear." It does not matterwhat evil or wrong may be in the way, He has said - "I wil never leavethee."

Frailty is another thing that gets in between God's say-so and ours.When we realize how feeble we are in facing difficulties, the difficultiesbecome like giants, we become like grasshoppers, and God becomes a nonentity. Remember God's say-so - "I will in no wise fail you." Have welearned to sing after hearing God's key-note? Are we always possessed withthe courage to say - "The Lord is my helper," or are we succumbing?

Bosomtwe Broadcast

17/05/2024

May 17th.

HIS ASCENSION AND OUR UNION

And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them,and carried up into heaven." Luke 24:51

We have no corresponding experience to the events in Our Lord's lifeafter the Transfiguration. From then onwards Our Lord's life' was altogethervicarious. Up to the time of the Transfiguration He had exhibited the
normal perfect life of a man; from the Transfiguration onwards -Gethsemane, the Cross, the Resurrection - everything is unfamiliar to us.His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His Resurrection He has the right to give eternal lifeto any man, and by His Ascension Our Lord enters heaven and keeps thedoor open for humanity.

On the Mount of Ascension the Transfiguration is completed. If Jesushad gone to heaven from the Mount of Transfiguration, He would havegone alone; He would have been nothing more to us than a glorious Figure.But He turned His back on the glory, and came down from the Mount toidentify Himself with fall and humanity.The Ascension is the consummation of the Transfiguration. Our Lord
does now go back into His primal glory; but He does not go back simply asSon of God; He goes back to God as Son of Man as well as Son of God.There is now freedom of access for anyone straight to the very throne ofGod by the Ascension of the Son of Man.

As Son of Man Jesus Christdeliberately limited omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience in
Himself. Now they are His absolute power. As Son of Man JesusChrist has all power at the throne of God. He is King of kings and Lord oflords from the day of His Ascension until now.

Bosomtwe Broadcast

16/05/2024

May 16th.

THE HABIT OF WEALTH

"Partakers of the divine nature." 2 Peter 1:4

We are made partakers of the Divine nature through the promises; thenwe have to "manipulate" the Divine nature in our human nature by habits,and the first habit to form is the habit of realizing the provision God hasmade. "Oh, I can't afford it," we say - one of the worst lies is tucked up inthat phrase. It is ungovernable bad taste to talk about money in the naturaldomain, and so it is spiritual y, and yet we talk as if our Heavenly Fatherhad cut us off with a shil ing!

We think it a sign of real modesty to say at theend of a day - "Oh, wel , I have just got through, but it has been a severetussle." And al the Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He wil taxthe last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we wil obey Him.
What does it matter if external circumstances are hard? Why should theynot be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we
banish God's riches from our own lives and hinder others from entering intoHis provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it obliterates
God and puts self-interest upon the throne. It opens our mouths to spit outmurmurings and our lives become craving spiritual sponges, there isnothing lovely or generous about them.

When God is beginning to be satisfied with us He wil impoverisheverything in the nature of fictitious wealth, until we learn that al our freshsprings are in Him. If the majesty and grace and power of God are not beingmanifested in us (not to our consciousness), God holds us responsible. "Godis able to make al grace abound," then learn to lavish the grace of God onothers. Be stamped with God's nature, and His blessing wil come throughyou al the time.

Bosomtwe Broadcast