March 2021 – Elkan's Word For Today

Spirituality or Spiritism?

By salt2010 0 Comments

Asceticism does not mean spirituality. Col 2 tells us that exaggerated show of godliness, self-abasement and neglecting of the body has no impact on one’s standing with God.
External sanctimony and air of ‘spirituality’ was one of the many gripes our Lord had with the Pharisees during His walk on Earth. Ironically, the reverse was one of theirs with Him!
Jesus didn’t ‘dignify’ Himself the way they did. He milled around with the common folks, ate publicly, and was so regular that at the time of His arrest the soldiers needed an insider to spot Him out from among His disciples.

We doctrinally affirm that Christ was FULLY man, yet we sometimes shy away from the implications of that truth. The man Jesus was as just a man as we are (or else the point of the Incarnation is defeated). He didn’t speak in tongues to re-energise His body when He got tired; no, He slept, and probably snored too. He wasn’t pretending to be asleep during the storm in Mar 4:35-41, he was physically – deeply – asleep. He Himself admits that He was notorious for his “eating and drinking” (Mat 11:1). And if He ate, that means He also had to go see ‘john’, (the euphemism, not the Apostle)!

Why then do we as ministers publicly pride ourselves in not eating and sleeping? While our tight schedules may impose such extremes on us (it happened to Jesus, too), it doesn’t mean we should then wield it as a badge of honour. There’re no rewards for the abuse of the body on Judgment Day.
Historically, extreme asceticism does not lead to spiritualty but actually to SPIRITISM – an undue emphasises and fascination with spirits and communications with the spirit world. The scriptures never sanctioned us to directly seek to communicate with spirits – whether angles or demons; biblical spiritualty is expressed in our obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit as outlined in His Word, and commutating with Him in prayer, (Rom 8:14).

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

James Is Listening

By salt2010 0 Comments

Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips_ – Ps 141:3

There’re 3 JAMESE in the Bible; 2 were part of the 12 apostles: James, the son of Zebedee and James the son of Alphaeus (aka “James the Less”). The third is in a special category of his own. He was not part of the twelve; in fact, he was not even a disciple. He was James the half-brother of Jesus.

You would think that growing up in the same house with the Christ Himself would make for an awesomely heavenly experience, but no, James was anything but a fan of Christ’s. Remember when Jesus said “A prophet is honoured everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” (Mk 6:4 NLT)? Well, it was people like his brother James that made him make that statement.

In Jn 7:3, our Lord’s brothers said to him, “Leave this place, and go to Judea so that your disciples can see the things that you’re doing” (GW). Why were they being this sarcastic? Jn 7:5 explains that it was because “Even His brothers didn’t believe in Him.” (GW) Sad! Right?

Well, Jesus didn’t let their scepticism get to Him. He remained faithful with His ministry and after His resurrection, these sceptical brothers became Believers. They were there at the “Upper Room” (Act 1:14), and one of them, the very James himself, became the de facto head of the Church (Act 15:13-21; Gal 2:9,12) and also the author of the Bible book of James (Jas 1:1).

Now, here’s an interesting fact: the Book of James has more quotations and references to Jesus’ words and teachings than any other epistle. Not even Peter, Jesus’ chief apostle who went everywhere with Him during His ministry, quotes Jesus’ words like James.

What does this tell us? It means all those years that he was being a sceptic, James was ACTUALLY listening. He may have been scoffing, but he was listening; he may have been jesting, but he was listening; and after Jesus’ Ascension, all those words that he was hearing our Lord speak came to have an eternally-lasting effect on James.

Beloved, be faithful with your ministry and encouragement to the sceptics and non-believers around you. They may act like they’re irritated or unaffected by your words, but two things are certain:

1: They’re listening to the words you speak to them every day.

2: They’re being affected by the words you speak to them every day.

And just like James, they may even end up being a greater repeater of your words than the believing ‘Peters’ in your audience right now.

GREG ELKAN

Seeing Jesus In Rahab

By salt2010 0 Comments

Rahab, the prostitute from Jericho (Joshua 2) gives us a lucid example of what it means to be “saved by faith”. She’s the archetypal gentile: an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, and a stranger from the covenants of promise, who through faith became an heir of Abraham!

But Rahab isn’t just typical of us sinners, she’s also a type of Christ in the Old Testament. Because, like Christ, she brought sweeping salvation to ALL who came under her shelter.

When the walls of Jericho crumbled, Joshua gave a command to the two spies, “You made a promise to the prostitute. So go to her house and bring her out and all those who are WITH HER.”

So the two men went into the house and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, all her family, and all those who were with her. They put all the people in a safe place outside the camp of Israel. (Jos 6:22-23 ERV)

Imagine with me the reaction the two spies would have had if they barged into Rahab’s house that day and found 50 persons instead of an expected 20 or so? How about a hundred? How about one thousand?

None of that would have mattered. Joshua, their commander-in-chief had commanded them to spare, “all those who are WITH HER.”

What if, among the scared persons that the spies found huddled in her room that day, they had found an Indian man, a Latino woman, a Chinese boy and a black African baby! Rahab couldn’t possibly expect them to believe these were her family members too, could she?

But again, none of that would have mattered; their commander had said, “all those who are WITH HER”.

Note that the people in Rahab’s house were never quizzed or interrogated. They were never questioned about their past deeds and behaviour. All they did in order to be spared from the coming wrath (1Th 1:10) was come under Rahab’s shelter and their lives would be spared.

Beloved, this is the salvation message in graphic form. This is the Gospel message.

For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. – Rom 10:12

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. – Rom 10:13

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. – Heb 4:16

AMEN.

GREG ELKAN

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

Month: March 2021