Topic: Our Watchword [Tuesday November 21, 2017]
Text: Luke 12:1-12
Key Verse: “It “In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1).
Jesus identified the leaven as the insincerity and hypocrisy of the Pharisees. They observed outward ceremonies of religion without inner and character transformation. Many today have the appearance of obedience to codes and regulations without corresponding piety.
The Pharisees always gathered to listen to Jesus with sinister motives. Jesus knew and still knows what is in the heart of man. He knew that the multitude that gathered did not come to be helped out of their spiritual blindness. Most of them had come to find a word to ensnare Him. Jesus was not deterred by their schemes and wicked plots. He knew them and what they had come to do.
Jesus therefore, advised His disciples to be resolute in their faith in God and in their commitment to the work of the Kingdom. He urged them never to fear any mortal but only God who had the ability to deliver and destroy now and in the world to come. Most times, we misread the motives of those who attend our fellowship meetings; who come to spy out the simplicity of our worship and the commitment of genuine souls. They pretend they are with us but they come to cause division and to lead others astray. They come to criticise and water down the word of God.
They are those who point us to other churches, how strict we are and the need to lower the standard to accommodate others. It takes a spiritual eye to see such insincerity. Many people have been led out of faith and destroyed. As believers, we must not be drawn into any fellowship that is capable of corrupting our convictions in the Lord.
Thought for the day: Not all that glitters is gold.
Bible Reading in one Year: Ezekiel 18-21
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
