A Carol of Nine Lessons Week 52, 2025

 

What is the point of this carol service? I do not understand it at all...

 It is singing about the promise and fulfilment concerning Jesus Christ coming into the world

My annoyance with the whole carol business is that people in my town finish carol singing and get going into fornication and uncleanness. It’s made me hate carol singing since.

O dear, we must make a distinction between what is good, and those who abuse it. Jd 1:4 (ISV)  For some people have slipped in among you unnoticed. They were written about long ago as being deserving of this condemnation because they are ungodly. They turn the grace of our God into uncontrollable lust and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus the Messiah. From the very first reading the promise of the saviour from sin who will destroy the works of Satan is  made in the garden of Eden by God. Gen 3:15(MKJV)  And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.  Even His virgin birth is implied by calling Him “The seed of the woman”

Okay, so the lessons recount the promises about the Messiah’s coming through the ages.

 Not simply restating the promises but now giving specific clues, and directions. His identity and events surrounding His birth are clearly stated in prophecy. He would come through Abraham, (Gen 22: 17, 18  (MKJV)  that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And your Seed shall possess the gate of His enemies. And in your Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.) be a descendant of King David, and be born in Bethlehem: Mic 5:2(ISV)  "As for you, Bethlehem of Ephrathah, even though you remain least among the clans of Judah, nevertheless, the one who rules in Israel for me will emerge from you. His existence has been from antiquity, even from eternity. 

From eternity? Which man is from eternity. Is this an exaggeration?

Not at all. This uncovers the truth that the Messiah is divine - not a created being, but the Son of God. The readings then connect up with the fulfilment of these promises in the message of the Angel Gabriel to Mary, and how Jesus was born in a manger in that Bethlehem, a descendant of King David and seed of Abraham. Unfortunately at His birth His people rejected Him as they do today. Jn 1:11-14(ISV)  He came to his own creation, yet his own people did not receive him. However, to all who received him, those believing in his name, he gave authority to become God's children, who were born, not merely in a genetic sense, nor from lust, nor from man's desire, but from the will of God. The Word became flesh and lived among us. We gazed on his glory, the kind of glory that belongs to the Father's unique Son, who is full of grace and truth.

Mmmh. Nice history. I appreciate Carol Service better now. Thanks.

History? Living reality. The word of God can be made flesh in you right now if you ask Him in. That’s the whole point. The promised Saviour has come. Let Him be born in us today.

Deliverance in theatre Week 51, 2025

 

The saturation was now reading zero, and the heart had stopped. What would happen now? “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!” Rom 10:13(ESV)  For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 

Udo was brought by her father, a pastor in North Central Nigeria, for surgery the day before. I got a call informing me they would be coming and on their arrival, the necessary tests were done, which all came out alright. I called my friend the anaesthesia provider, with whom we had performed so many surgeries to do the procedure the following day and he agreed. The theatre was informed and they made ready for us.

We ran the surgical safety checklist as usual before knife-on-skin. Shortly after incising the palatal shelf, I noticed that the oxygen saturation dipped below 94%. I called the attention of the anaesthesia provider who had also noticed. After a few manoeuvres which did not bring up the saturation the decision was made to remove the tube and reinsert it. It was no longer misting.  We had no appetite whatsoever for any drama. The risk of airway obstruction is very real in palate surgery and could cause death. The saturation went further down as he tried to reinsert the tube, but the airway was covered with blood from the previous incisions made. The heart rate was slowing down, a very ominous sign. “I need a tracheostomy now!” he told me. “Not a problem” I said in my mind, “I know exactly what to do”. I had needed to do one for a much younger patient before and I had done it. How much more with this seven-year-old fit patient? But when I incised, the bleeding obstructed the view. Another attempt failed. I wasn’t succeeding and the patient was dying on the table. What would I tell her father? How could I explain to our sponsors who called me and sent her across? Even if I wished to hide it I could not. Consequences flashed across my mind.

The heart rate came to zero as well as the oxygen saturation. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was on as I called on the only Person who could deliver us in trouble. Ps 50:15(ESV)  and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. I had been acting like a professional all the while but not actively prayed while all this was ongoing. I now called on Jesus Christ  whilst doing all we knew to do.

Jesus Christ showed up there. The tube somehow got into place. Oxygen started entering the lungs. We paused chest compressions after a while to see how things were going. There was return of spontaneous cardiac activity: the girl was back with us! Hallelujah!! I had no liver to continue the surgery any longer. “Let’s recover her and let them go for now. I will explain the cuts on her neck.” Gratefully we dressed the neck wounds, watched as spontaneous activity and steady optimal oxygen saturation indicated the Endotracheal tube could come off safely. She was handed back safely to her father. An ENT surgeon reviewed her afterwards. Great had been our deliverance by God. Is59:19(KJV)  So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. 

In November 2021 Udo successfully underwent the cleft palate repair with us without any incident or fistula. She has continued to do well. Her father occasionally would have her talk with me over the telephone. There has been no sign of deficits at all. Glory to Jesus Christ.

The Angel’s question Week 50, 2025

 

“If you were at the gate of heaven and the angel asked you why he should open the gate and let you enter in what would you answer him?”

Well, I’ve done my best to keep God’s commandments and all those who do so get in

“Are you sure about that? The Bible says otherwise. Gal 3:10(GNB) Those who depend on obeying the Law live under a curse. For the scripture says, "Whoever does not always obey everything that is written in the book of the Law is under God's curse!" “

What does that mean?

“Have you always kept all of God’s commandments? Since you have not been able to do so it means relying on trying to keep the commandments to earn heaven cannot work. You do your best, but the same commandment that says “You must not tell lies about other people.” also says “You must not want to take anything that belongs to another person." So where you do not kill or steal but covet what belongs to another, you are cursed and won’t enter.”

Is there another bible verse on this matter? it is not good to look in only one place.

“Ah yes there is: Gal 2:16(LSV)  having also known that a man is not declared righteous by works of law, but through faith from Jesus Christ, we also believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be declared righteous by faith from Christ, and not by works of law, because no flesh will be declared righteous by works of law There is a conclusion in this argument Rom 3:28(GNB)  For we conclude that a person is put right with God only through faith, and not by doing what the Law commands.”

Are you saying we should not obey God’s commands? What exactly do you mean?

“Not at all. The law is good and of God, but has no power to save someone from sin. It tells us we are sinners but cannot save. Gal 3:19, 21(GNB)  What, then, was the purpose of the Law? It was added in order to show what wrongdoing is... Does this mean that the Law is against God's promises? No, not at all! For if human beings had received a law that could bring life, then everyone could be put right with God by obeying it. Just like your thermometer tells you the patient has fever and is powerless to cure the fever. Something else has to come in to cure the fever – maybe an anti-malarial or antibiotic- so also the law cannot cure us from sin. Gal 2:21 (GNB)  I refuse to reject the grace of God. But if a person is put right with God through the Law, it means that Christ died for nothing!” 

I have been asking God for grace to obey the commands more...

“See, the fact you are asking for help to obey the commands is saying you agree you have not been obeying it fully. Don’t think when you rely on Jesus’ blood to save you, you begin to disobey God. On the contrary calling Jesus Christ into your heart and relying on His sacrifice of His lifeblood to save you actually results in power to obey God and do His will. You do His will then not to be accepted by God but because you have already been accepted by God. Rom 8:3, 4 (ESV)  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”