Evans Akpo

The longest road trip. I’m positive it was her first time in the snow. We had left California and driving through Nevada, Utah, Nebraska so we were in Wyoming on our way to St. Louis, Missouri.

Ever hold an infant in your arms and wish for a moment that you could go back to the days when you slept whenever you felt like it and all it took to make you giggle was a silly toy? Well, obviously you can’t press “rewind,” but you can nap. And you should laugh often. This photo makes me laugh, yet it reminds me of Psalm 127:3 Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him.

Matthew 18:10
“Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.”

Mark 9:36–37
Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”

Inspirational Nugget = Children grow so fast, spend enough time with them, before you know it – they’ve grown and left home.

We were at Marriott Hotel at San Francisco when she decided to take a walk.  All she wanted was to appreciate the weather and plants.

The tone of her voice reminds me of the verse below;

Have you ever been in situations that leaves you wondering about who can carry you?

Some situation are tougher than words can explain. Sometimes we could use few words to explain our  emotional pains, rejections, divorces and deaths, painfully, those words do not explain the effect of the horrors.

We wonder who can carry us through the pain we feel. Like a car that need to cross  the bridge, we need some help and support,

Blessed be the Lord who daily carries us. God is our deliverer. (Ps. 68:19)

On this day around valentine season  in 2015, my daughter insisted that I carry her. She wanted me to be the horse , and she wants to be the horse rider. All explanation to make her understand I was tired fell on deaf ears.  Because of her excitement, I decided to carry her.  You can see her smile.

I started thinking about how God carries us through some situations and problems in life.

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you (Isaiah 49:15).

Inspirational Nugget: God can bring us through it all.

Babies are so cute – no doubt about it – and it is only natural to wonder what the Bible teaches about them.

“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. (Prov. 127:3)

This write-up is about Marho, our little and first daughter. She brings so much joy to everyone. While giving us sleepless nights,  she has taught me how to be a better father. My whole life completely changed the day she was born.

Little did she know she was teaching me something anytime we have a conversation on what she should “stop” doing.  My life is forever changed because of the daily lessons we shared, she is completely unaware she is teaching me about God’s provision and how to ask.

First, she never asked me if I could provide. She simply makes a request without thinking about whether I have it or not. In her mind, her Dad can provide everything she needs. And because of her confidence and believe in me. I realized, I grew up meeting all her expectations.

I wish we all have the same expectation and belief about God. I wish we can dare to ask God for things greater than what we can provide for ourselves. God promise us he will provide it for us according to his will.

Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13:3).

 Inspirational Nugget = “Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.” – Chinese Proverb

God already put us in the righteousness column. We have not been partially forgiven, we have been completely forgiven in Christ. God has already declared us righteous and “not guilty.” It doesn’t mean I shouldn’t ask for forgiveness when I sin. No, it means he did it for me. And I recognize his works hence I do not live in sin. It means I repent from dead works of relying on my ability to please him.

As the old hymn sings.

Jesus Paid it all,

Unto him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.

This is not a feel-good-message, but it is the revolutionary truth of God’s word that doesn’t give us liberty to sin. It instead gives us freedom to hate sin knowing we have been forgiven in him.

We have been declared righteous and forgiven. No longer bound. It is utterly ludicrous to think our work is generates God’s forgiveness. No way. He forgave us based on the work of his son.

Inspirational Nugget = True grace teaches freedom and forgives and Mother Teresa once said, “Forgiveness is the greatest presence of peace.”

I understand TGIF stand for many things ranging from;

In my write-up I’ll be concentrating on TGIF as “Thank God I’m forgiven.”

Forgiveness is what God has accomplished for us in Christ.

Rob Rufus puts it more radically when he said. “nowhere in the New Testament does it say that we must repent for our sins. It says we must repent of dead works (Hebrews 10). The Church is confessing their sin and repenting of their sin. No – repent of unbelief! The only sin in the New Covenant is unbelief!

Every other sin was dealt with at the Cross. This sounds radical but this is the New Testament! ..when you go back under law then it is… not based on faith and without faith it is impossible to please God….I hate law and I hate it because of what it does to God’s people. We are living with a hangover of Israel that God had to bring the law in.

Now Jesus came on the Cross to redeem us from the law that the blessing given to Abraham can come on the Gentiles through the power of the Spirit by faith. We are still living under the law 2000 years later in the absence of the greatest signs and wonders and miracles. 18 long years. 18 years is the number for bondage. In the book of Judges it says that Israel will be in captivity for 18 years. 6-6-6. 3 = perfection. 6 = human pride and human effort. The mark of the beast is 666 so what is the mark of the beast? Legalism. Human effort. Babylonian religion. Not the Gospel of the New Covenant!

Jeremiah 33:8
I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me.

Inspirational Nugget = God forgave us in Christ.

The Cross Speak of his forgiveness for mankind.

When you compare the cross and his overwhelming forgiveness for humanity, you try to imagine what he has done for us and through us. It is about God’s forgiveness we can say we have been forgiven. The cross represents his victory and forgiveness to us as humans.

Luke 5:24: But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”

His forgiveness is an uncanny, undeniable, crazy, radical, passionate and unwavering sign of love that he has shown, it is something that deserves our attention every day of the week.

Inspirational Nugget = Jesus wore a crown of thorns so that we may soon wear a crown upon our heads. His pain on the cross speaks of his forgives to us.

Have you ever needed forgiveness in your life?

How do we define forgiveness?

A Christian writer puts in more clearly this way when he views forgiveness with a wonderful aroma. Forgiveness is the perfume a flower leaves on the heel that crushed it. It is an undeserved grace that one who is sinned against grants the one who sinned against them. The word “grace” means literally in the original Greek “unmerited favor”.

It is through God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness that we have the forgiveness of our sins. Every man has sinned before God. The issue of our forgiveness doesn’t rest on us. It rest on God because we have been forgiven in him.

1 John 8-10 “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

When Jesus hung on the cross, He being God, showed the perfect example in the attitude we must have in forgiving others.

He said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Lk 23:34.

Inspirational Nugget = We have been forgiven in him, it is great joy knowing we do not have to die in our sins.

There is a level of joy and excitement that comes knowing your sins have been forgiven.
Stan Rodda of New Life Christian Church wrote in his article, “I have spent many hours reading and studying different preachers and their styles. If you will allow me today, I would like to take an example from the greatest preaching manual there is, the Bible. In the pages of the Bible there is a preacher. His style was flawless. It reached across generations, across borders and across religious backgrounds. He executed his messages well and without fail, there was a response to his message. Hundreds of people followed him everywhere he went. His name was Jesus, the greatest preacher of all-time.

Allow me if you would to make an attempt at recreating for you a message in the style that Jesus might Himself use if He were here preaching for us today, he would echoes these words, “your sins are forgiven.”

Luke 23:34
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

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Inspirational Nugget = Forgiveness was given to us in Christ. What a joy to know we are forgiven in, and through Christ.