THE MYSTICAL ORDER OF SPIRITUAL BAPTIST INC

FROM THE DESK OF THE ARCHBISHOP AND APOSTOLIC HEAD

Sir Dr. Godfrey Gregg

NEW YEAR MESSAGE

THE LORD WILL PERFECT HIS WILL

A blessed day to all my brothers and sisters in the Lord, and to my Worthy and Noble, Patriarch and Presiding Prelate. The Anointed Queen Abbess, Senior Bishop, Chief Bishop and Cardinal.  Today as we come to the close of another year I want to take this opportunity to walk slowly into the New Year.

We have seen the disasters, the wars, earthquakes, rising seas and oceans. The world is changing and there is Global warming which in my opinion is triggering the weather we are experiencing today. Homicides are on the rise and the smaller islands are not exempted. So what is causing all these problems? A Nation that forgets God. Today the church which should be the mouthpiece in this wicked and perverse age is very silent and for unknown reasons is afraid to speak out of the wrongs in our societies. For fear that they may offend someone and threaten their standing in the community.

Many people will make their resolutions which they often breaks before the ink is dried on the paper it is written. Jerusalem is our happy home and we are resolved.
This New Year will be a year of resolution where unresolved issues and problems will be resolved. The Lord will complete and perfect the matters in our life which have remained incomplete in the past. The Lord will especially solve those issues which have remained unresolved for a long time. The promises of God which have been unfulfilled for a long time will be fulfilled in this year. Prayers which had remained unanswered for many years will be answered in this year. Just as Zechariah and Elisabeth and Abraham who received the blessing they had longed for, the Lord will grant us the blessing that we had been eagerly waiting for a long time. The man at the pool of Bethesda who had suffered for thirty-eight (38) years was healed by the Lord Jesus. In the same way, the Lord will bring our suffering to an end in this year. Therefore we must not give up our hope and expectation and be persistent in our prayers until we receive the answer.

PSALM 138:7-8 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand Against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me.
The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; do not forsake the works of your hands.

JEREMIAH 29:11-13 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 
Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

1 PETER 5:6-10 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

All our answers are written in the Holy Scriptures and you have to read and seek God to find them. I say to you that the past year we paid the price but vengeance belongs to God and He promised to repay. This is your time to receive and you must be prepared with fallow ground for the sowing of the seeds.

This New Year will be a year of recompense in which we would be recompensed for all the pain and suffering that the Lord had allowed in our lives. The Lord will grant us joy and gladness for all the sorrow we had experienced in the past. He will bring us into the place of abundance and honour and double blessing for all the humiliation and distress that we have endured. He will turn our captivity and fill us with joy. He will exalt us and cause others to acknowledge the blessing of God that is on our lives. He will restore the years that have been lost in our lives. The Lord will also reward us for all the sacrifices that we have made for His sake. He will grant us the harvest for all the seeds that we have sown in the Kingdom of God.

PSALM 90:12-15 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. 
Relent, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants.
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. 

I SAMUEL 1:1-20  “There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 
He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD.
Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters.

But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb.
And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her.
This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.

Elkanah her husband would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”
Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the LORD’s temple.
In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD.
And she made a vow, saying, “O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth.

Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine.”
“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD.
Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.
So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.”

This New Year will be a Year of radiance in which the glory of God will shine on us. We will rise and shine for the Lord. The Lord will fill us with His power and use us as instruments in His hand to bless the peoples of this world. The Lord wants us to live fruitful lives and He will prune us to increase our productivity. Therefore we must no longer be passive or idle but yield ourselves to be used by the Lord in the service of His kingdom.

 

ISAIAH 60: 1-22 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
“Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm.
Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. 
Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.
All Kedar’s flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you; they will be accepted as offerings on my altar, and I will adorn my glorious temple.
“Who are these that fly along like clouds, like doves to their nests?
Surely the islands look to me; in the lead are the ships of Tarshish, bringing your sons from afar, with their silver and gold, to the honor of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.
“Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion.
Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, so that men may bring you the wealth of the nations— their kings led in triumphal procession.
For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; t will be utterly ruined.
“The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the pine, the fir and the cypress together, to adorn the place of my sanctuary; and I will glorify the place of my feet.
The sons of your oppressors will come bowing before you; all who despise you will bow down at your feet and will call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
“Although you have been forsaken and hated, with no one traveling through, I will make you the everlasting pride and the joy of all generations.
You will drink the milk of nations and be nursed at royal breasts. Then you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, your Redeemer, and the Mighty One of Jacob.
Instead of bronze I will bring you gold, and silver in place of iron. Instead of wood I will bring you bronze, and iron in place of stones. I will make peace your governor and righteousness your ruler.
No longer will violence be heard in your neither land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.
The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.
Then will all your people be righteous and they will possess the land forever. They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor.
The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; in its time I will do this swiftly.”

This New Year is a year of revelation in which the Lord will reveal spiritual secrets and mysteries to us. Those who diligently seek Him will receive enlightenment of the great spiritual treasures and blessings that are in store for us. The Lord will grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation to know His will and the way in which He wants us to go. He wants us to be rooted in love and understand the full dimensions of the love of Christ.

EPHESIANS 1:15-23  For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

This New Year will be a year of rejuvenation in which the Lord will renew our strength and grant us good health. As we are faithful to obey His commandments and do what is right in His eyes, the Lord will remove sicknesses and diseases from our lives and fill us with divine health and strength. When we are walking in the will of God, we can boldly claim the promises of God to experience healing for our bodies. The Lord delights in the wellbeing of His servants.

ISAIAH 40:29-31 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

This New Year is a year of relationship in which the Lord wants us to have a close relationship with Him. He wants us to love Him with all our heart, soul and mind and to love others as we love ourselves. He wants us to walk in total obedience to Him in order to become His intimate friends. The Lord wants us to become His disciples. We must be willing to pay the price of following Christ. The Lord has warned that only those who love Him more than they love anyone else including their close family members can become His disciples. The Lord Jesus during His life on earth was careful not to allow His earthly family to hinder Him from fulfilling His ministry. Abraham had to prove His supreme love for God when he was asked to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac, before he was called a friend of God. Isaiah had a vision of God, when his earthly support, namely King Uzziah died. He had the revelation of God, only when he had become totally reliant on God. The Apostle Paul was diligent in seeking to know Christ intimately, and to fulfil the purpose of God in his life. The Lord wants us to enter into that level of deep and intimate relationship with Him in this New Year.

JAMES 4:4-10 “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

So as we go forth in the New Year I trust that we will lay aside the things that weigh us down. “Free ourselves from anything and anyone who would keep us from entering the fullness of what God has for us in this New Year. Sever ourselves from those relationships which would lead us astray. Separate ourself from anyone who brings strife or division. Therefore, we must align ourselves with men and women of faith and integrity, and those who are true to their word. We must build relationships with others who will strengthen us as iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. God has called us to bring joy to the world, not sorrow. Refrain ourself from anything that causes us to sin.”

Let me wish you a blessed day and a PROSPEROUS New Year. I love you and God bless you richly.