JUDE 5

By Hayley Boud

“Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things.” Jude 5

So these people knew everything but Jude wanted to remind them of what they already knew. And throughout scripture we can find many, many verses where God tells them to remember. Why? Because, as humans, it’s our nature to forget easily.

But I’m here to remind you we are Christians now, so we have the power from God to remember. So why don’t we remember if God is in us and we have that power? I think that it is laziness.

I’m not here because I want to remind YOU, but because I know that I need reminding too. We all need reminding. So let’s stop and think for a bit, since we first started to pray until now, do we have the result we should have? Or does our result have a handicap or maybe there is no result. Look at yourself and don’t think about someone else, it’s too easy to think, “Well Pete once talked about love, but I don’t see Hayley practising what he taught, she still doesn’t love.” Please, don’t do that. There are times when you can see a fault in others, and there are times when God allows you to tell that person, so there are times when we can help each other. But for tonight, I want you to only look at yourself. Everything I say is for yourself and for myself, please don’t think about how much this message is good for Ang or for Sylvie or for Michelle. This is for YOU and for ME.

So think about what you have been learning. We have been together since the 15th April 2000 and so we have had hundreds of messages and many of those were from Odon. It’s true that from those messages everybody has learnt something. But who here can tell me what half of those messages were. Can you tell me 50 messages?

When the Israelites were hungry they ate manna the first day, and the second day and the day after that. But soon they started to complain and they lost their motivation to eat. Are we like the Israelites? Have we moved forward or have we gone backward since we began meeting? Look only at yourself. Remember the danger that came to the Israelites because of their attitude at the end.

Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart form your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

Meditate night and day. Day represents the times when we have joy and peace and night represents the times that are hard or when we a crossing a situation where sin is close.

Joshua had a good relationship with God, they met daily, but God told him to remember or it will be hard to get prosperity. How will you prosper (spiritually) without meditating properly and this takes time. All those who are great men of God (Billy Graeme, Benny Hinn) have got this spiritual prosperity from meditating, reading the Bible day and night and praying. It’s only by meditating that we can prosper.

Who can tell me the last five messages Michael gave? Or Pete gave?

Mathew 25:14, When Jesus gives us the Word of God, if we don’t use it properly, the part that we do have will be removed and give to someone else. The reason, because of laziness.

Who can tell me what the last five exhortations for Wednesday were?

God put us together to learn together, after learning we don’t have the time to meditate. 2 Thess 3:10, who ever doesn’t work doesn’t have the right to eat. Work means to make an effort by yourself. Work first and then you can eat. God can send His servant to feed us, but we have to work to find a lesson.

When Odon asks us a question, we all say, “Yes….. I remember….. but…..I don’t….” When your friend says to you, “So you have been studying for over a year, what have you learnt in a whole year.” What will you answer? You should be able to tell her over 100 messages. People and God have to find the fruit of what you are doing.

If someone becomes a soldier, it’s not because they like the uniform. They become a soldier to defend their country. He knows that oneday, if a battle breaks out, he will have to sacrifice his life to defend his country. It’s the same for us, why do we meet together on a Wed or Sunday? Is it because we like something here. Maybe I like to be with Sylvie, or maybe I want to please Michael, or maybe I have to give Oscar a ride. But we have to know that there is a battle going on and we must be ready. The same way that a soldier gets ready, he learns how to use the gun and he learns the techniques of battle. We must know the techniques of being a Christian.

Because the point of my talk is to “remind”, so who can remind me of the steps that Odon taught us on the programme of a Christian? Those present were Derek, Shari, Odon, Oscar, Kelly, Ang, Donna, Michael, Sylvie, Hayley and Pete. Those absent were Andrew and Michelle who did receive the notes and so the only person exempt is Leroy. (Pray, Housework, Bible, flee youthful lusts).

We need to practise. If you had been practising this teaching, you would have easily remembered. It’s like learning to write. You begin by writing A over and over, then B, then C and at the beginning it’s hard but you get faster as you practise. If you don’t practise you will be useless, you would never learn to write by theory only. It’s like at uni; the students are only taught theory so in the labs I laugh a lot at the way people do things because they just haven’t practised. And if you stop practising you will be slow again. Like riding my bike, I was really a good cyclist , really fit when I was riding it. But now I’m afraid to ride again because I know I am useless now.

In our battle, we fight against satan. Remember how Jesus would fight against satan? He would say, “It is written.” What will you tell satan when you don’t know where it is written. You have to read your Bible, memorise and meditate.

We will not live eternally on this earth, so we have to take every opportunity God gives us, struggle for what is important (spiritual over physical). If you say, “I’ll do it tomorrow,” remember tomorrow doesn’t belong to you. There was a man in the bible who stored food for tomorrow and food represents the Word of God. Because we have a stock of preachings, we have to use it, because God is a God of the presence. I am who I am, not I will or I was. He acts in our present, not our past or our future but at the time we need Him. God can give us prophecies but in the right time they will be fulfilled which is in the present. When God gives a teaching, it’s for the present, the present is the right time to receive it and do something with it.

If you cook some food, and keep it for the future, it will change. It won’t be the same as when you first cook it, it will go cold and it might even rot. At the right time, you have to eat it. When God called people in the Bible, you don’t see them saying, “Alright, I’ll come, tomorrow.” Because tomorrow doesn’t belong us.

Luke 12:16, the rich man thought having a lot of food in store was a guarantee for his life but he was wrong. And it’s the same for us. We might think we have a store of tapes, or a store of notes and this might be a guarantee for our life. But we are wrong because unless we use what we have, we will be like the rich man and look what God said to him.

So lets remind each other all the time about what we have learnt. Lets discuss among us, so we don’t forget. And don’t forget to take notes and then read them. And if you don’t understand something that Oscar has said, ring him and ask him to explain. And listen to the tapes, they are collecting dust and you don’t know what can happen in the future (they could be destroyed). Work hard to find a lesson each time. I remember one time someone spoke and afterwards I was asked by someone who wasn’t there that night, “what did they speak about?” and I told them something like, “Peace” for example. But then I thought to myself, actually I haven’t a clue what the lesson was. So they talked about peace but he didn’t explain how I can do this in my life. And I put the blame on the speaker. That may have been true, but it’s now my job to work hard at finding a lesson. When God put Adam and Eve in the garden he didn’t hand feed them, they could pick the fruit they wanted. And it’s the same for us. God doesn’t hand feed us, we have to work hard. This means reading and meditating and practising.

It’s true that Odon spoke some time ago about fasting and it’s true that none of us are practising this. Only once has a group of us got together and fasted in the correct way. We all desire to fast but only once we have done it according to how the scripture says. Why? Because we are lazy. Fasting requires a lot of work, we have to begin preparing at least four days ahead, with verses and with cleaning ourselves. We also need to know exactly what we are fasting for. But I admit that I haven’t fasted in this way at all. I have spent some great times with God and I didn’t eat during that time, and I prayed for some awesome things and I know God was with me and I know that He answered me, but I don’t consider this fasting. Fasting must be done the way God wants, and so lets not give up fasting, but also lets not fast every Thursday just because we have a habit of not eating that day. Neither way impresses God. To stop doesn’t please him and to continue in our own way doesn’t please Him. We have to practise God’s teachings to improve. I know that all of us desire to do God’s will and we all desire to fast and pray. So lets not forget to do it sometime. I admit that I am busy and I don’t have the time to prepare myself the way I should. But I shouldn’t let that stop me all together. Maybe I can tell God, Jesus, you know that I’m busy but holidays are coming so I would like to fast and pray. If you allow me please tell what I should pray for and when and for how long. Remember that God might not allow you to fast and pray because he didn’t allow David to build the temple.