By Odon Bulamba (3rd June 2005)
Revelations 7:7-8
In each tribe, God will select only 12 000 people after (not before) the coming back of Jesus-Christ. When Jesus-Christ comes back, grace will stop for us but God will give His people a short time to “catch up”. Whoever accepts Jesus during that time will be saved. Some Jewish say the 12 000 don’t count old people, women or children. According to them these 12 000 will be only men. But when the prophets will be back, they’ll preach Jesus’ Gospel and the 12 000 saved will count men, women, and children. It will be a very small number.
Zebulan
Is a son of Jacob by his wife Leah (Genesis 30:20).
His name means “dwelling” or “honor”.
His blessing in Genesis 49: 13
“Zebulun will dwell at the seashore;
and he shall be a haven for ships,
and his flank shall be toward Sidon”
GOD GAVE BUT THEY FORGOT HIM
Zebulun is a commercial tribe, involved in selling activities, sharing and giving. Even today the descendants of Zebulun have a gift of giving and will succeed in business. God put that ability in them and because of it, they decided to leave the land and settle on the coast to do business (oil …)
They became a haven for ships but something was wrong with them. This business caused them to sometimes forget the glory of God, forget to stop and worship God. They would sometimes forget to join others in worship or offerings, they were too busy on the shore doing their business. God started to be angry: He had given them money and the ability to work but this led them to forget the Provider.
Today in our church we see this category of people. We all look the same with two hands and two legs but if you give me and someone else$50 worth of bananas, I might sell mine in 5 days and someone else in 2 days at the same market. Customers will be drawn to the other person’s business more than mine. It doesn’t depend on him or me, but on God. So when He opens the door for you to receive, always remember this is not your strength or who you are but only God’s doing. Glorify Him!
God can say to His people: “I offer you this land but come back to me and give me a part in your land” God blesses our land and farm to produce crops. If He didn’t, we wouldn’t get anything from it even if we are experts and use special chemicals. Nothing will work without God. This is a message for us New Zealanders. We have enough land and it is blessed but do our farmers glorify God for that? Do they remember their God?
Zebulun will be like a haven. In other words, they will offer anyone joy and strength. Unfortunately, when Christians are blessed, they think others just want to use them. We have negative thoughts against people, forgetting that blessing comes when you give to others.
God asked these people to remember to use whatever they receive for His glory and they tried their best to give every time they could, even if they went fighting they contributed not for their glory or anyone else’s but for God’s glory.
There is an example in 1 Chronicles 12: 33 & 40; they served for God’s glory. They had the ability to invest and in the meantime didn’t forget God or other people. They knew by giving to others from their own blessings, they’d bless them and be blessed back in their own job. But if they kept what they had and didn’t bless the people of God, the Provider would stop His blessings.
For example if a wife puts all her trust in her husband’s studies and thinks they won’t have any trouble anymore once he gets his degree, what would happen if the husband dies on that day? She’ll see herself at the very bottom and wonder where to go and who to go to for help and assistance?
GOD CARES, PROVIDES AND LOOKS AT OUR ACTIONS
God can do whatever he wants in our lives, he can end it today, He can give us one thing, end all your trouble till the rest of our life or make someone poor. But if you commit yourself into His hands and say: “God, I know I’m studying hard but after my studies, take control of my life, guide me. Tell me what I shall do to be able to offer something to my wife, children and others?” God will start to provide slowly and at the same time He’ll watch your actions and reactions.
When God starts blessing a human being with money for instance, He often gives a small amount first. He’ll raise your salary from $10 to 15 and 20 and then look at your generosity. If you don’t remember God in your actions, He’ll react and you’ll go down.
Today because of their blessings, many people can hate others, they’ll minimise others. They think that others are not as good as them because they don’t have as much as they have. For example, if a businessman has millions of dollars, his wife will never care about other people as long as her husband is alive. But if he dies, his wife will then start to think about others. She will ask herself what to do since the one who used to organise things is gone.
Be careful to keep good relationships with others, rich or poor people, black or blind. Be careful because nobody knows what will happen tomorrow to you or to your family.
So the tribe of Zebulon offered 50 000 people to join in the army, to support God’s work. They offered food and whatever they had to support God’s work.
God has opened many doors into our lives. What do you offer to support God’s work? Do we pray for His preachers, His servants around the world, do we assist God in visiting whoever needs to be visited, do we assist God in giving away booklets to others, telling them about God? We have enough to share around, what do we do with it?
In this tribe, only 12 000 people will be chosen. Who will they be?
They will be people who accepted Jesus and accepted to follow His rules. If they keep thinking they don’t care since they already have their own money and what they need, they’ll stay behind.
PUT YOUR PROBLEMS ASIDE AND ATTRACT PEOPLE BY YOUR GOOD ATTITUDE
We are also the haven of the church today and people have to find joy through us. The Holy Spirit must dwell and find His place there.
- If you are a haven, what do you think people should expect from you?
- Joy, a door of compassion, a gate of blessing.
But if people come to you and see you’re always angry, no one will approach you. Even if someone is facing problems, nobody will come to a moody person. If you have a problem with yourself, just commit it to God, don’t express your problems, your anger or your negative points to others. Just try to be kind, simple and to humble yourself so that the people of God can come to you and get what they need through you.
In shops, the shop assistants always have a smile on their face, especially girls. “How are you today? How can I help?” They try to be familiar with you, to show they know you so that you’ll feel free to express your needs. But if the shop assistant looked angrily at the clients and asked aggressively: “So, what do you want here?” What will the client do? Leave and say good-bye. This client will speak about that shop assistant to others so that nobody will come to the shop. This shop sells good things but don’t go there. The shop sellers’ attitude towards clients puts off buyers.
If you are grumpy like this in a shop, you might not sell anything for 10 years, but I can assure you the bills will keep coming as well as Inland Revenue for taxes. How are you going to pay?
So our attitude towards people must reflect the picture of Jesus, of joy to attract them. Put aside your attitude, even if you are in conflict with yourself or others and give an impression of joy to others so that they’ll come to you. Otherwise, the visitors will pay the price of your own problems. In any case, let’s not talk to them angrily and let’s try to fix our own problems.
No comments:
Post a Comment