My Car

By Odon Bulamba 10^th April 2013

 

Nahum 2:4, “The chariots race madly through the streets; they rush to and fro through the squares; they gleam like torches; they dart like lightning”.

 

The Bible is talking about chariots moving around fast here and there and gives us the picture of cars which have lights to shine in the dark.  So the message tonight is titled:

 “My Car”

 

God put down that verse for a purpose.  Why is a car important in your life? Why is it important in society? Because without one, everything goes slow; a car enables you get to from one place to another faster.  If your car is sick, how do you feel?  If you wake up in the morning and your car won’t start, how do you feel? Automatically your entire program is destroyed because your car is not ready to go.  If you had an appointment, you have to find another solution.

 

Nahum saw in coming days, things will be like chariots moving around really fast going to and fro all the time.  God is like the man who manufactures vehicles and the vehicles represent our bodies.  In the car yard you will see different types of car, some beautiful, some not but that was up to the manufacturer.  You don’t get to decide how cars will be made.  When God creates you, He doesn’t ask your point of view on how you will look.  He doesn’t ask your parents what your body should look like.  Accept or not, you will find God creates you how he likes. 

 

God has a purpose for your body, which means you have to look after it.  When you want to buy a car you go to the car yard and you can look at all of them but before to be given one, they will see how much you can afford to pay.  If you say yes you can afford a $400,000 car, you have to prove it.  This is the same with the Kingdom of God; people want to be a pastor, they want to be fervent in prayer but God looks at you and asks, “will you be able to afford the price for this? Will you have the time to pray, will you have the time to spend doing this?”  God will not give it to you if He knows you can’t do it.  God will give you a gift believing you are capable of taking care of that gift. 

 

Once you buy a car, men call them baby and women can also be proud of the car.  For the first few months they will be very careful, driving with attention.  This is similar to when you get saved, you try to walk like a saint and you avoid sin and you don’t want to offend anyone and you feel attached to God.  After six months your car starts to become something else and the novelty has worn off and this is the beginning now.  That is the same with our Christian walk.

 

Before you are allowed to drive your vehicle you have to go through a driving test.  Although you are responsible for that car and it’s registered in your name, you have to be tested and you must read the rules, you must know the rules and you must obey them.  If you don’t read them you can have a big problem with land transport.  When you are saved, you are encouraged to read the Bible so you will know where to go and how to behave according to God’s rules.  The road code gives you signs to know where to go and you have to respect those codes without the police man behind you pushing you to obey them.  You see traffic a traffic changing; you will stop even if no one is there, your conscience will stop you.  If you see someone going through a red light, you will be shocked because we know this is the way it should be.  Once God gives us the Word and we know the rules, we have to know this is the time to stop and I can’t go that way. 

 

There are roads where the vehicle will pass and the car must drive only on the road, it can’t come inside the building because there is no place for a car in the house which means our bodies also have some restrictions where they cannot go.  There are places where God says no, don’t do this.

 

You as the controller of the car have to learn your new vehicle; after purchasing you have to know where is the first gear, where is reverse, where are the indicators, the window wipers, lights etc because each car is different. We must also control our own lives and know how to stop ourselves from sinning.

 

If you crash your car, the police will work out who was wrong.  Whenever there is sin in our lives, the Son of God is there to tell us you were wrong there and even if someone was wrong and offended you (Mark 11:25) we have to forgive them.  When we are wrong – what do we do?  Imagine you have a car crash and then you take off, the police will find you.  God is stronger than the police, He knows you and He knows where to find you.

 

Owning a car can be expensive and expenses build up.  When you didn’t have a car you didn’t think about Warrant of Fitness, Car Registration, or fueling the tank but because the car is there, you have another expense and you have to take care of it.  If warrant expires, or there is no petrol, you know you can’t use it.  God wants you to take care of your body; how often do you take care of your body?  Not just about washing your body physically – God wants us to remember our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  How do we take care of it?  Need to wash it not only to appear good on the outside but also to wash it inside. 

 

If your car takes petrol and by mistake you put diesel, your car won’t function well.  What you put in your body will have consequences that can take us in a wrong direction spiritually.  Our actions of our bodies will be what God will look at on judgment day.  What did you do?  If I want to lie, my body will do it.  Whatever, I want to do as sin, this vehicle (my body) will do it.  That is why the mechanic has to fix the car after every six months after a warrant.  How fit are you in your body?  Are you worthy to drive on the road?

 

Once you have a body, God gives you a community and family once you are born.  Your car has seats and can hold many passengers.  This means our bodies too hold people and we have responsibilities, people rely who on you, your kids, your mum, your sisters, needing advice, prayer and you have to take care of them.  If you have a car crash, you may kill people on the road: those in your car and others.  If your body is not looked after properly by you the driver and it crashes, you might mislead people next to you, those God put next to you might be destroyed spiritually if you are not careful.

 

When I (Odon) was young, he became a scout and it was compulsory in his country to be a scout order to train children for becoming a soldier in the future and they train you to be tough and to have a spirit of knowing how to deal with all situations.  By the age of 10 years old, I could do 100 sit ups and climb walls etc and it made my mother fear.  The training was for a purpose, and we had to learn lying, stealing etc which was part of the training.  Sometimes satan will come with tricks; people will come with ideas, “it’s ok, it doesn’t harm” but maybe you are harming that Spirit of God that is inside of you and that will make your life completely out of control once you squash the Spirit.

 

We have to clean our car daily which some people find the biggest challenge. You can see nicely dressed people on street but their car is a mess.  Very often we don’t make an effort to make our bodies pure and clean in front of God.  We do in front of people but not in front of God which means we have to repent every time we sin and then make an effort not to sin.  Jesus used to tell people, “go sin no more”.  It’s your responsibility because you are the one controlling the body, it’s not up to God to control you.

 

Daniel 12:4, “But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

 

God told Daniel at that time to seal the message until the end of the time and this is the end of the time now where many people are going to and fro to increase their knowledge.  Old people are going back to school, old people are fighting to use computers, we are all trying to increase our knowledge.  The best knowledge to increase is to first know is who yourself is and that God gave me a big responsibility to look after myself, my family and the knowledge of Word of God but most people want to increase knowledge in the world in order to make money.  What knowledge are you increasing?  For God or for selfishness? What are you focusing on at the moment? If you are not focusing on anything then take the time to stop and think.  Ange’s poppa passed away and if he hadn’t increased his knowledge of God, he might have perished: God says my people perish through lack of knowledge.  God has given to us intelligence and today we have this big brain so use the opportunity to learn Word of God because Jesus is coming back soon.

 

Is your car ready to go? If not, take it back to the mechanic so He can fix it.  Day after day, repent, ask God for more strength.  If your passengers are not really following Jesus and are making noise while you drive, stop your car and ask God to help you in same way you would in a physical car, if kids were making noise.  Discussions exist in families – physical and spiritual.  To have a family is a blessing so use your body to bless that family and through your actions you will save many people.

 

Pray God will make your body a good vehicle for your family.