Lot

By Odon Bulamba

Luke 17:26-30

The Bible continues to remind us that whenever 2 or 3 gather together, Christ is among them.

Today I’m going to talk to you about Lot.  Lot means “veil”: what you cover your face with.  You can see through it and see faces but people may not see your face.  Lot was the nephew of Abraham. 

Luke 17:28 will be the main verse for today.  In the days of Lot people were eating, drinking, buying and building.

Last Sunday, we talked about the time of Noah where people were eating, drinking, marrying and giving their sons and daughters to marry.  Jesus has been telling us that this is a reminder, “When you start to see these signs, remember I am coming back”.  When you observe these things, it is an alarm, wake up.  As I said last Sunday, to eat is not a sin and to drink is not a sin and to marry or give your daughter to marry is not a sin but God was angry to the point that He destroyed the people of Noah for those mistakes.

Why was God not angry with those who were killing, or those doing prostitution, or liars.  Why not all the sins that we know?  He continues to say that at the time of Lot people were eating, drinking, selling, buying, planting and building.  Many people will tell you that Jesus is coming back soon, we can look at all the signs.  Are you ready to go?  We believe that what the Bible calls sins and that is the only thing that can stop us from pleasing God.

However, in the beginning Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden.  God told them live here but the first warning to human beings was to not eat the fruit from this tree, “By eating you will shock Me Your God and I will become unhappy with you.  You can eat everything else but not this one”.  If to eat is not a problem, why did God tell Adam not to eat the fruit of that tree?  We only know that eating in excess is sin.  Whenever you envy food or desire it more than God, God becomes jealous and unhappy.

For example, I watched children one time when we bought fish and chips, around 2003.  All our kids were there.  It was time to pray for the food and Lebon prayed as quickly as possible in order to attack his food.  I was maybe the same when I was a child.  I knew food wouldn’t run away from table but I would rush.  When I cook it might take 2 or 3 hours to prepare the food and I do that job with strength and courage.  I want that food to taste good.  Onions and tomatoes make it smell good and when I taste it, I think oh yes, this is going to be good.

As I cook it’s not only for me but for those that will share with me.  Many will come and taste it and say, its yummy, we appreciate it.  They eat with appetite and enjoy.  Although you spent hours in the kitchen, it will only take a few minutes to eat.  Then sometimes people leave some food on the plate.  You wonder how you can spend so much time to cook when they don’t even eat it.  That is where our teaching is today.

What are we investing in today for our spiritual meals for our family, friends and colleagues?  We are distracted with restaurants.  They have big signs, cook food, have a menu and when we look at the menu and we don’t know what kind of food is there.  I accept to spend money in order to try this and you buy it.  How often do people visit you and they see something in you to attract them to try your food?  The Word of God is food.  When you talk about a verse from the Bible or experience what God has done for you it is like a menu for others to look at. 

If I start from January to now (December), God has done a lot for me.  Free oxygen, health, protection, I can walk, talk and God has responded to all my needs.  In the same way God gave all the fruit to Adam and Eve but one exception to not eat this fruit.  Today our exception is to remember what we shouldn’t eat.  Does food in the first rank or last rank in your life?  Do you love food more than your soul, God, yourself?

I might love sausages more than God, or I might love cookies more than Jesus.  When I see pizza, I see myself in heaven.  Your soul, what does it say?  When you eat food you enjoy, how much do you feed your soul and with what do you feed it?  Very often, we feed from the food that we shouldn’t just as Adam and Eve ate from the “food of knowledge of good and evil”.

To drink is ok and the Bible doesn’t say alcohol, it could be water, juice just remember that whenever your drink holds highest rank in your life, God becomes jealous.  God doesn’t hide it, He says, “I am jealous.  I love you so much that I feel jealous whenever I see your love is put in something else”.  E.g. a husband that loves his wife who loves someone/something else instead that husband won’t be happy, he will be jealous.  God is the one who gives us thirst and the One who created the drink to quench it but we adore the drink more than God and put it in the first rank.

The verse says that the people in the time of Lot were buying and selling.  Why am I wearing this suit while it is a hot day?  One day I was walking in china and I saw this suit.  They put it on a mannequin and I thought, wow it looked good with all the colours.  I must buy it because it looks beautiful.  My heart was pumping, “you have to have it because if you don’t, you have nothing” while I have many at home.  Why do I need it?  The desire of my body was pushing me to buy it.

When I wear what I am wearing now, I cannot look at myself but it is just to impress others = pride.  Then, I approached the owner of the shop, how much for this suit?  I love this brand Giorgio Armani, and I knew it would be thousands.  Owner said, $200 and I bargained down to $25.  Now I have this suit, what is next, I have to wear it.  Who gave me the health to wear it?  Today God could make me sick and I can never wear it. 

I can easily spend $25 to buy this jacket but it is impossible to give $25 offering in church.  I can spend money to buy shoes but hard to give to the poor.  Pastors, prophets, men and women of God are all putting our eyes on buying now.  On Sunday I have to wear this to look more beautiful than others.  A matter of competition in church now so we buy not for the glory of God.

We have to think about what we will wear to work in order to be appreciated.  If you don’t get told, “nice blouse”, how will you feel?  Many will feel bad.  We need glory and God who deserves glory is becoming more and more jealous.  Why do you want to take my glory because of what you wear?  If you do a small task in the church, you want people to notice and appreciate it.  Saying thank you is not bad but once received, do I also present the thanks to God and say because of You, I did this.

Sometimes I do the dishes and people thank me and I also thank God for giving me the hands to do it.  Those who serve and don’t do things for glory will be raised up by God.

Pastors write books and you have to buy it.  CD’s, you have to buy.  In order to join conferences, you have to pay.  We are selling business in church.  Business in church is greater than supermarket businesses around New Zealand.  If you buy this, this person will be able to do this.  We are doing fundraising.  People are supposed to give and give and give.

Today, we can see these signs inside the church.  We buy and sell.  We want to become rich and very rich quickly which to us is to earn a lot of money.  Recently, I watched tv about the bitcoin.  8 years ago, someone rung me about the bitcoins and I mocked the person over the phone.  Those who received them, are now millionaires.  This is like a dream, I was proposed to do this and I thought it was a scam but it has made others millionaires. 

Because I didn’t have the lust of money, I put it aside.  If I could give that money away and have millions today, maybe I wouldn’t be here today in church but instead I would be running after money.  I would put my Bible aside, God give me wisdom to know how to manage my money, to know how to get more interest.  After getting more money, I will kneel down and praise God.

Will I give 10% for tithing?  If I earned $30M, how will I give $3M?  It’s a lot.  I sacrificed my money, my time, and the time I had with my children, you don’t need $3M God.  God will take it away.  Take that jacket off, and it will be taken away.  Take your tie off and it will be given away.

My computer crashed, my interest is gone, my $30M has dropped to $2M.  You lose your password with Bitcoin and someone steals your money.  God will take your income.  God will tell you is that you are only building your finances.  Building money is priority number of 1.  I will accept to wear jacket of problems in the middle of summer to earn money instead of trying to earn God’s love.

God says I am here and we say, I don’t have time for you, God can you wait until next week.  I just want to live longer to be able to enjoy what I have earned.  Those who sell know how to attract you. Sellers don’t know you but they will put things in the store so your eyes will say, this is what I want.  They take money from you.  What do you buy from your God?

When you open your Bible, there are a lot of things that attract you from your Bible, what do you buy?  Those in Laodicea were told to come and buy what I can put in your eyes so you can see.  What do you buy?  What do you sell?  For those who want to buy from God, what attracts people to you?  What attracts you from the Word of God?  What did you go through in 2017? 

In the end at the time of Lot, the angels came and said, it’s time to leave.  Lot was living in Sodom and Gomorrah.  People couldn’t know who was lot because his faith was hidden behind the veil.  You have to leave now, no time to pack.  Whatever you have, the food that you used to love, your drink, what you sold and bought will stay behind and only those that will come with you will come.

We are living at the end of the time when the master will come and ask you to leave this world.  When he comes, he doesn’t have to ring the bell to let you know he is on his way.  What are you taking with you?  Your nice jacket, tie, shoes, your good/bad actions, your food you love?  What will you present to God?

Those signs are a wake up call for us.  If I am a veil, my role shouldn’t be to cover the faces of others so they can’t be seen but we should be a light of the world.  We shouldn’t cover the hs in me so he can’t act and hide the fruit in me.  our role is not to hide that we are saved.  One brother who did a mistake was moses.  He came down from mountain and he was shining so he thought the solution was to have a veil so people couldn’t see it.  He lost that light and it disappeared.

When God gives you something, let others see it, don’t hide it so you can be the light for those in darkness.  If you put a veil to hide what God has given you as gifts then you will make many to die and they will vanish.  You may be beautiful and it attracts people.  In 2005, I saw a very beautiful girl in Uni of Waikato and all people would look when she passed and make comment.  God knows how to create people and who to give the beauty.  The girl didn’t care about her beauty but it attracted men and women.  You have many things in your life that attract others, what do you do with them.

Your eyes, hands, voice can all attract others but how do you use them to attract them for the glory of God and not for your own glory.

A man was given $40, as your birthday is coming take your friends out and enjoy.  $40 is not enough, and the young man was only 11 years old.  Mum, please can I have more.  $100 all up was given.  He called a few boys and they went to BK.  Money wsa still there and boys ate and they were happy and they had icecream and enjoyed.  6 boys came back home.  BK was so good, we ate, drank, we played and everyone thanked the child but no one thanked the one who gave the money.  The child took all the glory.

Imagine God, when you take glory he will say, hang on, I am here too.  When pete finishes work in a good way.  God waits for the glory to be passed on to him.  We have to tell those people, thank you to you too and I thank God also.  When we forget, God becomes jelaous and because of that, God burned the entire city.  Children and animals, plants were innocent but all were consumed by God’s fire because of jealousy.

If I give you the entire world, what will you gain if you lose your soul.  I am jealous of your soul.  Nothing equals your soul.  God is jealous about your soul and he wants it.  You can feed yourself and wear what you want but you have to remember to feed your soul and clothe it.  Most of our souls walk around with shame and heads down, naked and malnourished – no one takes care of me while our physical bodies are enjoying.

We have to build, buy and sell but we need to do the same for our souls.  If you don’t invest in your soul, no one will do it for you.  You have to make an effort to prepare yourself.  We thank God for 2017, we will never see it again.  Where we made mistakes or didn’t please God, this is the time to ask God to forgive us, to get strength to do better.  We don’t know what we will face in 2018.  We may ask God for protection, help, support and pray for others because we don’t know the surprises of 2018.

I once bought a house for my mum of around $900K, I was rich at that time but the following day it rained and the house was at the top of the mountain and the beautiful house eroded down the mountain.  It was completely destroyed.  Our country didn’t have insurance.  That was my xmas surprise.  You don’t know what 2018 will bring you.  You might be breathing now but in 2 mins the ambulance may be called for you.

Pray God to protect you and your family and to settle all your problems in 2017 to start 2018 with joy