By Odon Bulamba
Mathew 24:25
“Behold [or see] I have told you in advance”.
A very simple but powerful message.
When someone tells you, “See, I have told you,” what is your impression? E.g., “I told you so”. Meaning you were told but you didn’t care about what you were told and later you face the consequences. When that consequence happens, someone reminds you, see what happened.
We have the privilege to be called a child of God. It’s more than a grace to be redeemed, to be accepted and to be one of the children of God. In my life experience, I see many people going from one church to another running after preachers even moving cities because they are trying to be children of God but they can’t be children of God by simply doing that.
I’ve seen people telling God, “I will not leave this room until you save me”. Some will die from hunger and God let them die without salvation. You cannot force God to save you, you can’t purchase it from a shop or order on line, it is just a choice of God. Once you are chosen, you must understand that you are special. Being chosen from among millions is a privilege.
One time as a child, we went to a competition and as we were running those that were taller could make one step to my two steps. They were mocking me but in my mind I thought, “what should I do? Maybe I should run slowly so they will slow down too and after a long distance they will get tired”. After 20 minutes, they got tired and because my lungs were bigger, I increased my speed and I run faster and I won. Those big lungs that I had did not come from my feet, they were there to support me to move forward.
God has put things in your life to keep you moving forward. You shouldn’t minimise yourself and say, I’m not a pastor or prophet so God doesn’t care for me because He does care for you. Being a child of God means that God tells us in advance what is going to happen. All of us want to know what will happen next. When God tells us something in advance, we have that gift of knowing what will happen while others do not know.
From reading my Bible, I will know what will happen such as people will love money but for those without the revelation will find this normal and won’t see it as a sign of Jesus. In Mathew 24, Jesus gave us all the signs of His return. Knowing this is a privilege. What do you do with that information?
One time I sat an exam at the University of Waikato. I asked a simple question to my lecturer by email and he replied with all the answers of the exam. The email was very long and I took the courage to go through it all and the next day in the exam, I couldn’t believe it…it was a three hour exam, I was completed in 20 minutes because I knew the answers.
God has been telling us the answers to all the questions we will face on judgement, “Your actions will follow you so be prepared, don’t sin, repent because all of these will be the questions that I will ask you on that day”. We already know the questions and the answers but are we ready to stand up in front of God to give him the feedback.
Mathew 24:25, “I have told you in advance”. Meaning we won’t have any justification on that day to say, “Jesus, I didn’t know”. Imagine you have told your child, “Tomorrow this is what you are going to do”, and then your child is not ready the next day what you had planned to do. E.g. we want to go to Auckland, we are leaving at 11am and we have planned everything correctly and then at 12pm I am not there yet. You will ask yourself what has happened and then you will be disappointed because I didn’t take our plan seriously.
From this verse, Jesus is giving us a program, “My Kingdom is coming soon and I don’t want to be selfish, I want you My children to live with Me in this Kingdom. I have prepared everything for you. I want to show My love to you My children so get ready I am coming to pick you up. At 8am I will be ready and I will pick you up at such place so be ready. When you see the signs happening, remember that I am on my way so clean yourself and be ready so we can go.
Yet, instead of reading those signs and preparing ourselves, we say to God, “I am sick of this, this preaching, the Word, the name of Jesus”. Why aren’t you sick with your behaviour, character and things of this world? We live the same things every day, it’s a routine. Aren’t you sick of that? We should be sick of this physical life and think about a new life that is not boring and is eternal.
One time my mum told me, “My son, how long do you want to live on this earth?” I said, “Maybe 1000 years”. “Regardless of all the challenges surrounding you?” She told me, “I understand but Jesus said that it is better to live like children,” meaning that children will adapt themselves to any situation.
Ange is holding her daughter. Imagine if someone tells me to sit on Ange’s lap like that. I will say no. Children will let you know when things go wrong and don’t have shame or shyness to express what is inside them. How often are we shy to prove to the world that we belong to God. For children to sit on their mum’s lap, they are free without asking anyone and it feels good. When God wants to hold us because people are around us, we don’t want to be identified as children of God.
My mum told me that everyone on earth works hard to be happy. We go to work to find money to be happy. When we visit parts of the world we want to be happy and enjoy what we see. Even what we eat, we want good and tasty food to make us happy. My mum said happiness is not on this earth.
If you want happiness think about the next Kingdom to come. You lovbe money but money doesn’t love you. You love your house but your house does not love you. You love God, He straight away loves you without condition.
When I was around 20 years old, I understood that everything around me can kill me. We are surrounded by several enemies. For that reason, God said that in my Kingdom, death won’t be there anymore, suffering and crying won’t be there anymore, you will be there living in joy celebrating. See, I have told you in advance.
When someone tells you in advance, “You get prepared”. It is not only a matter of being informed but preparing yourself. Are you ready to meet with the Lord and to enter the Kingdom of God? Are you ready to sit in the room with Jesus? When you were told in advance, you don’t have to forget, you must make sure that you don’t forget.
Jesus said, “You will receive the Word of God but satan will snatch it”. You read the Word of God a few years ago or received a message but now you have forgotten it. If you have a box to store to jewellery or money, then you should also have a place in your heart to store the Word of God.
When I want to get credit on my phone, I am told to top up my phone. The topping up process is not for free, you must pay. Although I have been using Vodaphone for several years, they don’t have any mercy when my New Zealand dollars have finished. They don’t care that I have been using their service for 20 years. At the end of the month I must top up and they always take away from me.
If I think about the money that I have wasted topping up my phone you might be shocked. Although my phone cost me money, my phone is not enough, I must add credit every time before I use it. When I say that I am not topping up my phone, it becomes useless.
It is the same with the Word of God. When you are saved, when Jesus redeems you, He wants you to refresh yourself every time, to top up your knowledge, prayers, gifts and all that He gives to you because at the end of the day those that perish will be those that did not. If you don’t want to perish, top your knowledge. How much do you know, how much is your knowledge and how much are you prepared?
In the Bible, those with handicaps were taken to Jesus to touched to become normal. Jesus was touching them and healing them. My heart can be sick and my mind can be sick but I have to go to Jesus to ask for healing. How often do we ask Jesus to heal our spiritual life? Come close to Jesus to ask for healing. Pray to God, “I am your son or daughter, you have chosen me from among millions, please don’t forget me on the day that you come back, don’t forget my family and my people, I want to see them in heaven”.
Jesus said, “Go everywhere to preach the gospel and make them my disciples”. God wants you to bring people into his Kingdom. Do you do that?
I was reading the poems by Gloria. These poems are deep and touching. God lives in me day and night. Even when I sleep and I don’t know what is happening around me, God lives in me even when I am having night mares. As we were singing, Ange brought a few songs, the second one if you read from your sheet you will be amazed.
The love of God for you. He loves you. Do you love him? He cares for you, do you care for him? He wants you to be His child, do you want Him to be your Father? He is preparing a place for you, are you ready to come? He wants to come close to you, do you want to come close to him?
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