By Odon Bulamba
Mathew 24:45, “Who then is the faithful and
wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his
household to give them their food at the proper time?”
This is a small verse that puts together what
Jesus came to do on the earth. When Jesus
came down, He said, “I am the bread of life”.
He came as food, presenting Himself like food. Today we are called to think about food.
I like food. Do you?
It’s good, yummy and when you eat it, you feel a change in you. I have a sister, even if she is angry, she
will eat. You can verbally abuse her but
nothing will stop her appetite. When we
are eating sometimes, we lick our fingers because it tastes so good. It can be chocolate, pie, whatever we enjoy.
The Sun of Man wanted to show us how important
He is in our life. Without food, you
can’t survive. Jesus, who is the bread
of life was tempted by satan to change the stones to bread.
How often would you like to eat per day? Some we like to eat 6x/day. Some diets encourage that. Some people will eat once or twice because
they don’t have enough food. Even if you
don’t have enough food, your body will tell you that you need to eat now.
If you are young, you will ask your mother
if you can have something to eat and it is the responsibility of the mother to
help. Even the father can ask the mother
what to eat. Once our bodies need food,
no matter who you are, you need to find a way to feed your body.
Jesus has given us the task to go and feed
others. It is easy for me to eat but how
often do I feed others? When I am hungry
I can fight for food for myself but how often do I fight for food for others? When was the last time you fed a
stranger? Very often if you go to our
garage, you will find in our rubbish bin of garbage that we throw away food
while outside, there are people who need food.
We know Jesus and we eat the Word of Life
but when it is time to give to others, we are selfish, we prefer to throw away Jesus
in the rubbish than to share with other people who are in need. We were just taking the bread during
communion and Jesus said, “Remember me”.
How often do you remember Jesus in your life and share with others? We share the bread in church, how often do
you share with others? If you don’t share Jesus with others, what is your
reason, is it because you are selfish? Is there any other reason to stop you?
Jesus said that when He comes back, blessed
is the servant who had food and shared it with others. It is not about money or clothes or wealth
but a simple thing as food. I will give
you an example, I walked to Pak ‘n Save a time ago and I came across this
little boy who wanted a muffin, and the lady said loudly, “I can’t afford that!” “Mummy can I just have one?” The mum wanted to punish the child. I had $10 and the muffin was $1.50, and I
thought that if I bought him a muffin, I might not be able to buy what I
wanted.
I said to the mum, I can buy the muffin for
you. I said, “Choose, a muffin”. The boy chose a box of muffins which cost
$9.50. The boy wanted to share the
muffins with his brothers and sisters who were not there. I paid $10.
As I was about to leave, a man said, “I saw you pay. Why did you do that while you are black and
he is white”. I answered, “It doesn’t
matter, he needed a muffin”. The man
said, “Come,” and he withdrew $100 and gave it to me and said, “You can now buy
what you needed”. I could now buy 10x
more than what I could before I gave away the $10.
When you share food, you will be blessed
more. Some people will share bread with
birds and now those birds come close. When
it is time to share Jesus with people, it is a challenge
1 Samuel 17: 17-18, this is Jesse who is
sending his son David to take food to his brothers in the same way Jesus is
sending us to share the gospel (food of life) with others, your neighbours,
brothers, bosses, everyone. Jessie told
David to wake up in the morning, and go, take 16kg of roasted grain and loaves
of bread, “These are for your brothers.
10 cheeses don’t belong to your brothers but to the commanders because
your brothers are in a battlefield”.
David was the weakest boy of the family and wasn’t strong physically to
carry the heavy weapons but he could carry 16kg of grains, 10 cheeses and
breads.
That morning, he was told to leave
everything behind, including his flock and go to the battlefield. Imagine, you are not a soldier, “Colleen, go
to Iraq to deliver food to the soldiers”.
I will worry about my security and see death coming. Maybe I will say, “Send someone else who is
stronger and knows the battlefield”.
Most of the time in your life, God will send you to a battlefield where
brothers are dying spiritually and being attacked by satan to take food.
Goliath was very tall (giant) to the point
that when he stood up, people would run from him, even the king. Have you come across something that will make
you panic and run away. In my country
you can walk from here to the Base shopping mall with only trees and no light
with a small path. One day at 8pm, my
mum told me to in the dark to get salt from a family that lived far from our
house and I had to walk through the bush.
I answered, “But it is dark”. She
replied, “You have to go, you are a man,” meaning men should not fear.
My sisters refused to come with me. When you fear, you walk like a cat. Then this man came out with a white bed sheet
and screamed. There was nowhere to
run. I was so scared that I sat down and
was shaking and then I ran faster than an owl.
I told that family and they didn’t believe me. The said, “Here is the salt, you have to go
back because your mum sent you. No one
here will take you back”.
My heart was beating. I wished I had 10 pairs of eyes to see all
around. I ran through the bush and mum
said, you are full of fear. David was
like a little man who comes to the battlefield where everyone fears Goliath and
David says, “Don’t fear”. Have you been
told don’t fear? When a snake enters our
houses in Africa, everyone will yell snake and call the man of the house to
kill it no matter your age.
When David took the food to the brothers,
there were grains and loaves without fat but the cheese that is full of fat was
for the commander. Those that have put
on weight spiritually, they have many problems spiritually, we need to provide
them the right food. e.g., what you are doing is not right, I advise you to do
this. I might attack the person with
many verses to defend my weaknesses.
David who is weak is sent to take the
food. God will send a simple person who
is not an expert in the field of the Bible to bring food to you but we prove to
those people we know better than them.
Instead of accepting their offer, we tell them their own mistakes (just
as David’s brothers did to him), “You did this last year”. God will look at you, foolish child of mine,
I have been sending this person to help you, the message comes from Me but you
reject that message.
When David reached there, his brothers
said, “Why are you here, go back and take care of the flock”. You might have an important job to do, e.g
I’m a shepherd but don’t be surprised when God asks you to leave your job
behind and do this for Me. Many people
wait for others to preach, share Word of God and they are not ready to give the
food to those in the battlefield saying, “I’m a singer, not evangelist”. Have you said, the battle is hard?
Sometimes I have a big mouth when watching
tv, I advise the actors on tv and when I watch rugby, I yell at the player, “How
could you do that?”. It is easy to judge
and comment but I don’t even know how to throw a rugby ball yet my mouth can
talk. I wouldn’t say that I know better
than those in the battlefield, talk to them nicely and share the message with
joy, not harshly.
Last year I was in Dubai and I was
hungry. I was supposed to reach the
hotel at 7am but the security people told me, “Who are you? Why are you here?” “I booked the room here at this hotel”. “Can you prove it?” I provided proof. They brought me to the counter and the lady
looked at me, “no, just be on that side and I will finish with others
first”. I was put to the side like a
black tree and after 30 minutes watching others pass, I asked, “What is
happening. I gave my passport”. “Are you from New Zealand? Why are you here?” I answered, “Does that mean people from New
Zealand can’t come to Dubai?” “No, but
you”.
From 7am to 10:30am I was outside waiting
for my room. I was told, “You will have
to go somewhere else to find another room”.
It was a 5 star hotel so black skin shouldn’t be there. 12pm, I went to the restaurant like anyone
and as I passed everyone was looking at me.
When I entered the restaurant I said, “We are here but our lives on this
earth are short and the judgement is coming.
The Bible says, men will harvest what they sow. If you plant ignorance, you will harvest
ignorance. If you plant hatred, then you
will reap hatred.
People were swearing. A man stood up, “This brother is saying the
truth. I am a Christian and we are not acting
good”. The hotel was filled with Christians
attending a Christian conference. Where
is love? This was the food I was sent to share with these people. Some said sorry.
Sometimes you can face challenging
situations, God will tell you at that time to give them the food. Bread is nothing but it can help you to not
die from hunger. Bread is important for
those starving. Don’t be worried because
they look stronger, more intelligent, or more rich than you. Tell them the
truth and the truth will set you free.
Cheese is for commanders. At that hotel I spoke to these men and I
spoke to the manager of the hotel without knowing. People were trying to stop me saying, “He is
the boss”. I came to him, ‘I have
something for you, you have money but what do you do to prepare for your time
after this life? Have you invested in
your after life?” He responded, “I do
good to people and I assist people with a lot of money”.
I said, “Prophet Mohammed said to prepare
your place in the kingdom. Do you know
the address of your property in the Kingdom of God? Do you know how big is your land in the Kingdom
of God? Have you built something in that kingdom?” He was happy and said, “What you are saying
is wise. Usually people don’t speak to
me because of fear”.
When God sends you to share food, don’t be
afraid. I once told Helen Clark, “Everyone
knows you, I wish everyone would know Jesus as they know you. Let people know that you are Helen Clark
because God allowed it”. What is your
testimony today? Some will testify, I
went to a party, I went to Raglan, I went to visit a baby. How often do you praise God for waking up? God is so good to me. We don’t testify all the great things that God
has been doing for us.
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