Who Satisfies Your Desires - Psalm 103:5

Be Watchmen and Watchwomen - Mathew 24: 40-51

Finding the Wisdom of Solomon - Eccl 12:13,14

Fear Not! 2 Chron

The Spirit of Man

Nothing is Impossible for God

 

Nothing is impossible for God.  When you know that nothing is impossible for God, it means you trust God and you believe that no matter what happens, you will be a winner because God is there for you. 

We all like miracles and we all want to see miracles, even when we pray we keep asking God to see changes to get something we don’t have. “Lord protect us, heal me, give me peace, joy, money, job, salvation for my family, I trust you God, you are the only one who can give this to me”.  No one prays to God and says, “I don’t need anything from you”.  God created those needs in our life so we can always go back to Him and remember that nothing is impossible for God.

Before Jesus left, He shared bread and wine and the message, “Do this for remembrance, remember me, it is a symbol of remembering me”.  What do you remember about God in your life?  What pushes you to stop and think about what God has done for you.  Have you stopped and thought about all that God has done for you throughout your life? 

We must first remember from our creation, when God created a human beings it was on the 6^th day and everything was beautiful.  He created just using His words.  In my tribe we believe that if you have eye problems then look into the sun at 5:30am and then you will see a change in your eyes like a miracle.  When you have pain in your eyes let the fresh air from the river to heal your eyes.  We don’t wear glasses in my tribe because we use the nature that God has created.

On the 6^th day, God took the dust and made a body.  He was an artist that day.  He gave the mud a shape and it looked good but the difference was that He didn’t want to speak as He created the rest of the world.  God didn’t make a tree from dust or the sky or the sun or even a lion.  He preferred to use His hands to make a human being and He gave you and I life.

He said, “We are going to make a human being that will be like us”.  He decided to take a portion of Himself to make something new that will look like Him.  That portion is not my body but our soul.  God is eternal and only a soul is eternal.  Our body can easily die but the soul doesn’t die.  He chose the nostrils of Adam and breathed.

When you try to breath, you breath in and out.  For someone to feel your breath, you have to push it out and when you feel it, feels like a wind.  When it reaches you, it rests on you.  God took a soul that is you and me and divided in 3 parts.  First part came out of his lung, mouth and lips.  The second part is the wind that left his lips and the 3^rd part is where the breathe rested.  From those 3, the human being has life.  If one of those steps is missing, there is no life. 

God put that in you.  By putting that in you, it means that you become someone who resembles God.  Do you believe that you look like God?  Most of the time we don’t think so because God is maybe rich and I am poor or He is handsome and I am not or because He has everything and I don’t.  What we see outside is not what He looks at, He looks at our souls.  Does your soul they reflect God?

One day God will take back the soul He gave us.  The body will go back to dust but the soul will come back to God.  He didn’t hide it, it was clear.  The most important thing to God is that when He breaths out and you breath in, you will have to one day breath out the soul and He will take it back.

How can you explain the soul and how it works?  Nothing is impossible to God.  When our mothers become pregnant, something will start to grow in their bodies, the baby.  The baby has eyes but can’t see, they have nostrils but can’t breathe, they have ears but can’t understand, they have mouth but can’t speak until they come out.  When they reach this world, breathing starts, eyes open and ears open and they can start to eat.

The life in us is like a pregnancy.  There will be a time when there will be a rebirth and everything will be open in heaven to us and we will understand everything.  Although God has given us the soul, He said you have to live on the earth where you will face challenges and problems. 

God, you created me in your image but you don’t face problems.  We all like miracles but remember a miracle will only happen when there is a problem.  If you want a big miracle then accept also a big problem.  Once the problem doesn’t find a solution that is when miracle comes.

For example, someone can tell you that they want to be healed.  God says yes, I will open the path.  First step, your pain will be multiplied by 3 and you will go to the Dr and they can’t help.  You might be disappointed and find it so hard, “Lord heal me”.  During that time, you may see someone coming to you and praying then you are healed.  If you did not accept the problem, you could not accept the miracle.

The storm comes into every person’s life.  The devil is here and storms don’t choose what foundation you have, you can be a believer or not, the storm will come and you will face it.  As children of God, we know that problems are there but we forget most of the time that nothing is impossible for God.  All your problems are temporary and nothing is there for eternity.  If you are sick, that sickness has an end.

Remember whatever storm you are facing, will only be there for a short time but you must prepare your soul for eternity.

Luke 1:37, the angel came down and said to Mary, “You are going to conceive and give birth to a child,” and Mary was confused, “Who are you”.  “I am the angel of the Lord, God has sent me to you”.  Imagine someone walking in here, “God has sent me to you, I am an angel of the Lord”.  We will not believe them.  “Don’t be afraid, I am an angel of God and I have a message for you.” We might doubt because the angel didn’t come to Mary with wings but as a human being.

The angel said, “Nothing is impossible for God”.  You can’t exclude even small things.  Your biggest problem, your heaviest one, it is not impossible for God.  When you have no money, it’s not impossible for God.  When you say I want to go to heaven, that is not impossible for God.  When you say, I want my family to be saved, nothing is impossible to God even when they are dying as a sinner.

That day on the cross, the man next to Jesus said, “You are the son of God, why are you crucified next to us, if you are son of God do something”. The other one said, “Don’t forget me when you go to your kingdom”.  Jesus said, “Today I will be with you in paradise”.  Who could believe that man could be saved and in paradise the same day.  He didn’t go through repentance, He just told Jesus that He recognised who He was and don’t forget me.

When was the last time that you said to God, don’t forget me?  When I am in pain, do I tell God to not forget me or do I forget?  A lot of problems surround us.  The first thing you see is problem, maybe your body is in pain.  The first thing those who need glasses do is to find their glasses. Others who are smokers, must have a cigarette as the first thing they do.  If they don’t, they will feel sick. 

Others sing and praise God.  Others don’t have time to praise God, they have to eat first.  Maybe we bring all our problems so God as the first thing.  We start with all our issues before starting our day.

Once we have the answers, we often forget to come back and say thank you to God.  I was lucky to get there on time.  I woke up early and I was the first person in the shop and everything was 70% off and my credit card was approved.  We feel like we are capable but we couldn’t without God.

Once you have solution to your problem, do you thank him or do you just think it is your right.  Once you believe that it is your right, God will tell you no, that is not your right.  Come close to me.  by coming close to God you have to carry all your burdens.

1 Peter 5:7, cast all your anxiety on God because He cares for you.  All your problems, whatever makes your anxious cast them on God, not on a person but all your burdens to Jesus, not to a counsellor or doctor but tell Jesus first, “Here are my problems Jesus”.  God created everything by words meaning our words are also powerful.  I prefer to pray out loud because my words have power and I can change things.

Moses blessed his kids using words.  God blessed us with words.  Jesus used His words to heal.  We need to use our words to tell God our problems.  He wants to hear from you and hear what you will say.  If your problem is big, keep talking about it. I’ve seen people cry in front of others and tell them about their problems but they don’t have 4 minutes to spend in front of God to cry to God.  They quickly pray and then leave it so they can watch a movie.

God is saying, “Come close to Me”.  The father saw the prodigal son and he welcomed him back.  It was up to the son to come close to the father.  When you bring your burden to Jesus, He says, “Come closer to me”.  For that reason, I gave you the example of the man on the cross next to Jesus.  None of the crowd shouting to Jesus met with Jesus in paradise that day only the one close to Jesus who expressed Himself came to Jesus.

You have to carry your own cross and talk to Jesus about your situation.  You can’t leave it to others to pray for you.  Your first enemy is your body.  Your body will push you to become angry, steal, commit mistake, and you feel bad but praise the Lord for reconciliation.  How often do you reconcile with yourself, God, and your soul?

Life is short and none of will live for 160 years.  Yesterday it was someone’s turn and tomorrow maybe mine.  You won’t know the time.  My father used to say, even if you are wealthy, when death comes it won’t accept to take your money to leave you alive.  Your soul will say hallelujah it is my time now to live in eternity.  Your body can fight and they don’t want to leave but the soul will say no, I must go back to where I came from.

We prefer to be in this world to suffer but Jesus wants us to rest in heaven.  If your burden is too heavy, is there no solution to your problem, if yes, now is the time to pray to God and remind him that nothing is impossible to God.

Holding on to Faith

Encouragement - 2 Thess 2:16

Your body is the enemy of the soul - 2 Cor 20:17

2 Cor 20:17, “ You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.”

The battle you are crossing has two faces, one that belongs to me and the other side belongs to God.  When things don’t belong to you, before you touch them, you ask yourself if they really belong to you.  You can’t walk into a bank and take money from the counter or just take Tyrone’s car.  It is the same way for God. He puts us in a battle field and tells, “Remember that you have your portion of the battle and I have mine”.   

The first enemy of your life is your body.  Behind this body, satan acts and influences the body and that is what God calls battle.  I’ve never seen satan tempting a dead body.  He doesn’t need to.  As long as you are alive physically, then your body becomes a part of your battle.

You must know that your body is your main problem.  Because of our bodies, most of us will not enter the Kingdom of God.  That is why Paul said, “I want to do good but my body lets me down”.  Most of the time we pray, God protect us against satan.  What many Christians do to solve their problems, they try to protect their bodies through justification, defending your body, your feelings, your wrong doing so you can please your body.  We forget that the body will return to the earth.  If you already know that your body is a loser and isn’t worth it, why defend it.  Tell your body it is wrong.

Once you know that your body is wrong in a way, remember your problem is bigger than you.  Your body sometimes makes you feel so useless, how miserable is my life.  Your body will push you to believe you are miserable while your soul doesn’t suffer.  You will see someone crying and wishing they could be like Queen Elizabeth.  Do you know how much she suffers?  On one side, we want to appear like big people because our body likes glory and we want people to bow down.

I had the chance to talk to one of the most valuable men on the planet and he said that he only sleeps 4 hours because he has so many problems with people coming to see him and calling him and he must see the doctor all the time.

Michael Jackson also, had to have treatments because he was trying to make his body look a certain way and he had to see the doctor every day and now he is dead.  He was once great but now the young people don’t know who he is.  He forgot that the first enemy he had was his body.  The secret for salvation is whoever wants to gain his life will lose it, surrender all to Jesus then you will win the battle.

God is bigger than your problem.  When I don’t get what I want, what do I do?  Nothing.  If I want to buy this hall and I don’t have money, I just have to accept it.  But your body will tell you, it is time to break a bank, sell drugs and then you can afford the drugs.  Your body will not tell you that you will be caught.  If that thought comes up, the body will tell you a way around it.  Your body will have plans and strategies.

The body which is your enemy will tell you that you must win this battle.  What do you gain if you gain the entire world with everything it contains, gold, houses, money from the banks, aeroplanes.  What will you do with it all?  Good or wrong, you don’t need all of it but what you need most of all is your soul.

You should know that the most important thing for you is your soul, not what is in this world.  When I look for things that give me joy, ice cream, chocolate, I believe that this will help me.  Levi will tell you when you give him food, “mmmm that is yummy” and he talks like poetry because he is full of joy.  If only I could do that kind of poetry for reading the Word of God and joy from reading Word of God.

I can buy shirts. I once saw a bottle of wine for US$17,000.  I saw this man coming and asking for 6 of those bottles.  He paid with his card.  The man was rushing quickly and packing it with respect.  My heart was pounding.  The man gave bottles to different friends.  He gave the remaining 3 bottles to the man that served them.  More than $40K in wine.  Who is going to buy it from that man?  Where is he going to sell it?  He won’t drink it and he will fight day after day for a customer.  He won’t be allowed to sell it in the shop.

Our bodies will give us something that will give us more problems.  For example, you can feel like you are thirsty.  You search for water.  For those that drink alcohol, they can drink bottles of beer but can’t drink one glass of water.  Some need to drink alcohol or they start to shake.  He asks for money, and if you don’t give he starts to lie, I need money to take my mum to hospital.  He lies to get money and then once he has the money, he drinks and then he starts to swear and kick people.

I once saw him stumbling home, shouting, “Open this door you dog”.  He came inside.  Another day, he jumped into the back seat of his car and thought someone had stolen the steering wheel.  How do you try to drive your soul when the priority for you is your body?

If your daughter doesn’t respect you, you feel bad.  I feel shame on me.  It is the same with God, when we don’t respect what He says to us, we let Him down. He is disappointed, “I gave you everything for free and in return you tell your Father God that you don’t respect Him”.  We respond by saying, “I’m tired of you, I quit,” and you become rebellious.

We forget that our bodies lie to us.  God can turn off our breath at any moment and our body can’t stop that.  Then God will ask you, what did you do during your time on this earth.  Did you look after your soul?

Adam was given the job to take care of the garden of Eden.  Your soul is your garden of Eden. When someone talks to you wrongly, you feel you need to fight.  When you become angry, it is a simple battle.  Don’t fight back.  Tell yourself, this is not my battle.  If my eyes see something that I don’t like, automatically I become angry.  Why did you put this here?  We must consider God’s position.

Once we open the door, our soul will be the first thing that suffers.  By serving your body, you are killing your body for eternity.  When I watch boxing on tv, it is a battle, a fight.  With boxing, people fight each other for others to watch, they fight for the glory and for the prize money.  They give up everything, including certain food and time and they train to win. How often do you train your soul to feel fit?

Do you hate to put on weight physically, do you also hate to put on spiritual weight?  When you don’t want to go to work, maybe people will call you lazy.  Life is about working and we need to do something but when it is about your soul, how often will people tell you to do God’s work? Children will tell you they are too tired to go to school but the parent will push children to go to the school.

Regardless of how good your sleep is, you have to get out of bed.  That is your side of your battle.  Now spiritually, how often will people tell you to wake up?  Many people will try to please others. E.g. singing for others.  Once I was invited to join a gang.  They encouraged me by saying they would protect me.  I told them I’m not strong to fight other gangs.  Many young people feel pride to belong to a gang and when they walk on the streets they feel like they are something.

Have you tried to join or make this connection with God to feel a part of God’s army where you can stand up and fight against evil and against those who try to destroy God?  When the battle comes, fight your part and let God fight His part.  E.g. “My thoughts, I will not give in”.  “My desire for wrong, this is not my part, what you are asking me to do is the battle of God”.  When you live such a life that you don’t have to respond to all temptations but give it to God, you will be a winner.

When you are tempted to steal, say, “No this isn’t my battle to possess this, God this is your role to get this for me”.  As adults we fight against our parents because we have our own way.  Sometimes we try to prove to God that we are grown up children and He can’t tell us anymore what to do and I will come back to God when I want, read my bible when I want and deal with my own problems.  The problems of my body are my own problems.

When someone dies the corpse remains but the soul has gone. So the dead body is not me. I should remember that when I’m tempted that this is not me, my body is not me.  I just have to decide, I don’t want to do this.  For example, we all know someone who decided to stop smoking.  She just quit.  She didn’t need a counsellor.  She didn’t cut down slowly.  It didn’t kill her.  It was a matter of decision.  God told the king, take your positions, and stand firm and see the deliverance.  What position do you take in life?  Do you stand firm?  Or do you go left and right and try again tomorrow.  How often do you stand firm in order to protect your soul?  When you stand firm, the battlefield belongs to God now and he will act for you.

A friend of mine, he was someone who always wanted to get everything.  One time he borrowed money and he was told he had to pay 40% interest per day.  He wanted to buy something to make him appear special.  After a few days he couldn’t afford to pay it back.  The lenders gave him a job to steal from people’s houses until the day that he finished to pay back the money.  If it was $10, 40% was $14 so it kept getting bigger.

In Congo, when someone is caught stealing, they will burn you alive.  When he was caught, people asked, “Where is the tyre?”  That is how they kill you.  They were punishing the body.  How often have you been influenced by people?  It will be good, just for today.  That is the time to tell God, “The battle belongs to you, I stand firm God, intervene.  I’m shaken by what I see, please God intervene”. 

In the gang, they were telling me that the longer you stay with us you will get a title.  I responded, “I have title in heaven that is bigger than yours and I can’t sacrifice what I have in heaven”.  Do you remember that at any minute you can die?  Where are you going to go?  Last time Ange was planning a trip and that trip was planned for many weeks ahead.

Usually people don’t just decide to go somewhere without planning.  If you do, you may not find a place to sleep.  We must plan our journey to heaven.  If not, you may find yourself in hell.  You can only plan by asking God to fight for us.  Please God do this battle.  When God fights, we have the victory.

Trust in God - Proverbs 3:5-6

Has anyone ever asked you, “Do you trust?”  Fathers, sometimes we don’t trust our children.  Dads sometimes don’t trust mums and vice versa.

Is trust important in life?  Why do we need to be trust? Why should we be trusted?  Have you thought about trusting in God?  When the Bible tells you to trust in God, what does it mean to you?

I’ll give you an example, this man was so fearful to fly high and on his 23^rd birthday, his father said, “Do you trust me?” He answered, “Yes”.  The father being a skydive trainer said, “I will fly with you and we will sky dive together.  If you do this one time you will never fear again the sky and you will see the beauty of above and how down here looks from the sky”.

The boy prayed to God for help the night before.  In the morning, they took the plane.  The son told the father, “I trust in you, you are the only one who can save and secure me”.  The father said, “I am an expert”.  After jumping, the parachute didn’t work.  The boy was screaming and then he said, “Jesus”, and then the parachute worked.  The father said, “You should never trust in man but only trust in God”.

Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”.

Trust God with all your heart, not just part of our heart and we should also submit to him.  What kills the world today is that we don’t trust in God 100%.  We only trust in God when we fail, that’s when we think of God.  Many people’s trust in God is very limited.  People can walk through the tunnel in the mountain that human beings have made without doubt but when we walk through Jesus, we don’t see the beauty of walking through Him.

To start our journey with Jesus, we sometimes don’t think it is good enough and we quit.  I have been going to the gym for 20 years and look at me, I am fat with no muscles while others do it only for 3 months and you see a change.  Because you see me going on Monday and then I eat heaps and don’t go back for 2 weeks.  I want to gain something and get in shape but I lack discipline.  To trust in God requires a type of discipline.  You should be committed. You need to understand if you don’t do it now, tomorrow you will see.

I saw a lady at the gym that was so large she couldn’t even walk on the treadmill she was struggling but now she is very slim and fit and I look so weak and fat compared to her.  By putting discipline and determination, she has changed her life.  We need to be disciplined with God, push yourself to ger up early and exercise and after a few months, it will be a part of your life.  When you don’t go, you will feel something is wrong in  you.

Instead of disciplining ourselves, we ask God for help.  We don’t need the help of God or others to stop stealing when I already know stealing is wrong.  It is up to me to decide.  People think it is better to sin than go back to God and ask for help.  People prefer to go to a counsellor for help and they trust in them more than God forgetting that a counsellor has their own problems.

I was once told to see a counsellor.  He was telling me about Lebon coming back from Africa.  I said to him, “You are the counsellor true but do you have problems?” and he started to tell me his problems.  He gave me a CD because he said that it was his solution to his problems.  I asked “Why can’t you pray to God?”  He said, “For counselling we believe we need relaxation”.  Relaxation doesn’t exist in this world.  Relax in God yes but if you try to relax using music or listening to birds, the relaxation won’t last.

In case of a problem, I go to my friends who are lawyers or doctors and trust in their promises more than God’s promises.  When you are searching for a job and your friend says, come, you will put all your trust in them.  God, who is a jealous God, will look down on you and ask, “Where is My glory in all of this, do you trust me or not”.  You may end up finding a wrong job.

Sometimes we lose trust in God because we feel like we are far from Him.  Although God was far from Job, Job never left God far from him and every time said, “I trust in God”.  No matter what you face, keep trusting in God. By doing so, you will become a winner.

One thing that makes us to not trust in God, is worry.  Worry is the enemy number one.  Although the Bible says more than 365 times do not worry, but we keep worrying.  “I don’t have money, what can I do, I should go and find it”.  No matter how much money you have, you will continue to look for money.  Bill gates still looks for money.

Bill gates earns $20K per second.  One day he saw a $100 bank note on the street and he stopped the car to pick it up.  By stopping the car, he spent 2 minutes.  He earns $20K per second.  Why not leave the bank note for a poor person.  Every person is after money.  If you could trust God as you trust money and if you could love God as you love money, how good you would be with God.

You protect your money in your bank account and check their accounts, “When did I spend this money?”  Sometimes people can call the bank, “Explain, $1 is missing from my account”.  The bank must find out. 

Last year, a sports group took double the money from me that they should and I keep asking for a refund.  If someone said to me, “Collect money from my house on 22 February 2022 next year”, I won’t forget but if it’s a prayer meeting, I will forget.  When we cancel a meeting, we feel happy.  We are happy when we don’t go close to God. 

We often don’t worry about yesterday.  Worry will never change the future.  When I was baptised and I accepted Jesus in my life, I said, “I trust in You and I give everything to You so I can get eternal life”.  That is the number priority of my life, to enter the Kingdom of God.  We all want to go to heaven.  That is priority number one.  We don’t worry about going to heaven but we worry about things that are not important, e.g. what will I wear, what will people say.

Birds don’t’ worry about where to buy food.  Flowers don’t worry about how they will look attractive.  We often worry about the useless things.  God looks at us and asks us, do you trust in me? I have a friend in Australia who has been working hard there for 15 years.  Then suddenly he was able to buy a house and he was so proud of the house he bought and he put it on Facebook, how he came to Australia as a refugee and has a house without mortgage.  Many congratulated him. 

One month later a fire came from the bush.  He couldn’t fight against the fire.  He broke in tears.  He took photos and videos of the fire.  His wife said, “Do you trust in God?”  He said, “Stop that, we have lost everything”.  “Yes, but do you trust in God?  Better to be alive and let everything get burnt.  God provides and will give something to us tomorrow”.  The husband wasn’t happy.

The fire fighters came and told them to leave.  When he came back everything was melted and burnt to ashes.  He said, “What is the purpose for me to live better to die”.  How many people because of lack of trust in God can easily finish their lives for material things.  After death you will be judged.  You will go to hell for love of things?

The wife rang me, “Talk to him, he wants to commit suicide”.  He said, “This is unfair”.  God is not fair.  I answered, “Yes, God is not fair but now you have to trust in Him and don’t take your life but trust in God”.  He replied, “How to trust in God when He didn’t protect my house, where will I go with my family?”

When we are in trouble, where do we go?  Count what God has done for you in your life, look back.  If a danger is coming, tell danger before you, God did something greater.  Trust in God and you will do something great. 

I told him, “Why destroy what doesn’t belong to you, you already gave your life to Jesus.  Sometimes you hate people, hurt people, and those people are not yours.  What you took without permission is not yours”.  He was quiet.  3 days later, someone passed away from the church and in his will, he gave everything to the African family.  The size of the house was 2x the house my friend previously owned, he had a farm, cows and he gave everything to him.

God asked him, “Did you trust in me?” For 3 days he was crying, how weak I am and how I betrayed God.  If you fail, He is capable of picking you and putting you higher than before.  Trust in God and see how God works.

Do what is written in the Word of God, trust in God.  My prayer every morning, I go back to Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd.  That is what I tell God, “You are my shepherd, take care of me”.  No matter what happens in the day, He will protect me.  He will take me to the proper place to eat and drink.  When you pray in the morning, what do you tell God?  Do you ask God for blessing so that people will be happy with you, protect me God today.

Not a long time ago, Sylvie told me, “Odon I’m at work here and everyone looks at me differently.  I want friends but I don’t find any.  I need people to come close to me and they don’t come”.  I told her, sometimes we must integrate ourselves.  When we reach a place where no one knows you, approach them.

One friend of mine is in Belgium.  He was sent to a village there to claim for asylum.  You must go to the office to be interviewed.  The office opened at 9am but you need to wake up at 3am to stand outside to line up.  The temperature was minus 3 degrees which is freezing when coming from Africa.  He had to walk 6km to be there and when he reached there, there was a que of 200 people.  He was cold.  He waited for hours.  The people in the office went inside and slowly drank coffee.

One by one, the refugees were interviewed, why are you here.  He gave his explanation.  They told him to go back home and the result will come back for 5 years.  I have my wife and children I left behind.  They gave him a small financial assistance and put him in village where he knew no one.  He knocked on the first door.  The first person said, “What?”  “I’m new here”.  “Why?  Are you selling something?” “No”.

Every person in the area rejected him.  Finally he picked up a chair and sat outside and believed someone might feel sorry for him.  No one came.  He became depressed.  He found he was rejected and the world was against him.  I told him, remember that you have a good friend Jesus.  Trust in God.  Don’t trust in what people think or act in front of you, trust God.

One day, he went to a catholic church, “I need you to help me”.  The priest said, “We need to love even our enemies and help them”.  After 3 or 4 months, people can now interact with him.

Find your place where you fit in the Lord, even if you feel Jesus is far from you.  “God no matter what has happened, I trust in You and wait for You”.  We can easily fit ourselves in a rugby stadium to watch a game.  I have spent hours watching Americas cup.  I’m happy for that.  Do I spend time reading the Word of God and praying?

I remember the day that Ange married Pete, we went to church on Cate Street and many people were there and everyone looked flash.  It was very clean.  I came late and there was no carpark.  Once in church, there was nowhere to sit.  Because I didn’t have a place, I took my camera and started taking images not because I was a camera man but because I had nowhere to sit.

Ofa came to the piano and everyone was quiet.  She was so good.  Pete was young and slim. That day was a special day where no one wanted to miss that opportunity.  We should also make sure not to miss being in the Kingdom of God.  You have burdens, bring all (all) your burdens to me and I will take care of you.

Why do we refuse sometimes for Jesus to take care of us?  We say it is hard, God is saying, come to me with your burdens but we prefer to go to someone else.  God is saying, I am here for you, come.  If the Lord is your shepherd, who leads you.  We try as the flock to tell God what to do.

We were driving in the country and saw cows walking by themselves.  They knew it was time for milking.  When we don’t see Jesus with our eyes, do we continue to follow the path made for us and know it is the time for milking and know what the farmer wants to do for us.  There was one cow as a leader and without question the other cows followed because it was time.  We are living a time where Jesus is coming back soon, are you ready to meet with the Lord.  Are you in the que ready to enter the Kingdom of God?

If you don’t trust God, who else will you trust?  I used to trust my father, “Daddy can I have a dollar?” and he would give it to me and I didn’t worry if he didn’t have it.  Don’t worry, live as a child of God, trust in Him.

Psalm 126, "When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed"

 

Psalm 126

This is a book that can lead you to cry.  It is about Israel crying to God asking Him to comfort them and support them.  This chapter is the song of Zion which is a symbol where God dwells with His people.  It is not a specific place, it means when God dwells with us, we are in Zion.  On one side it talks about joy while also on the other side it talks about sorrow.

Verse 1, “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed.”

Have you decided what you will dream about?  No, you can’t do that.  A dream comes just like that and you don’t know what you will dream about.  You have no choice.  Last year has gone and the new year has now started and we had a lot of challenges last year and some made you cry and pushed you to think, “Oh God, it’s me again”.  Maybe you knelt down and felt disappointed with your life and those that live around you and maybe you were disappointed with your health, your abilities and it was tough, not only financially and psychologically but spiritually and you struggled a lot.

The people of Israel looked back after spending 70 years of captivity in Babylon and thought, “Is it true we can become free?” and it was like a dream for them.  Children were born in captivity, many passed away, and they lost hope.  One day Cyrus decided these people have to go back to Jerusalem.  They didn’t plan it or know what was supposed to happen. 

Maybe you have been in captivity for a long time.  Pressures of life, colleagues, family, from your own way of living and maybe sometimes you tell yourself, I wish I could live like that person.  We all wish we could become someone different to what we are sometimes because we are going through something really hard.

Remember, even in captivity, God has control of everything.  He told Cyrus to let his people go.  70 years is not a small amount of time.  Every morning maybe you wake up to tears and go to bed with tears.  In the morning, what am I going to do today, when is it going to change and then you go to bed crying because things don’t improve.

Psalm 126 is a remedy to heal you and remind you that no matter how hard your situation is, God is still in control and things will end. No matter how long the days are in summer, night comes and darkness will come.  No matter how long the darkness is in the winter, the morning will still come.  Be strong and courageous.

God is the only one who can change tears to joy.  Your joy is on its way because after crying, joy will come.  If we think of a joy, I can think about Job 42 and how he went through hardship and in verse 10, God visited Job and changed his life from east to west and suddenly everything changed.  He lost hope, children, friends but God gave back to him and more than what he had before.

Maybe last year your joy was small but God will give you back more than that this year.

Act 12, Peter was in jail and just like a dream an angel of the Lord came and opened the jail and said go out, you are not a prisoner anymore.  If this happened to you, you may wonder who is this person and may fear to leave the prison because you don’t know what will happen next.  You will be afraid if the guard sees you.  In your life you are afraid to take the next step and you hesitate and we very often think of the consequences even when God tells you to take the next step.

For Peter, he didn’t think twice and he stood up and then once outside it was like a dream but it was a reality.  Many things can come into your life like a dream but it is a reality. You sleep and suddenly you wake up and things are different.

Were you sure that you would wake up this morning?  Many around the world weren’t sure they would wake up today.  To see yourself alive in the morning is like a dream.  Is it true I am alive again or not?  What did I pay to God to deserve to be alive?  I am not special more than others and that encourages me to say thank you to God.

Psalm 137, by the river of Babylon song.  When they were in captivity, they were crying and suffering and the people of Babylon asked them to sing a song of joy.  Have you been in sorrow and then sung a song of joy?  It’s impossible.  When you are crossing a hard time, it is difficult to sing a song of joy.

Life can tease you and mock you (like the Babylonians did by asking the Israelites to sing) because you are in a corner and you are not strong enough to defend yourself.  People can tell you, be strong, have joy but in your heart but you are suffering and going through pain.  Some might tell you, don’t be a drama queen, don’t be a child.  You can rub my back, but my pain will continue.  You can encourage me but my circumstances will still be the same. 

Pray for others and tell God about their situation.  God is the only one who can change the situation.  Lord, please visit them, be their comfort, what they are going through is so hard.  When I look back, sometimes when I pray for someone I also look at what God has done in their lives.  e.g. “Robbie used to play the guitar for you and read the bible and do communion and come here without breakfast and come here to serve you”.  All that time he was with us, I can count great things God has done through him.  “Remember your beloved child.”  When I pray for others I count all the good things about them.

Shari read a verse to us, “remember this” meaning that we have to also ask God to remember something.  When was the last time you told God to remember about you?  The man on the cross said, “Remember me, don’t forget me when you enter the Kingdom of God”.  We need to remember what God has done for us and tell him so he can be glorfied.

Sarah, the wife of Abraham, was in pain for many years because she needed a child.  She was praying day after day as a young girl and she could reach the age where she lost hope but she couldn’t think that God can perform a miracle.  When she became pregnant, she was 90 years old.  She couldn’t believe it, it was like a dream.  She looked at her age, her body, no way, this is impossible.  Even doctors cannot explain.

Don’t be discouraged because time has passed.  God knows exactly the time when He is going to give it to you.  He knows when you will get sick and when you will be healed.  God knows when He will bring to you peace and when He will stop that peace.  Why shouldn’t I collaborate with someone who knows when things are going to happen?  He knows who and why.  As friends, we can ask for help.

Abraham received these people.  These people were God visiting Abraham.  God could have gone straight to Sodom and Gomorrah but preferred to pass by a human being (like you and me).   Abraham encouraged them to stay the night.  Would you make a stranger to sleep in your house because it is dark?  Maybe you will send them to a hotel.  Abraham told God, come in, “Sarah, cook for our visitors.  Feed them”.

Sarah prepared something and fed God! God!  imagine if she could know that it was God eating at her house from her table.  Maybe if she knew it was God, maybe she would freak out and not be able to cook.  While she gave food to them He revealed himself, you will become pregnant and around this time next year, you will have your baby.

How often does God talk to us without us realising it is God.  we may think it is a simple human being asking for water but it might be God.  We must be careful with people who are in need.  If you have something to feed someone who is hungry, give it to them.  When was the last time you visited someone?  When was the last time you visited a sick person?  We should make an effort, visit people and pray for them. 

I have decided before to pray for all the prisoners of Waikeria prison.  I can enter New World supermarket and pray for each person who will pass by me.  How often do you visit people, do you serve people, pray for them?

Sarah received a blessing for serving God.  The next morning God told Abraham, “I am going now to destroy those cities”.  If Abraham had not invited Him inside, he could not have known about this plan.  To be afraid of God, when you put Him on your side, it is a big advantage.

Many people would like a photo with Jacinda Ardern but no one wants a photo with Colleen but if she is with Jacinda, people may want a photo with Colleen and Jacinda together.  When you are with God, people will come next to you so they can get close to God.

Make God your friend so you can come close to Him and He can intervene for you.  Because He loves you, He can say, “Yes, Odon wait for 5 minutes and I can fix this for you”.  Better that than putting all your hope in tears, after crying I feel better but after crying your problem is still there.  Bring all your burdens to God because He is a God of joy.

2021 can be a year of joy just like a dream.  Life continues, no matter what you faced last year, life goes on and all together we are moving forward to meet with our King, very soon He is coming back to take us.  What will you take with you, your Bible your shoes, your make up? Only your soul.  What is in your soul?  Does your soul please God? Is your soul well prepared to welcome God, “God stay here with me forever”.

This year Rebekah will be 16 and she can’t go back to being 14 because it is the past.  Focus on the present and future not the past.  Turn the page and move forward.  This is a book, once you read page 237 you don’t stay there but turn the page.  If you want to understand what is in the book, you have to turn pages but if you say, “I’m not letting it go because someone did something wrong to me last week or last year”, you are not moving forward, you are staying still.

You will become like Lot’s wife who couldn’t move anymore.  Turn the page, forget the past and live a new life.  If you failed yesterday, don’t make it a burden for you, move on because He has washed away your sin and forgiven you.  Forget about what others have done against you and forgive and move ahead.