Communion - John 1:29 - The Lamb of God

 John 1:29, The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’

When we take the bread and juice, this is what we are to remember, that God came down from heaven, took on the form of man and became the lamb of God, the sacrificed lamb to die on a cross so that our sin can be taken away.  He did this for us.  God Himself paid the price.

Imagine Bill Gates, billionaire, accepting to go to jail for you.  Not even dying for you, just jail.  He won’t.  Bill Gates isn’t even as powerful or as rich as God and yet God Himself died for you. 

Are you aware that if the top richest people in the world pooled all their money together we would end poverty and sickness and they would still have $40 billion dollars each but they can’t sacrifice their money for others.  Yet Jesus, God Himself, didn’t just sacrifice money but he sacrificed Himself.

Isaiah 53:5 says He was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace [peace with God] and with His stripes we are healed.

As we eat the bread, let’s remember his body that was wounded for us and crushed for us and chastised for us.  As we drink the juice, let’s remember His blood that flowed so we might be forgiven.

Communion Message

By Odon


We must remember who Jesus is for us and what he did for us and why he did it.  Why did Jesus die for me?  Who am I to deserve what Jesus did for me?  He left heaven to come down here looking for someone like me.  He sacrificed everything including His glory for us to find Him but we still disappoint Him in one way or another.  He died for us without us even asking Him for it or even asking for help and once He save us we are the first to turn our back on Him and find that God is like a burden for us, “we are tired of you, give us some space”.


Luke 10:25, the good Samaritan story.  The road was called the road of blood because every day someone was killed leaving Jerusalem to go to Jericho.  Everybody was scared to walk on that road.  This man was beaten and all that he had was taken from him and he was left half dead.  He was a Jew.  A priest came and looked but decided to cross the road and carry on.  A Levite came and also walked passed.  A Samaritan who was a stranger, a foreigner, came and found the beaten man and knelt down beside him, applied oil on his wounds, picked him up on the donkey and took him to an inn.  He said, “Look after the person, treat him, here is some money and when I come back I will pay the difference”.


The lawyer asked how to get into the Kingdom of God.  Pharisees were lawyers and knew the law very well but they didn’t apply law correctly.  To answer that question, Jesus said, “Who is a good neighbour among these three people?”  Samaritan and Jews were enemies.  A Samaritan helped the Jew.  Jesus is the Samaritan in your life.  Sometimes we see Jesus as our enemy and His word as our enemy because He fights against our will.  It is against our action. 


Have you hated someone for no reason?  I was in a hotel recently and at the reception, I was asked, “Where are you from”.  “I’m your customer”. How come? “Because I booked a room”.  She said, “Are you serious, give me your passport…I don’t think there is vacancy here, you should go somewhere else”.  This was a French lady.  “I think my colleagues made a mistake”.  I said, “No I booked a room and I have already paid”. 

We were talking to English and then she spoke to another in French and said, “This guy is rude he doesn’t listen”.  The man said, “He should go to another hotel”.  That were talking like that because the hotel is for high rank and they didn’t consider a black person could be of high rank.


Jesus is coming to your life to secure you without you inviting him like the Jew who was half dead.  The Samaritan picked him up and carried him to look after him.  As sinners we were in the weakest position and Jesus wants to look after us.  Do you want to be looked after forever or only when you are in problems and when the problems are over you say, “It’s enough now I don’t need you anymore”.


The Bible doesn’t say what the Samaritan said, it doesn’t say he said thank you and I will pay you back.  This is a picture of the church.  Once we recover from our problems, we push Jesus aside, “I am strong now, let me do my own stuff”. 

I spoke to the lady at the hotel in French, “I am not going to the next hotel, I belong here”.  They were shocked, “You speak French?”  I told them not to do that, we must consider people as people.


Jesus is telling us now, “Because you forget every time, take communion to remember.  You must remember me and what I did for you”.  Once upon a time I was walking on the street, I was beaten by the devil and Jesus saved me and I must be careful not to go again to the road of blood because satan might catch me again.  We have intelligence to think about the dangers in front of us.  We must protect our soul from being beaten by the evil ones.

Remember what Jesus did for you the first time.  He died for us once, we were saved once and we don’t have to expect Jesus to rescue us again.  When we think that we can steal and Jesus will forgive or we can lie and Jesus will forgive, we become luke warm.  We are neither hot nor cold and at that point, He will vomit us out.


“This is my body, bread, eat it”.  He broke the bread.  Imagine someone breaking your body, how will you feel?  Pain.  When He broke it, He didn’t keep it as two pieces but said to share it.  In a country in Africa when they want to punish someone they will eat you alive.  Every member of the community will bite flesh from you and eat it.  That is a type of punishment.  You feel pain and you scream and cry and no one will stop and there will be blood everywhere.  Jesus says, “Here is my body and each of you take a piece.  It is painful for Me but it is a sacrifice I do for you.  When you eat the bread remember that I went through pain for you.  Blood, wine, drink it to remember me”. 


Have you stopped to think about the gift of forgiveness?  This is for you to make you clean, to be forgiven you need this blood.  Do you know the value of blood?  Without blood in your body, you die.  If you stab someone, the whole country will be against you because of the blood.  The blood of Abel woke up God, “The blood of your brother is crying to me”.  The power in the blood was screaming to God.


The power in blood is so big.  Jesus has given us his blood, drink it to remember him.  Think about the blood of Jesus.  What does it mean to you? 

Communion

Friends - Communion meditation

By Colleen Podmore

At home, we have a new friend living with us. He is very loyal to us, always happy to see us when we turn up, no matter what the hour. He always comes to greet us and accepts the odd rebuke and is always forgiving. His name is Jimmy and he is a puppy.

I called him a friend – but is this correct? Can a dog be a friend? Can an animal be a friend?

Strictly speaking, no, because the definition of a ‘friend’ is a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relationships. I may experience this bond of mutual affection with an animal but they are not people so they are more companions than friends.

I know a couple who have been friends for about 10 years and are now more than friends. They are still friends but a better description of their changed relationship is they are boyfriend and girlfriend. A friend is someone exclusive of sexual relations.

At the place where I work there are about 80 people that I know. I wouldn’t describe them as friends – more like acquaintances.

I, like you have many relations scattered around the country and world. They are relatives, some may be friends as well but not because they are relatives.

The term ‘friend’ is often used very generally to describe many relationships and in some sense I think that the idea behind the word is lost. Having friends and being a friend is one of the most important relationships for people. You may be an orphan and single and still be blessed because a friend is always possible.

A friend is a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual and family relationships. A friend is someone with whom we have common interests. Friends do things together, care about each other. Anyone can be a friend and can have friends.

What do we look for in friends? What sort of friend do we want to be?

 

Do we cultivate friends who push us nearer to God, spurring us on to love and good deeds.  And are we friends like that?

In conclusion, it says in John 15:13 ‘Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends”

Jesus laid down his life on a cross for his friends – that’s you and me.

Our friend Jesus has asked us to remember Him in only one way and that is through His death on the cross, the bread we eat represents His body broken on the cross, a substitute for our sin, taking the penalty of our sin on Himself, giving His life as a ransom for many.

‘Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends’

We also take the cup, representing his life. The Bible says that life is in the blood (Lev 17:11). His life given for our redemption. What a friend we have in Jesus.

Let us never neglect our friends and our friend Jesus is particular

Lord we thank you for your sacrifice on the cross for our sin. We have come now to specifically remember that and thank you for dying in our place.

Please bless both the bread and the juice as we eat and drink together,

In Your Name Jesus, Amen.

Communion - Riches of God's grace

"We have been bought through his blood,

the forgiveness of our trepasses

with the riches of God's grace"

Ephesians 1:6

This word “riches” in our world is measured in terms of monetary value.  Gold is considered riches because it’s worth a lot of money.  Food is like gold at the moment because it’s so expensive.  I went to the supermarket during the week and was shocked at what little amount of money can buy these days.  Everything is about 50% more expensive than a couple of years ago.  I used to buy lamb chops for $10 a packet and now it costs $15 a packet.  It’s only five dollars more but it adds up so that a $200 grocery bill is now $300.  That’s a whole $100 that we have to find while our wages haven’t gone up.

Then there is rent.  There are a lot of people who have had to endure rent increases every six months so that after two years, they now pay $200 more than what they used to, without a pay increase.  So each week we are paying $300 more for groceries and rent than just a couple of years ago.  To go to the doctor is more expensive, to get a Warrant of Fitness.  It’s all very depressing. 

On the positive side, registrations for cars came down.  That is a real bonus and now I can afford to register my car for six months at a time instead of three months (or one month when I was really poor).  This time of year lettuces are cheaper and I really love lettuce so this is great for me. 

The value of the New Zealand dollar compared to the American dollar can affect us quite a bit.  If the NZ dollar is a lot less than the $US then our exporters are happy because Americans will buy NZ products.  If the $NZ is closer to the $US then our importers are happy because us kiwis won’t have to pay so much for American products.

So in the world, what we consider riches goes up and down in value. But what God’s riches is His grace that never changes.  This is very comforting, to know that God’s riches are constant and always holds its value and is always true.  Jesus is our constant eternal value and while earthly riches may bring us bad news, Christ’s riches (grace) always brings good news.

The good news is that Jesus died for us.  Jesus paid the price for our sin and that price is constant, it doesn’t go up or down.  Jesus paid the price with his blood and with his body.  God the father accepted to pay the price for our sin with his own son.  Would you accept to let your child die to save someone who was a convicted murderer?  I wouldn’t.  Yet, God looked at me and said, “You are a murderer because you have hated people that I love, you are sentenced to death.  My only son will die in your place”.  What kind of judge would say that?  Only our God!

Then we sit at the right hand of the Father.  That means the Father is on our left.  Most women hold their babies on the left side.  Scientists believe that this is because when the child is held on the left of a person, that triggers the right side of the brain to work which is the side of the brain that helps us to listen and understand people.  So when the child is on the left side of the mother, she is able to listen and understand her baby. 

I don’t know God’s reason for putting us on his right (except that is a place of honour) but I want us to remember that now that we are His children, we have to be listening to God and understanding what He expects from us.  One expectation is to meet together and take communion so congratulations to all of us here this morning, we listened to God this morning and we obeyed His voice.  Well done to all of us because it’s not always easy.  Let’s keep listening to God’s voice and obeying Him.

It is also important to remember that God’s grace has an expiry date.  When Christ comes back, there will be no more grace.  If you know you are not living in accordance with God’s grace, then now is the time to ask God for forgiveness.  It’s important not to take the bread and juice if you are in sin.  Please make yourself right before God before taking it.  Making yourself right not only means to say sorry to God but also to make a decision not to go back to that sin anymore.

This morning as the bread and juice is passed around, let’s take time to search our hearts and ask for forgiveness where we have fallen short of God’s grace.  Then let’s remember Jesus and all that He has done for us.  Let’s remember His grace that is constant and true.  His grace which brings us good news of our salvation.  Let’s remember that God sent His only son to pay the price for our sin.  Jesus paid for us to be able to enter the Kingdom of God by dying.  This price is so much more valuable that money or earthly riches.  God Himself paid the price.  What could be more valuable than God Himself?

By Hayley Boud

Communion - Jesus dying for us is more than what we could imagine

 
By Hayley Boud

^“14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom ^[every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, ¹⁶ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.  ²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, ²¹ to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:14-21

We are now about to take communion to remember all the Jesus has done for us.

(v14) “For this reason, I bow my knees”.  We are about to enter into the Holy of Holies, bow before the Father.  Let’s remember this morning, as we bow before Him, that we are only able to enter into that place and meet with God because Jesus died on the cross and tore the veil that separated us.

(v15) We will remember that we have been given God’s name.  We have been adopted into His family and we are God’s children.  All because of what Jesus did for us.

(v16-17) We have been given the inheritance of Christ and given all the strength and power and the Holy Spirit, we have Christ dwelling in our hearts, we have been given faith and we have been grounded in Christ’s love

(v18) so that we might have understanding with all the saints.  We can really praise God this morning because of this inheritance, because of the strength and power He has given us.  We will thank God this morning for His Holy Spirit dwelling in us, for Jesus Himself living in us and the faith and love He has provided us.  And we will praise Him because all of this enables us to have an understanding that others don’t have.  We are so blessed to know Jesus…

(v19) and to know His love.

(v20) “Now to Him who is able to do abundantly more than what we can ask or think or imagine”.  We could not have thought or imagined that God would leave heaven to come to earth as a man to die for us.  Only God can think of such a thing.  With our human minds, we could never have thought of that.  Even if we did think of it, we would never have asked God to die for us.

Imagine asking the Queen of England to die for me.  “Elizabeth, I’ve been sentenced to death.  Will you pay the price for me?  Will you please die instead of me?”  We wouldn’t ask the Queen of England such a favour.  A queen would never die for her people.  In fact, it is our duty to die for our queen.  Yet, God died for us.  It’s abundantly more than what we could ask for or think of. 

(v21) “to Him be the glory in the church”…in Little Bethlehem… “and in Christ Jesus to all generations”…in my generation, in mum’s generation, in Leah’s generation and in her children’s generation and in her grandchildren’s generation… “forever and ever, Amen”.

Let’s pray for the bread and juice.

Communion - The Lord fights for our salvation

By Hayley Boud

 

Exodus 14:14, “The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent”

 

Today I want us to remember as we take communion how much God fights for us.  He doesn’t only fight for us when we are sick, hurt, tempted or disappointed but He fights for our souls.

 

We were once sinners on the path to destruction and God the Father who loves us so much, He fought for our souls by sending His only son to die for our salvation.  Jesus loves us so much that chose to fight for our souls by leaving heaven and accepting to die on a cross for our salvation.  Jesus fought the battle and won.  Now we are free from death because Jesus fought for us, while we kept silent.

 

Jesus continues to save us, day after day.  He protects us from temptations and keeps us on the narrow path.  Jesus continues to fight for our soul and our salvation.

 

Exodus 14:13, “Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today.”  Moses told this to the people of Israel when they were standing in front of the Red Sea with the Egyptians on their back.  The Israelites were sure they would die that day, but Moses told them they would see the salvation of the Lord. 

 

Then in Exodus 15:1, we see the song that Moses and Israel sang once they were saved, “I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted…the Lord is my strength and my song…my salvation, this is my God and I will praise Him”.

 

Let’s thank God and praise Him this morning for all that He has done.  We were like the Israelites standing in front of a Red Sea and we could not save ourselves.  Jesus rescued us from Satan in the same way He rescued the Israelites from the Egyptians, while they kept silent.  We did nothing for our salvation, Jesus did it all.  In the same way that God opened the Red Sea and lead the Israelites to salvation, He opened up the path for our salvation.

 

Let’s praise God this morning for He is our salvation.

Communion

September 2016

 

By Hayley Boud

 

Exodus 14:14, “The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent”

 

Today I want us to remember as we take communion how much God fights for us.  He doesn’t only fight for us when we are sick, hurt, tempted or disappointed but He fights for our souls.

 

We were once sinners on the path to destruction and God the Father who loves us so much, He fought for our souls by sending His only son to die for our salvation.  Jesus loves us so much that chose to fight for our souls by leaving heaven and accepting to die on a cross for our salvation.  Jesus fought the battle and won.  Now we are free from death because Jesus fought for us, while we kept silent.

 

Jesus continues to save us, day after day.  He protects us from temptations and keeps us on the narrow path.  Jesus continues to fight for our soul and our salvation.

 

Exodus 14:13, “Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today.”  Moses told this to the people of Israel when they were standing in front of the Red Sea with the Egyptians on their back.  The Israelites were sure they would die that day, but Moses told them they would see the salvation of the Lord. 

 

Then in Exodus 15:1, we see the song that Moses and Israel sang once they were saved, “I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted…the Lord is my strength and my song…my salvation, this is my God and I will praise Him”.

 

Let’s thank God and praise Him this morning for all that He has done.  We were like the Israelites standing in front of a Red Sea and we could not save ourselves.  Jesus rescued us from Satan in the same way He rescued the Israelites from the Egyptians, while they kept silent.  We did nothing for our salvation, Jesus did it all.  In the same way that God opened the Red Sea and lead the Israelites to salvation, He opened up the path for our salvation.

 

Let’s praise God this morning for He is our salvation.

 

By Hayley Boud

 

Exodus 14:14, “The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent”

 

Today I want us to remember as we take communion how much God fights for us.  He doesn’t only fight for us when we are sick, hurt, tempted or disappointed but He fights for our souls.

 

We were once sinners on the path to destruction and God the Father who loves us so much, He fought for our souls by sending His only son to die for our salvation.  Jesus loves us so much that chose to fight for our souls by leaving heaven and accepting to die on a cross for our salvation.  Jesus fought the battle and won.  Now we are free from death because Jesus fought for us, while we kept silent.

 

Jesus continues to save us, day after day.  He protects us from temptations and keeps us on the narrow path.  Jesus continues to fight for our soul and our salvation.

 

Exodus 14:13, “Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today.”  Moses told this to the people of Israel when they were standing in front of the Red Sea with the Egyptians on their back.  The Israelites were sure they would die that day, but Moses told them they would see the salvation of the Lord. 

 

Then in Exodus 15:1, we see the song that Moses and Israel sang once they were saved, “I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted…the Lord is my strength and my song…my salvation, this is my God and I will praise Him”.

 

Let’s thank God and praise Him this morning for all that He has done.  We were like the Israelites standing in front of a Red Sea and we could not save ourselves.  Jesus rescued us from Satan in the same way He rescued the Israelites from the Egyptians, while they kept silent.  We did nothing for our salvation, Jesus did it all.  In the same way that God opened the Red Sea and lead the Israelites to salvation, He opened up the path for our salvation.

 

Let’s praise God this morning for He is our salvation.

Communion - God's love never fails

By Hayley Boud

In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, we see the attributes of love and when we look at these we can see that God Himself is love.  He is patient and kind, is not selfish etc.  This week I have been thinking about the attribute of love, "Love never fails".  God is love and therefore, God never fails.

If God never fails, that means He is always successful.  He was succesful when He left Heaven to become a man.  He was successful because He came in the body of a man but did not sin.  That success meant that He was able to be the sacrifice for our sins.  He was successful when He chose the cross (not my will but Yours be done).  He was successful because of His great love for us which never fails.

This morning we sang a song that said, "calvary has covered it all, my sin and shame, don't count anymore".  Love covers all things and by shedding His blood, Jesus has covered our sin and shame and now the Father doesn't count our sin anymore.  All because of His great love that never fails.

As we take the bread and juice this morning, we will remember the love that God has for us.  This love that never fails.  We will remember Jesus, this God that is always successful.  We will thank Him for His love for us that enabled Him to endure the cross (love endures all things) and we will praise Him for He was successful as a man, successful in not sinning, successful in enduring the cross and He was succesful in rising from the dead.  Let's worship God for He never fails.

Communion - the widower

By Hayley Boud

Luke 7-11, “Soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, accompanied by a large crowd. Now as He approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “Do not weep.” And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!”  This report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district

 

Here we see Jesus is walking with His disciples when He comes across a funeral procession.  There is a woman who is burying her only son.  She doesn’t have any other children and her husband has already passed away.  While there was a sizeable crowd with her, I’m sure she felt alone.  The woman was crying because she had lost everything.  Her husband, her only child and as you know, in those days the women did not have the right to inherit property so she would also lose her house and means of surviving.  The woman has lost everything.

 

Jesus sees her and feels compassion on her and touching the coffin, he says, “young man, I say to you arise!”  He makes what is dead to come back to life.  Jesus then gives the son back to his mother. 

 

I am sure during the year of 2015, you crossed many difficult situations.  Maybe you lost something precious to you.  Maybe you lost a loved one, your job, your health, a friend but Jesus sees us and has compassion on us and comes next to us.  When we are crying, that is the time for Christ to help.

 

There is a song that I would like to play in the background as we take communion.  It is called “Love Came Down”. The lyrics are so beautiful and so true.  “If the storm of life come and the road ahead gets steep, I will lift my hands in faith and believe, I will remind myself of all that you’ve done, and the life I have because of Your Son.  Love came down and rescued me, love came down and set me free”.

 

Here in the story of the widow, Jesus came to her and rescued her from losing her son, her house, her livelihood and pretty much everything.  Jesus made the son who was dead to be alive.  Jesus did the same for us, we were once dead in our sin but He came and touched us and said, “arise!”  He made us alive spiritually.

 

John 6:54, Jesus makes us “arise” with Him on the last day.  Let’s praise God as we take communion for His salvation (coming down from heaven to earth – just for us), for bringing us from death to life and for His promise to raise us up on the last day. 

 

As we take the bread, let’s remember that Jesus is the bread of life.  As we chew on the bread, let’s think about the life that God has given us, the life He has saved us from and the life we will have with Him for eternity.  As we take the juice, let’s remember that is represents blood and we all know that we can’t live without blood so the blood also represents life.  As you take the juice, taste it and feel it going down your oesophagus and think about Jesus and how He has made us alive and He has compassion on us when we cross difficult situations and rescues us.

 

 

Bread

By Odon Bulamba

 

Jesus said, “Father give to us our daily bread”.  Why didn’t he ask for a monthly bread, or weekly or yearly?  Our lives day after day depends on God.  Bread doesn’t only mean what we eat or see but it means the signs of life.  Bread means food but before to become food it is a plant.  The plant is turned into flour.  The flour is mixed with water and sometimes yeast added.  The ingredients then must be baked.  If I take some wheat flour and put it on a plate with a glass of water and put a fire there and ask you to now eat, you will say, “this is not food” because you can’t eat wheat by itself. 

 

Bread is really tasty.  It takes time to make bread.  When I was a child I used to bake a lot and I would steal some wheat and oil from my mother’s kitchen and take it into the bush. I would make my own bread hiding in the bush because my mum wouldn’t let me bake because according to my culture only women can bake.

 

The colour of the outside is different to the colour of the inside of the bread.  There are two different colours.  The outside is in contact with the heat from the fire (or oven) and becomes the colour of that the wheat plant is initially which is a golden colour.  The inside remains white.  The outside gets a little bit burnt but the inside remains intact.  When Jesus broke the bread, He told people, “Take this, this is my body”. 

 

Some versions say, He broke it and then blessed it but other versions say he blessed it and then broke it.  We are the body of Christ, maybe Ange is the leg, Robbie the arm etc.  All together we make up that body and when Jesus rose up His hands and broke it, He wasn’t saying He is breaking Himself.  He was saying, “I am breaking you in Me because whoever sees you will see Me in you”.  This reminds us that God said at the beginning, let us make man in our image.  Once you are broken, God continues to pray for you (HOLY SPIRIT will intercede for you).

 

When you are saved, he breaks you and tells people to eat you.  You are the food for others: your actions and your words will make people to be fed spiritually.  How can I become a bread for others? 

Wheat is a plant and easy to grow.  You are a plant that God uses.  God looks at the life inside the plant.  The plant has a role to collect food and feed the branches.  It will collect from the soil and suck the food and feed the plant.  The roots will bring it to the trunk that will take it to the branches and then flowers and then fruit.  If the roots say no, then the plant will die.  When Jesus says I break you it means for you to become a servant to feed others and if you say no, those people will starve to death, they will die from lack of knowledge.

 

Ex 12: Moses was given a mission to help the Israelites to leave Egypt.  Wouldn’t you be proud to lead all these millions people out of Egypt?  Everyone likes to be a leader.  But to look after millions of people is a big job especially when you can’t look after your own family.  Moses couldn’t look after his own family.  His wife was doing work that Moses was supposed to do.  God said regardless of your weaknesses, you will take my people out of Egypt.

 

God knows your weaknesses but His purpose is for you to lead His people.  Moses came up with a good excuse, “whenever I speak I stutter and people laugh”.  God said, “you have to go”.  Very often I present my excuses to God.  I tell God, “not today, what about tomorrow”.  Excuses can take us far.  God said to Moses go and God chose Aaron to walk with Moses. 

 

Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh on nine occasions and each time God was turning Aaron and Moses down.  Pharaoh refused to listen.  Moses would perform miracles and still Pharaoh would not give up.  Sometimes God sends you places and then puts a barrier there to see how you react.  You ask, “God why didn’t it work”.  God tells you, “I’m baking you because you were wheat and water and I’m the fire and this is the cooking process and cooking is a long process and takes time”.

Nine times they went back and finally God said, Aaron and Moses this is now your first month – start to count it from today.  God changed the calendar.  God can change your plan and you were thinking to do something in 2012 and you don’t get it.  You can think about ideas but only God can make it happen. 

 

Moses and Aaron had to go to all the families and ask them to slaughter a lamb and put the blood around the door frame.  Pick up animal blood and put it around the house – what will your neighbour say?  The role of the door is to come in and out.  What leads your body?  Your mouth, nose, ears, eyes, feelings? Someone can become angry and punch the door so the outside will reflect the inside.  That is the door that God said to paint with blood. 

 

The role of the blood to purify and sanctify.  Repentance should be at the frame door of your mouth, ears, eyes or wherever there is a danger for sin to come in.  God is reminding us that if we don’t put blood there, God will come down and any house without blood, He will kill the first born.  The first born is Jesus.  Maori culture respects the first born because they are the representative of the family and they are there to teach the family.

 

When my father died, I was given His clothes because I am the first born.  Jessica (my youngest sister) calls me father because I am the first born.  Every first born child and animal of every family will be killed without the blood on the door frame. To kill the lamb was not enough.  Jesus dying for us was not enough if we don’t apply His blood on our door frames.  My door according to Revelations 20 is the heart.  If you hear the knock, you can open and let Him in.  The door of your heart should be painted with blood of Jesus.

 

Jesus said, “This is my blood, drink it”.  There are around 4000 components in blood.  Four major things: red, white cells, plasma, platelets.  When you cut yourself you can see blood coming out but platelets will be alerted and they run to secure the position in the body of the person to protect them.  Some of our brothers are getting lost.  Blood is supposed to be in the body. The platelets are very quick thinking.  Platelets will run. 

 

If you are hurt in your arm, you will hold firmly there to stop the blood being lost.  Platelets will say, praise the Lord we can act now and they will start to make the blood coagulate.  The blood flow will stop while the platelets are very small.  However, it won’t work if you don’t put a tourniquet around the arm so the platelets can work. 

 

In the event of anything, pray to God, “this is my problem, I am hurt, there is a cut over here, I am holding it”.  How many times do people wound you?  You hear words that shock you and you lose control.  Is your mind painted with blood of Jesus? When you see the power bill, you become angry or you become worried.  Is your mouth painted with the blood of Jesus? You can say yes I’m saved, I have Jesus in my life, He has paid the price for me, but you need to paint the blood on all the entries of your body and your heart.

 

Jesus said, “Take this wine” and they drank like you and I this morning and when we drank the grape juice for communion.  Jesus said, “remember me”.  How often do you remember about the blood circulating in your body? You don’t think about it.  You have no idea but Jesus said to remember that blood that was given to you.  How often do you remember that Jesus died for you?  When I have an accident, I remember but do I remember His blood which means that every step we make we should think about the cleanliness of our heart.  Is my heart clean?  If Jesus comes back now, am I really clean, am I ready to go?  When I see something, is it really important for me to see this? Am I really ready and clean if Jesus comes now?  It’s only when I cross hardship that I remember Jesus. 

When we were taking communion this morning, not many people took the outside part of the bread.  Most took the inside because the inside is soft while the outside is tough and maybe people were worried what had touched the outside (a fly?).  This reminds us that the outside of our bodies is always burnt by the fire but our soul and spirit is not attacked. 

 

A blessing will start with your body.  You feel like stealing, the thought will come first by your eyes and sends the message inside that what you are seeing looks good.  Then your legs move and your hands take it.  Your conscience will tell you, “No I don’t want to think about the blood of Jesus.  Be away from me God.” Then you thank God because no one caught me and now I have what I wanted.  I have heard of armed robbers praying before going to steal.

 

Your body will go through fire and will change the colour of your body.  When your body is burning with the desire, do you stand firm in Jesus? When you have blessings and all that God allows, do you stand firm in Jesus?

 

When I was a child I was sent to buy bread and a list of other items but my mother insisted that I should not forget the bread.  I bought butter milk instead of butter and milk and then I saw yoghurt and bought it for me and I thought I’ll throw away the receipt so my mum won’t know.  When I got home, my mother asked, “Where is the bread?”  That’s when I woke up.  I told my mother, “I can go back’.  But I knew in my heart the money was used.  I went back to shop with intention to steal the bread.  God was so good, when I walked in to the shop and walked over to the bread, I looked left and right and when I put my hand on top of the shelf to pull the bread, the man on other side said, “Hi son”.  I left it. 

 

I came back to try again and then heard a whistle, so I left it again.  Then I tried for a third time.  When I took bread, this little lady asked me, “Who are you buying this for, let’s walk together”.  I thought, “Why is everybody after me?”  This lady knew I was stealing and she told me, never steal anymore.  I came home crying?  I told my mother I was sorry.  To steal was the sin but I forgot about my actions and I thought my plan was good and that I was more clever than God. 

 

When we sin, we think we are clever because no one will see me and it’s fine and I’m enjoying it.  We have to stand firm in our sin.  We are gold and when we go through fire, we will never burn.  So stand firm in the fire.  In a physical fire, our body would get seriously burnt and we would need to go to hospital.  For temptation there is no hospital but we have to persevere.  That is all you can do even if you call 111 for God, He will tell you persevere.  When you go through hardship, people run from you and leave you alone and that is the hardest time in life to find yourself abandoned and when you tell them the people, they believe you are a complainer.

 

I watched this movie called Shrek.  A character on that movie was a donkey, and he could talk.  Shrek became annoyed and told him, “stop it donkey”.  Sometimes your problems will not interest other people, it will sound just like a cymbal in their ears.  When people don’t have time to listen to you, praise God and ask him to help you persevere.

 

Jesus said, “My time is arrived where My body will be given and My blood seen”.  All the disciples ran away.  He was tortured for many hours where He was alone and He had to endure.  Sometimes people tell you persevere but you feel that you can’t take it anymore.  Their encouragement to persevere will become a discouragement.  Jesus told us that sometimes you call God for help and He won’t answer or intervene at that time.  As Jesus said, “Why have You have forsaken me,” He is asking God, where are You? 

 

Your problems will sometimes make you doubt God exists, “where is He, I can’t see Him, He doesn’t answer my problem”.  That is the way God is baking you to make your inside soft and edible.  You go through difficult times (fire) so your body gets the proper heat and then everyone will choose your inside.  People will say, “He is a nice guy” about you.

 

If people described you in two words, you might be shocked.  Some will hammer you while you believe you are a good person because they only see the outside which is not well cooked.  When you are cooking bread and the bread is not ready, if you put your finger on the bread, it will go through the bread because it is not well cooked.  Yet, if the outside accepts to get burnt by the fire then all will be perfect on the inside.  But we don’t want that.  We want the inside to get cooked so the outside can look beautiful.  God allows temptations on the outside. 

 

If you are given money you will be happy and call it a blessing.  But money can sometimes be a curse.  Apreacher was saying he got $140M and IRD asked for tax, the bank needed insurance. You have money but you have to pay for money again.  The more money I have, the more I lose.  The money decreased while he wasn’t even using it.  Money is not a blessing.

 

God gave us a soul to look after.  The only way to be ready on day of resurrection is to accept your body to go through fire.  If you can’t say no to satan or temptation and you can’t persevere, then your soul will perish.  That will be your responsibility. 

 

Many people when they eat bread will use jam.  Some will use honey or margarine.  They will believe bread requires something else.  Sometimes those things will make the bread lose its taste.  You can have your soul and body and when you add on top of it, it will start to lose taste and God who sees the inside will start to worry.  That’s when you hear people say, “In my church we don’t believe the Old Testament is a part of the Word of God.  The Old Testament is only for the old time.” Yet the New Testament says that God is the same God that is there yesterday, today and forever.  Some people will say according to my culture, or God will understand, I’m human but God also understands He created you in His image and you are His son/daughter.

 

Ange, if I were to tell you to give me the life of your daughter or give me a bag of jewellery, what would you answer. You’ll give me the bag of jewellery because you love your child.  God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us. He had a choice between keeping Jesus and saving the world.  Look how big God’s love is to give His only son to die for you.  When you speak to God, you tell Him to shut up you are busy.  Our lives are very short and we are called to look after our bread.  My body is small and easy to manage.  If you decide not to sin, you won’t.  If you decide to read bible, you will read it.  When people are sick in hospital they will make effort to listen to God.  Do you make yourself listen to God or do you tell him you are too tired?