By Odon Bulamba (23 May 2003)
Jacob loved Leah’s sister more than her and Leah was isolated. Although she had obeyed her father and accepted the name she was given, she lived in a relationship with Jacob that was not easy and Leah was disappointed. She didn’t flee her house, she didn’t even criticise her father who wanted her to marry Jacob, instead she said, I am here and I have to look after my family, God is my witness.
How many times do we complain? How many times do we say that it’s because Michael told me, that’s why I live like that today. It’s because of him why I’m suffering today, why did that happen to me? Maybe I could flee and go away, but this is not a solution.
Eventually God saw Leah’s life and opened her womb while Rachel who was beautiful in people’s eyes was without child. This is the way revival works. Where you are weak, where everybody knows you are weak, God keeps making you grow. You find a husband (Jesus) and you were a simple Christian but as a miracle you become a servant of God, you who didn’t speak with God yesterday, you will talk with Him today, and because you obeyed you start living together with Jesus in the same house, to say that Jesus and you become one and the ministry can go ahead.
So when Leah became pregnant she gave birth to her first child who was Reuben. And if you read well she gave birth to seven children before her sister gave birth to her first one. The one who was loved couldn’t give birth and the one who was not loved could give birth. When God revives those who belong to Him He gives them the gifts of the Spirit and these gifts will show themselves at work while those who are loved by man won’t have any gifts. They will start to preach, perform miracles and do whatever God wants, while the others are still waiting to adopt a child. Like Christians today, they look for miracles and gifts here and there but they cannot find them.
In some countries people say if this one will be an evangelist it would be great because of has height, or if this person could be a pastor it would be great because he is really handsome, if someone is ugly everybody would say not this one. In America, if the pastor is black, the Church is black and if the pastor is white, the Church is white, and when the pastor is green what colour will the Christians be because we don’t have a race that is green. So we must be careful, we must pray to God sincerely so that these gifts might be put into action. Although man can reject us and criticise us, our eyes will always be on God.
So Leah gave birth to her firstborn Reuben, in the book of Gen 29. What does Reuben mean? Reuben’s arrival made Leah to rejoice a lot. Gen 29:32 “Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.” Reuben means to see.
First Leah was humiliated and then discovered that the Lord could see how people would humiliate her. When you are humiliated by others, when you are humiliated by the world and it’s a problem, when you are humiliated by disease, when you are humiliated by suffering, do you believe that God can see this humiliation, and if God can not see, do you tell Him to do something? You must know that to be revived you will be humiliated, not only by man but also with our everyday lives, sickness can humiliate you, lack of money can humiliate you, lack of a Church can humiliate you, everything can humiliate you, but remember that God can see what’s happening, when you remember God’s presence, when you remember God’s eyes, you will make the first step towards revival.
Leah gave birth to her second son. His name was Simeon. I remember 2 yrs ago in December, Michael and Sylvie sang a song at Hukanui church called Simeon. This song touched me a lot because it had a meaning for me. What does Simeon mean? Simeon means to be answered. That day when Michael and Sylvie sang, it was an answer for the world. The world would wait for Jesus and the day of His birth He was there, it was an answer. Like you and me from time to time when we ask God for things, do we wait for the answer from God or not?
Many Christians when they pray they say, let’s pray because this person or that person encouraged me, but deep in their hearts they don’t pray, they pray because they are influenced, this is not to pray. People will be the first ones to complain and contradict God, I prayed but you didn’t answer me. When we pray we have to do it with sincerity, and God will answer. So for the second step of revival we must pray with certitude and precision, we must pray knowing that God will answer, we don’t have to go left or right, or say let’s find the solution here or there, we must pray knowing that God is there and He will answer.
Leah fell pregnant again and gave birth to Levi. What does Levi mean? It means attached. Look at that, she was answered a few weeks ago and now she is attached to God. As for you, when you pray to God and you have an answer, do you get attached to God or do you leave Him and carry on with your everyday life? Many Christians when they have a problem and really want God to do something in their lives, they will pray with strength but when God answers, they will just say praise God, they don’t become attached to God, they don’t have time to get attached to God, they completely forget God’s presence but when another problem will arrive, they will say where’s God, let’s seek God.
If you get attached to God you will not have problems, problems will avoid you because problems will know that God is with you. If God is with you, who will be against you? But if you let God go far away, Satan will see that you are alone and he will come and attack. That is what we call temptation. But if you are attached to God you may have a few trials but you will win.
After that Leah gave birth to Judah. What does Judah mean? It means to praise. After being attached to God you must praise Him. Revival works together with praise and if you are not attached to God yet, it will be difficult to praise God. You’ll praise Him today but tomorrow you won’t. It’s like someone who’s drunk, he goes two steps on the right and two steps on the left, there’s no balance. If you are not attached to God, you might stand up today and feel God’s fire but tomorrow when you praise, it won’t be the same.
Oscar used to lead us in the church in praise. When he started praising through hymns people would sing, dance, and sweat to the point where sometimes we would forget who we were. However, there were other days where he would lead us in praise and as we were singing he would say stop stop, are you tired, didn’t you eat, why are you tired, let’s praise God with strength, he would always refer to Psalm 150 “let everything that has breath praise the Lord”. Whatever you praise with, just do it, whether it’s your hands, your instrument, just praise God; from there people would really praise God. Do we praise God in our hymns, in our prayers, in our actions; everything He does for us, do we praise Him?
After that Leah gave birth to Issachar; Gen 30:17, Issachar means my wages, or my reward. So what kind of wages do you get after praising? What present does God give you after praising Him? As our brother Oscar would say, whoever has breath must praise God. I would say that the life we have is a present. God gives us this present in advance. When we can meet together like this, it’s a present, whatever happens in our lives, is a present. And when you give a present to someone and the person doesn’t even say thank you, how do you feel?
Imagine, you give someone a Bible and the person takes it and puts it beside him and doesn’t say anything, how will you feel deeply in your heart, would you feel joy? No, sadness will be there, you may even judge this person, although you won’t say it but you might think that this person isn’t educated. The education that God gave us is that we have to give thanks for everything. Do we glorify God for everything? For example; when you wear a pair of shoes, do you glorify God for that, when you have everything you need, do you glorify God for that? If you don’t glorify God for the presents He gives you, then what do you glorify God for? When a person gives you a present and you don’t say thank you, do you think you would say thank you if you had to buy this thing with your own money? I don’t think so. So we have to be thankful because He gave us the Gospel freely. Some people try to find this Gospel to buy but they can’t even find one, and when they find a Bible they glorify God with all their heart. So we have to know how to glorify God.
After that Leah had another boy Zebulun, which means to honour. When God gives you a present and you glorify God, this honours God. How many times do you honour God in your life? So, these are the steps of revival, they are very simple steps, but they are very serious to put into practice, when you talk about them it seems easy, but to put it into practice is not that easy. When you can give birth to all these things, the new life will begin in you.
So who was the seventh child Leah gave birth to? It was Dinah, what does Dinah mean? (this is homework). Dinah was the seventh born, and for all that time Rachel didn’t give birth. God can give us in advance seven different things that the world doesn’t have. God will give us seven different things that other Christians don’t have, and all this will be in advance, only if we start to accept what Leah accepted to be. So if you accept to live as a Christian and accept to follow all these steps you’ll see that God will get closer to you. At the beginning Jacob didn’t love Leah, but because she started giving birth, Jacob got closer and closer to Leah to the point that they had 7 children. She didn’t think about anything that happened the day of her wedding, she knew that God was there and He is just, that’s all. We are called to live like Leah. Leah was given a servant named Zilpah. Zilpah was there to help Leah.
Some versions talk about Leah meaning a cow. We know that in New Zealand and everywhere else if someone has cows then they are rich, poor people don’t have cows. Cows represent riches. These riches are not something you can see with your eyes, but they are riches that are hidden like a treasure. Let’s take the example of a cow. Firstly, when a cow gives birth, the farmer will come and help this cow to give birth, the farmer will look after this calf because he knows it is a riches. God also takes care of us, because He knows we are riches. After a while the calf will get bigger, not only his eyes will grow but the whole body will grow too. So you have a cow that starts walking, there is grass, which is hard to uproot from the soil, but when a cow eats it he can do it easily, he isn’t tired, they keep doing this great work for years.
The cow has a tail, what’s its role? It taps to the right and then to the left. The cow controls its body; if a fly touches it on its left side then it will be chased away immediately. As for us, when we are touched by the world, what is the weapon we use to defend ourselves? Although the cow keeps beating the flies with its tail it continues to eat the grass. Imagine you are eating and an insect comes under your clothes, what will you do? Will you keep eating, no; you will stop and probably jump up and down. But with a cow it’s not like that, the cow gives the tail its task. As for you, do you give the Holy Spirit its task in your life? Do you give God His task in your life, or do you keep doing what you are doing and leave it to the point where God will take revenge?
When the cow eats, after a certain time he is full and then ruminates. Do we also ruminate, do we remember what we ate? After a certain time a cow will give birth, to mean that the cow always produces, the cow gives us milk. The cow keeps giving us milk, and God told us that “I prepare Caanan for the Israelites, the country where milk and honey flows”. Why did God speak about milk? This poor Leah whose name means cow can produce something, which God has prepared for a whole nation, what a destiny. Here you are as God’s servants and God says that through Michael my people will have that, through Oscar my people will get that. It’s not easy to understand but when God gives, He gives and that’s it.
Also people eat the cow’s meat. The cow helps all of us, even its skin has a task, and its flesh also. Even what the cow rejects helps us. Everything that the cow gives has a work to do. Of course you can say that the cow doesn’t have a nice appearance, but you’ll be the first one to eat the meat or to drink the milk, or you’ll be the first one willing to be rich or to have a farm. So as for us Christians we have to expand our knowledge, and to expand our knowledge by reading the Bible is not enough, it’s also about practising what we learn. When we put into practice what we learn then things will work really well and nobody will be able to stop it. As Ezekiel could see the bones that were covered with flesh, we also have the ability to see the plan that God has for us in the future. Do you look at your future life in the Lord, or don’t you have this vision. So if you don’t have it, it’s the time to think about it so that you might be revived in the Lord. Amen.
Showing posts with label revival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label revival. Show all posts
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
REVIVAL (Part IV)
By Odon Bulamba (23 May 2003)
- Part of the Great Salvation
In the church today we often talk about revival. We know that revival is a step from death to life; if someone is dead and comes back to life again people will testify and say that we have seen such person at such place. When we speak about revival it doesn’t mean that it’s about resurrection, it doesn’t mean that someone was dead and came back to life to sin again, it means that if you are a sinner then your soul is dead because of your sin. It means that when you meet Jesus in your life, then this soul finds life, and when life is there, we can speak about revival; this is the elementary teaching for newborn Christians.
But for adult Christians, they also need the Bible too; this revival will be a little bit different than the revival for new born Christians. The way a new born Christian will read the bible is different from the way a mature Christian will read the Bible. Of course the Bible is the same, but there are teachings for spiritually young Christians and spiritually older Christians.
For example; if I open the Bible to the Song of Songs and I say let’s study it, few people will understand the meaning of this book, because it’s a poetic book and it speaks a lot about love, many pastors teach that it speaks about the love of Jesus Christ for the church and that’s it, other churches can go without reading this book for ten years, and very few Christians know about this book in the Bible. Perhaps young people who are in love might know this book, they might take a few verses to send to their lover, but for normal Christians they don’t study this book. It’s the same thing with revival. When we talk about revival at a mature level we get closer to God who is life, there is no mention of the presence of sin, but we seek God’s presence Himself.
Listen to me well! For a newborn Christian revival means I was dead in my sin and I came back to life. But for those who are adults in the Lord, it is not about sin it’s about seeking God’s presence. Once Moses asked God if he could see Him, Moses was very keen to see God, he said God I’ve seen everything, I’ve seen my parents, my children and now I want to see you. We also might have this need to see God. Moses could hear God’s voice, he could talk with Him easily, but he wanted to go further and see God, although he could hear Him it wasn’t enough, he wanted to see with his own eyes. Like you and me, when we were saved we could read the Bible and pray, we then reached a certain level in understanding the scriptures, and then we reached a level where we asked God to help us so we could pray for ten minutes, and now we are at the level where we say God, help me to hear your voice, help me God so that when I pray for someone this person might be healed, we forget completely the level where we started, we are at another level.
There was something that died in us and we want this thing to come back to life, it’s the direct contact with God. God said to Moses you won’t see me because if you do, you won’t live but later God showed Himself to Moses. So what need do you have?
The need you have to see God is what we call revival. The need you have in your heart is that God might come close to you, to touch you and to help you in your spiritual activities. For example; if we pray together here, and God’s presence is manifested and we can feel God’s presence in our prayers, will we be ready to say let’s stop now or will we be willing to carry on, I think that if someone is touched by God’s presence, this person will want to keep feeling God and this person will feel a new life in them.
There was a woman in the Bible who married a man named Laban, this woman gave birth to two daughters Leah and Rachael. Leah was the oldest and she was weak naturally while her sister was beautiful and physically perfect in man’s eyes. In some versions it says that Leah’s eyes were a little bit tired and awkward. Although Leah had problems with her eyes, she didn’t stop growing, she would grow day by day. Although people would comment about her awkward eyes, she didn’t care, she kept growing, God continued to help her grow in an incredible way and she was proud of the physical aspects that God had given her.
After a time she became an adult and she was ready to get married. God went and visited Leah, He saw that Leah was ready to get married, and something happened in Jacob’s life on the other side; you know the story, Jacob introduced himself to Laban, and Laban said to him you can stay with me for a few months. After one month Laban said to Jacob “what do you want me to give you for all the work you’ve done here?” Jacob looked around and saw that Rachel was a beautiful wife for him, he was not afraid to say in front of his uncle that he loved his daughter. Laban thought that it’s normal that my daughter might be loved. Laban said ok, you love my daughter, that’s good but what’s going to happen? Jacob said to him, I will work for you for 7 years. Laban who knew the law and the rights said ok you can have my daughter, so Jacob started to work for 7 years.
At the end of the 7th year Jacob said I’ve finished my work now, please give me your daughter. But Laban remembered the law, the younger sister cannot get married before the oldest, first the oldest must get married and then the youngest. What happened? Laban gave Leah instead of Rachel to Jacob. In the morning Jacob realised that it was not Rachael he had married, it was Leah. From that day on, life changed, Leah came from being a single woman and then the next day she was married which her father had prepared. This same Leah who didn’t even think about getting married because it was her sister who was loved, found herself in front of her husband. Her father said to her, you will marry Jacob. Was Leah allowed to say no? Did she have the right to say no to her father or not? Maybe she had this right, maybe she didn’t love Jacob, who knows, maybe she knew that Jacob loved Rachel more than her, but she accepted what her father told her, she accepted to be married that day.
Secondly, because Leah didn’t have eyes that pleased people, she was ready to be abused by others. Imagine getting married to someone you don’t love, how will you live with this person in the same house? For example; we say to Colleen we give you this person to marry who you don’t love, will you be able to live in peace with this man, I think it will be difficult. Because there’s no love, it won’t go well. But Leah accepted, although she knew it would be difficult to be married to Jacob, she accepted.
After that Jacob went to Laban and said, you misled me. Laban said, ok stay with Leah for a week and then we’ll see, and after a week he was given Rachel, and then he had to work for another 7 years.
Why am I telling you this story? We’re going to talk about Leah. Leah means tired and when you are tired you don’t have the strength to do things. Imagine having an appointment with someone who always says come back, come back, you’ll be tired and disappointed. When you study very hard and you don’t succeed, you’ll be very disappointed. When you work with all your strength and then you are asked to carry on working, you’ll say no, you might have the will to carry on with this job but because you are tired you can’t. It’s the same thing with us, we always pray and ask God but we don’t receive to the point we are tired sometimes.
We want to do well but we cannot reach this level because we are tired. Sometimes we read the Bible and really want God’s presence but because God doesn’t show Himself we get tired and then we feel completely forgotten. But this doesn’t stop us from growing. In our weaknesses God recognises us and when we recognise our weaknesses God is there to comfort us. Let’s imagine I stand up here and I say to Sylvie from now on your name is no longer Sylvie, it’s tired. If people start calling you tired, will be happy, I think not, it’s not easy. But Leah was called tired.
When I was very young and I was told you are very lazy, I would look around to find anything to throw at that person, to show them that I wasn’t lazy. I remember one day there was a woman who lived near our place. This lady told one of my aunties that she was lazy and my aunty replied saying, “You are lazy because you’ve got a fat tummy. If you were really strong you would work and this tummy would go away, so you are the one who is lazy”. When we are told that we are lazy or tired we feel shocked. Most Christians are really shocked when you tell them their mistakes or their weaknesses.
The name plays a great role in Christian life. Leah had accepted this name, and what about you and me, what is our name? When you are called Christian, are you really a Christian, when you are called thief, liar or slanderer, are you happy with this name?
So Leah kept growing and she didn’t reject her name but she said that God is with us. Do we keep growing in the Lord or did we stop because people talked about us. After a certain time we are called to meet Jesus, and this must happen through obedience. If Leah had not obeyed her father she wouldn’t have got married. Although she wasn’t in love with Jacob and she knew that Jacob belonged to her sister, she still obeyed her father, she didn’t complain or discuss, she said ok that’s alright, I’m going to get married. Of course people teased her about her eyes, but she said I’m going to get married to this man and that’s it. How many times do we obey God’s voice each day? Start counting in your life how many times you obey God in a day or per hour.
From time to time when God tells us something, we are the first ones to say no, this is not right; we want to use human intelligence to match God’s view. For example; if I were Leah at that time I wouldn’t have married Jacob because it would have been a shame. Everybody would say look, how can she take her sister’s husband, maybe newspapers would write about it but she accepted to obey, and by obeying she got married.
- Part of the Great Salvation
In the church today we often talk about revival. We know that revival is a step from death to life; if someone is dead and comes back to life again people will testify and say that we have seen such person at such place. When we speak about revival it doesn’t mean that it’s about resurrection, it doesn’t mean that someone was dead and came back to life to sin again, it means that if you are a sinner then your soul is dead because of your sin. It means that when you meet Jesus in your life, then this soul finds life, and when life is there, we can speak about revival; this is the elementary teaching for newborn Christians.
But for adult Christians, they also need the Bible too; this revival will be a little bit different than the revival for new born Christians. The way a new born Christian will read the bible is different from the way a mature Christian will read the Bible. Of course the Bible is the same, but there are teachings for spiritually young Christians and spiritually older Christians.
For example; if I open the Bible to the Song of Songs and I say let’s study it, few people will understand the meaning of this book, because it’s a poetic book and it speaks a lot about love, many pastors teach that it speaks about the love of Jesus Christ for the church and that’s it, other churches can go without reading this book for ten years, and very few Christians know about this book in the Bible. Perhaps young people who are in love might know this book, they might take a few verses to send to their lover, but for normal Christians they don’t study this book. It’s the same thing with revival. When we talk about revival at a mature level we get closer to God who is life, there is no mention of the presence of sin, but we seek God’s presence Himself.
Listen to me well! For a newborn Christian revival means I was dead in my sin and I came back to life. But for those who are adults in the Lord, it is not about sin it’s about seeking God’s presence. Once Moses asked God if he could see Him, Moses was very keen to see God, he said God I’ve seen everything, I’ve seen my parents, my children and now I want to see you. We also might have this need to see God. Moses could hear God’s voice, he could talk with Him easily, but he wanted to go further and see God, although he could hear Him it wasn’t enough, he wanted to see with his own eyes. Like you and me, when we were saved we could read the Bible and pray, we then reached a certain level in understanding the scriptures, and then we reached a level where we asked God to help us so we could pray for ten minutes, and now we are at the level where we say God, help me to hear your voice, help me God so that when I pray for someone this person might be healed, we forget completely the level where we started, we are at another level.
There was something that died in us and we want this thing to come back to life, it’s the direct contact with God. God said to Moses you won’t see me because if you do, you won’t live but later God showed Himself to Moses. So what need do you have?
The need you have to see God is what we call revival. The need you have in your heart is that God might come close to you, to touch you and to help you in your spiritual activities. For example; if we pray together here, and God’s presence is manifested and we can feel God’s presence in our prayers, will we be ready to say let’s stop now or will we be willing to carry on, I think that if someone is touched by God’s presence, this person will want to keep feeling God and this person will feel a new life in them.
There was a woman in the Bible who married a man named Laban, this woman gave birth to two daughters Leah and Rachael. Leah was the oldest and she was weak naturally while her sister was beautiful and physically perfect in man’s eyes. In some versions it says that Leah’s eyes were a little bit tired and awkward. Although Leah had problems with her eyes, she didn’t stop growing, she would grow day by day. Although people would comment about her awkward eyes, she didn’t care, she kept growing, God continued to help her grow in an incredible way and she was proud of the physical aspects that God had given her.
After a time she became an adult and she was ready to get married. God went and visited Leah, He saw that Leah was ready to get married, and something happened in Jacob’s life on the other side; you know the story, Jacob introduced himself to Laban, and Laban said to him you can stay with me for a few months. After one month Laban said to Jacob “what do you want me to give you for all the work you’ve done here?” Jacob looked around and saw that Rachel was a beautiful wife for him, he was not afraid to say in front of his uncle that he loved his daughter. Laban thought that it’s normal that my daughter might be loved. Laban said ok, you love my daughter, that’s good but what’s going to happen? Jacob said to him, I will work for you for 7 years. Laban who knew the law and the rights said ok you can have my daughter, so Jacob started to work for 7 years.
At the end of the 7th year Jacob said I’ve finished my work now, please give me your daughter. But Laban remembered the law, the younger sister cannot get married before the oldest, first the oldest must get married and then the youngest. What happened? Laban gave Leah instead of Rachel to Jacob. In the morning Jacob realised that it was not Rachael he had married, it was Leah. From that day on, life changed, Leah came from being a single woman and then the next day she was married which her father had prepared. This same Leah who didn’t even think about getting married because it was her sister who was loved, found herself in front of her husband. Her father said to her, you will marry Jacob. Was Leah allowed to say no? Did she have the right to say no to her father or not? Maybe she had this right, maybe she didn’t love Jacob, who knows, maybe she knew that Jacob loved Rachel more than her, but she accepted what her father told her, she accepted to be married that day.
Secondly, because Leah didn’t have eyes that pleased people, she was ready to be abused by others. Imagine getting married to someone you don’t love, how will you live with this person in the same house? For example; we say to Colleen we give you this person to marry who you don’t love, will you be able to live in peace with this man, I think it will be difficult. Because there’s no love, it won’t go well. But Leah accepted, although she knew it would be difficult to be married to Jacob, she accepted.
After that Jacob went to Laban and said, you misled me. Laban said, ok stay with Leah for a week and then we’ll see, and after a week he was given Rachel, and then he had to work for another 7 years.
Why am I telling you this story? We’re going to talk about Leah. Leah means tired and when you are tired you don’t have the strength to do things. Imagine having an appointment with someone who always says come back, come back, you’ll be tired and disappointed. When you study very hard and you don’t succeed, you’ll be very disappointed. When you work with all your strength and then you are asked to carry on working, you’ll say no, you might have the will to carry on with this job but because you are tired you can’t. It’s the same thing with us, we always pray and ask God but we don’t receive to the point we are tired sometimes.
We want to do well but we cannot reach this level because we are tired. Sometimes we read the Bible and really want God’s presence but because God doesn’t show Himself we get tired and then we feel completely forgotten. But this doesn’t stop us from growing. In our weaknesses God recognises us and when we recognise our weaknesses God is there to comfort us. Let’s imagine I stand up here and I say to Sylvie from now on your name is no longer Sylvie, it’s tired. If people start calling you tired, will be happy, I think not, it’s not easy. But Leah was called tired.
When I was very young and I was told you are very lazy, I would look around to find anything to throw at that person, to show them that I wasn’t lazy. I remember one day there was a woman who lived near our place. This lady told one of my aunties that she was lazy and my aunty replied saying, “You are lazy because you’ve got a fat tummy. If you were really strong you would work and this tummy would go away, so you are the one who is lazy”. When we are told that we are lazy or tired we feel shocked. Most Christians are really shocked when you tell them their mistakes or their weaknesses.
The name plays a great role in Christian life. Leah had accepted this name, and what about you and me, what is our name? When you are called Christian, are you really a Christian, when you are called thief, liar or slanderer, are you happy with this name?
So Leah kept growing and she didn’t reject her name but she said that God is with us. Do we keep growing in the Lord or did we stop because people talked about us. After a certain time we are called to meet Jesus, and this must happen through obedience. If Leah had not obeyed her father she wouldn’t have got married. Although she wasn’t in love with Jacob and she knew that Jacob belonged to her sister, she still obeyed her father, she didn’t complain or discuss, she said ok that’s alright, I’m going to get married. Of course people teased her about her eyes, but she said I’m going to get married to this man and that’s it. How many times do we obey God’s voice each day? Start counting in your life how many times you obey God in a day or per hour.
From time to time when God tells us something, we are the first ones to say no, this is not right; we want to use human intelligence to match God’s view. For example; if I were Leah at that time I wouldn’t have married Jacob because it would have been a shame. Everybody would say look, how can she take her sister’s husband, maybe newspapers would write about it but she accepted to obey, and by obeying she got married.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
REVIVAL (Part III)
In the book of Ezekiel chapter 37 God showed the prophet Ezekiel something. In the valley there were bones and they were dry. The Lord showed Ezekiel these facts. Later there was a wind coming, this wind made the bones come together to become a whole army. I won’t talk about that because we talked about it 2 years ago. This whole army was strong and it was in front of Ezekiel. Ezekiel saw it and believed it, although no one else could see it. This wind is what we call the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit that gives revival. If the Holy Spirit doesn’t revive you you’ll never live in peace. After receiving the truth you must make an effort. Suppose I tell you I will run for 5 minutes and after 40 metres I start to breathe quickly because I’m not used to it, but if you ask Peter who does sport everyday to run, 40 metres for him it is nothing. Why is that? Because he practises it everyday to the point where he becomes strong; he is able to do the impossible.
In my country there is a tribe, they see who can go underwater and stay there for 3 hours. For example if a boat sinks, he can plunge and go into the boat and gather things or people and take them back. When a submarine flees they can go under and they wear no oxygen, nothing. I thought it might be because of sorcery, but I was told it was not that. From an early age they train the children, for example they put water in a tank and put the head of a child in it and start counting the seconds, after a certain time they pull it out. When a child grows up it can go easily underwater. As for me who has never swum, even if you put 10 kilos of gold 2 metres deep and you tell me, “take this it is yours”; I will never risk my life and I’ll say, “you can keep it”.
I remember one day when I was swimming I drank the water and I nearly died and so I said goodbye to swimming. So for those who train all the time they will easily go under 2 metres and get the gold. So what does this teach us? It teaches us that we have to practise the Word of God all the time. If I pull a 40-kilo load and I’m not ready to lift this, but I train everyday with weights, after a certain time I will be able to lift 40 kilos of weight. If I keep training I will be able to lift 80 kilos. Participation and practise make people perfect. Unfortunately for us Christians we never participate in the Word of God and never put it into practise. We say God give us strength, we want to be strong so when we pray for the sick people they may be healed, or when we pray for the dead they might find back their life. Put the gospel into practise first and then strength will come.
God is there and it’s your part to make an effort to accept what God gives you. Unfortunately we don’t do it.
The army that Ezekiel saw was a big army. God is able to change the life we have, from bones only he can make bodies that are strong, and the flesh and the eyes and the skin will be there. Everything is possible for the one who believes. Everything is possible for God. God is able to do anything. You may say, “I can’t I can’t”. Who told you that you can’t? Ask God and he will give you an answer. There are many servants of God in this world who wouldn’t even dream that one day they would serve God and live a normal life as before. But the day they made up their minds God used them, and why not us?
In a place where I used to live in Kenya there were birds called Ostriches. We know what an Ostrich is, they are big birds with a long neck and are very strong. When they run you can hear a noise, when they make steps it is not easy to catch them. All the other birds respect this bird, even the eagle would not easily attack an ostrich; they respect them.
When an ostrich is walking, small animals like dogs flee. If you go hunting with a dog and they see an ostrich the dog will curve his tail and put it in between his legs to say I’m not going after that. You will tell your dog, go attack and the dog will come behind you. Why is that? It is because the dog fears the bird. The bird is strong, but there is something, when this bird sees a man coming it starts running. After 2 metres it stops to look at you and tilts it head, it says if you’re strong follow me. It starts running and after 20 metres looks at you as if to say come on and after 2 kilometres you’ll be tired. The bird will try to take you far away. When this bird is tired, what does it do? It runs to find a small hole somewhere and puts its head in the hole. The bird thinks it is hiding his whole body, but the bird only hides its head in the hole. Man can come closer to the bird and say it is not very clever; I will take the machete and cut its head, the body will keep moving but life is not there anymore, life will be gone.
Why is that? Because the bird made a mistake, although the bird knows he is strong, he knows he can run well, but he forgot where he could hide. As for us who are in Christ we have to hide under the rock who is Jesus Christ. We cannot hide behind Michael or Sylvie’s back or anyone else, but we have to hide under Jesus Christ the rock. An arrow will never pierce this shield; no man or even the forces of darkness will ever be able to catch us. We have this opportunity only if we believe that we have revival.
One day there were four hens, and these hens were together. They would eat maize, one of these hens looked at the other and said how good it is to eat together, but the other one said that’s good but who knows what is going to happen soon. The other one said of course, that is why I said it is good that we eat together. A lady who was beside them said cast them away from the maize, because they are eating my maize. A child shooed the hens away. The hens said, “you see, man never allow us to eat together”. Another one answered, “it is because we are weak, if we were as strong as the wind we could change everything, maybe we could declare our rights. Men fear the wind, it takes off rooftops and people tremble in front of the wind”. You see, even the birds need strength.
So what is your strength in the Lord? Maybe you are strong at maths, or English, or sport but what is your strength in the Lord? Is it only to carry your Bible?
One day I asked a group of people, tell me after the book of Nahum what is the next book? Everybody looked at me, Nahum? Umm…Joshua. No. Umm Psalm. NO. Micah, people would start giving any sort of names from the books. Then I asked who is the 3rd child in the royal family of England? Everybody knew. Then I said who are Diana’s children and everybody knew they would even give their date of birth. But when it’s the Word of God things become more and more heavy. So who is going to help us to carry it? We are called to live in the truth and the spirit and without the truth the spirit will not be able to work and without the spirit, truth doesn’t have any value. That’s why Jesus gave us an example; one day while he was walking he saw a tree without fruit and he wanted to eat the fruit but unfortunately there was none on the tree, this tree was cursed and the next day it was dry. You and I today might know the Word of God, we might recite the verses, and we might associate them to other people’s lives.
If people say I’m really hungry; man won’t live only by bread but by the Word of God. If he will say I’m sick, by the name of Jesus Christ we put our hands on all the sick people and find healing and find all the possible references for people’s lives. But when it’s about me I don’t even know what reference I can find for myself in the Bible. Between us lets be sincere, we have a disease us Christians. When you tell a Christian, my brother you are a thief, it will be better to stop what you do. Automatically this Christian becomes angry. If you were friends you become enemies. Although you talk to him in truth because you live in the truth, he will find it’s something that goes against his will. He will always say, this man is not good, always he thinks he is someone while he is nothing, so he gets more further away from the Word of God.
So this was the introduction to Revival. If you want to know more on revival read Ezekiel 37, read John 3 and 5:2 and Ephesians 2 can help. I believe I soon will touch these verses more. So you know how to glorify God, you know what the truth is, you know what to practise the truth means. So today we see how revival will be something important in our lives. If you want to get anything, respect the Word of God and everything will be better. If you don’t respect the Word of God be sure that God won’t respect you either. Whoever comes to Him, he will accept easily, but if you reject Him you’ll be lost. So we are going to pray altogether and everyone has to pray for his own personal life. Ask God to help you to find strength that is revival, strength that will help you to progress in the Bible.
In my country there is a tribe, they see who can go underwater and stay there for 3 hours. For example if a boat sinks, he can plunge and go into the boat and gather things or people and take them back. When a submarine flees they can go under and they wear no oxygen, nothing. I thought it might be because of sorcery, but I was told it was not that. From an early age they train the children, for example they put water in a tank and put the head of a child in it and start counting the seconds, after a certain time they pull it out. When a child grows up it can go easily underwater. As for me who has never swum, even if you put 10 kilos of gold 2 metres deep and you tell me, “take this it is yours”; I will never risk my life and I’ll say, “you can keep it”.
I remember one day when I was swimming I drank the water and I nearly died and so I said goodbye to swimming. So for those who train all the time they will easily go under 2 metres and get the gold. So what does this teach us? It teaches us that we have to practise the Word of God all the time. If I pull a 40-kilo load and I’m not ready to lift this, but I train everyday with weights, after a certain time I will be able to lift 40 kilos of weight. If I keep training I will be able to lift 80 kilos. Participation and practise make people perfect. Unfortunately for us Christians we never participate in the Word of God and never put it into practise. We say God give us strength, we want to be strong so when we pray for the sick people they may be healed, or when we pray for the dead they might find back their life. Put the gospel into practise first and then strength will come.
God is there and it’s your part to make an effort to accept what God gives you. Unfortunately we don’t do it.
The army that Ezekiel saw was a big army. God is able to change the life we have, from bones only he can make bodies that are strong, and the flesh and the eyes and the skin will be there. Everything is possible for the one who believes. Everything is possible for God. God is able to do anything. You may say, “I can’t I can’t”. Who told you that you can’t? Ask God and he will give you an answer. There are many servants of God in this world who wouldn’t even dream that one day they would serve God and live a normal life as before. But the day they made up their minds God used them, and why not us?
In a place where I used to live in Kenya there were birds called Ostriches. We know what an Ostrich is, they are big birds with a long neck and are very strong. When they run you can hear a noise, when they make steps it is not easy to catch them. All the other birds respect this bird, even the eagle would not easily attack an ostrich; they respect them.
When an ostrich is walking, small animals like dogs flee. If you go hunting with a dog and they see an ostrich the dog will curve his tail and put it in between his legs to say I’m not going after that. You will tell your dog, go attack and the dog will come behind you. Why is that? It is because the dog fears the bird. The bird is strong, but there is something, when this bird sees a man coming it starts running. After 2 metres it stops to look at you and tilts it head, it says if you’re strong follow me. It starts running and after 20 metres looks at you as if to say come on and after 2 kilometres you’ll be tired. The bird will try to take you far away. When this bird is tired, what does it do? It runs to find a small hole somewhere and puts its head in the hole. The bird thinks it is hiding his whole body, but the bird only hides its head in the hole. Man can come closer to the bird and say it is not very clever; I will take the machete and cut its head, the body will keep moving but life is not there anymore, life will be gone.
Why is that? Because the bird made a mistake, although the bird knows he is strong, he knows he can run well, but he forgot where he could hide. As for us who are in Christ we have to hide under the rock who is Jesus Christ. We cannot hide behind Michael or Sylvie’s back or anyone else, but we have to hide under Jesus Christ the rock. An arrow will never pierce this shield; no man or even the forces of darkness will ever be able to catch us. We have this opportunity only if we believe that we have revival.
One day there were four hens, and these hens were together. They would eat maize, one of these hens looked at the other and said how good it is to eat together, but the other one said that’s good but who knows what is going to happen soon. The other one said of course, that is why I said it is good that we eat together. A lady who was beside them said cast them away from the maize, because they are eating my maize. A child shooed the hens away. The hens said, “you see, man never allow us to eat together”. Another one answered, “it is because we are weak, if we were as strong as the wind we could change everything, maybe we could declare our rights. Men fear the wind, it takes off rooftops and people tremble in front of the wind”. You see, even the birds need strength.
So what is your strength in the Lord? Maybe you are strong at maths, or English, or sport but what is your strength in the Lord? Is it only to carry your Bible?
One day I asked a group of people, tell me after the book of Nahum what is the next book? Everybody looked at me, Nahum? Umm…Joshua. No. Umm Psalm. NO. Micah, people would start giving any sort of names from the books. Then I asked who is the 3rd child in the royal family of England? Everybody knew. Then I said who are Diana’s children and everybody knew they would even give their date of birth. But when it’s the Word of God things become more and more heavy. So who is going to help us to carry it? We are called to live in the truth and the spirit and without the truth the spirit will not be able to work and without the spirit, truth doesn’t have any value. That’s why Jesus gave us an example; one day while he was walking he saw a tree without fruit and he wanted to eat the fruit but unfortunately there was none on the tree, this tree was cursed and the next day it was dry. You and I today might know the Word of God, we might recite the verses, and we might associate them to other people’s lives.
If people say I’m really hungry; man won’t live only by bread but by the Word of God. If he will say I’m sick, by the name of Jesus Christ we put our hands on all the sick people and find healing and find all the possible references for people’s lives. But when it’s about me I don’t even know what reference I can find for myself in the Bible. Between us lets be sincere, we have a disease us Christians. When you tell a Christian, my brother you are a thief, it will be better to stop what you do. Automatically this Christian becomes angry. If you were friends you become enemies. Although you talk to him in truth because you live in the truth, he will find it’s something that goes against his will. He will always say, this man is not good, always he thinks he is someone while he is nothing, so he gets more further away from the Word of God.
So this was the introduction to Revival. If you want to know more on revival read Ezekiel 37, read John 3 and 5:2 and Ephesians 2 can help. I believe I soon will touch these verses more. So you know how to glorify God, you know what the truth is, you know what to practise the truth means. So today we see how revival will be something important in our lives. If you want to get anything, respect the Word of God and everything will be better. If you don’t respect the Word of God be sure that God won’t respect you either. Whoever comes to Him, he will accept easily, but if you reject Him you’ll be lost. So we are going to pray altogether and everyone has to pray for his own personal life. Ask God to help you to find strength that is revival, strength that will help you to progress in the Bible.
Monday, December 21, 2009
REVIVAL (Part II)
Truth is something very simple in man’s life, if you really want to use it.
For example; a man had stolen money and was arrested. He said, “I didn’t steal it, prove that I stole it”. There was no proof.
His wife came to him and said my husband you really made me ashamed. He said, “my wife I tell you the truth, you know, I took this money, it will help us for our future life. If I tell these stupid people we will be poor forever, so keep this secret and we will be rich, half of this money will go in your bank account”. The wife just rubbed her hands and when people would come she would say my husband never stole and I will never accept it. This family were Christians and they would always hold their Bible’s to go to church on Sunday. On Sunday they would say, thank you God because you kept us. God visited them and said what you did is not right. The conscience of the husband woke up and he said, “yes I stole”. The wife looked at him and only her eyes talked to say, “what are you saying?” The husband said, “yes I really stole and my wife kept half of the money”. The wife said, “look at this man he is mad, I think you must first check his mental health because he has got a mental problem”.
You see because of money, only paper, people put truth aside and sacrifice their souls to sin. So as for us, if we don’t walk with the truth; there will never be good fruit. You
might know the Word of God by heart or you might know all the important passages but if you don’t put this passage into practise, people won’t see the proof of your faith.
Fourteen years ago there was a man who was very rich. His son finished secondary school and he said when you get your results I will buy you something. The son said there were motorbikes, Suzuki 100cc that were very trendy. I want that because all the young people have them. The father asked, “Is that all that you want? Well I will get it for you, but there is something, I will change your identity, your name will be changed, and you will be called something else”. ‘By your wounds you have been healed’; this is the name the father gave his son. One-day the son’s results came and his father said I am very happy and proud of you. I have never known a son like you. You work very well.
He took a passport and gave it to his son. This passport bore the name ‘by your wound you have been healed’ the son put it in his pocket and said, “I am still waiting”. The father said, “you can go”. “No dad, what about your promise?” The father said, “yes I remember. To ride a bike you have to learn first. Did you learn how to ride a bike?” “Dad it’s not a problem, in 2 days I will be ready”. “Okay my son because you say that I will give it to you”. He took a New Testament and gave it to his son. The child looked at his father and changed his attitude. He took his passport and chucked it on the floor. “What’s that? Lying dad!” He left and slammed the door behind him. His dad let him go. Twenty years later his son got married and had a family. He learnt on the radio that his dad had died. He thought because his dad had died it’s time to go back and get an inheritance. His wife said, “be quick you have to go there, before people start sharing your father’s things, you have to be there”.
When he went home he didn’t go to see the body of his father, all he wanted was the inheritance. When he got there everybody was crying and he said, “where are the documents that he left?” People asked him, “what documents?” He said, “the will”. His mum said if you need a Testament there are two, the Old Testament and the New Testament, which one do you want? He said, “No, the will that my father wrote that is all that I want”.
After the burial the lawyer came. He told the son he could leave the house for it has been given to someone. The son asked, “how could that be, let me go to the bank”. The bank told him his father had 15 million dollars but he had given it to someone else. “But it is me who has to inherit it”. The lawyer asked for his passport. He showed him the passport with his original name of Floyd on it. He said it is not you so you can leave. The son remembered, my father said that my name had changed, I have another name, ‘By your wound you have been healed.’ “Well where is the proof, this is the true name but where is the proof?” Twenty years ago he had thrown away the passport that his father had given him. Where could he find it? He came back home and tried to find it and by chance he found the New Testament and the passport. He started crying. “What did I do against my father?” When he opened the New Testament he saw a key. It was the key to the ignition of the bike that had been bought twenty years ago. But because he had rejected the New Testament he also rejected the bike. It was written clearly that everything had been paid for. He went to the bike company but the company had already closed its doors. He went to the bank with this passport and he was given the money.
That is the way us Christians live today. We always call ourselves Children of God but the name and identity our Lord gave us, do we keep burying it or do we throw it away in front of His eyes? If you are a Christian do you carry the Christian identity with you?
Or do you have the Congolese or French identity? What is your identity? Your identity must always have facts that come with it
For example; a man had stolen money and was arrested. He said, “I didn’t steal it, prove that I stole it”. There was no proof.
His wife came to him and said my husband you really made me ashamed. He said, “my wife I tell you the truth, you know, I took this money, it will help us for our future life. If I tell these stupid people we will be poor forever, so keep this secret and we will be rich, half of this money will go in your bank account”. The wife just rubbed her hands and when people would come she would say my husband never stole and I will never accept it. This family were Christians and they would always hold their Bible’s to go to church on Sunday. On Sunday they would say, thank you God because you kept us. God visited them and said what you did is not right. The conscience of the husband woke up and he said, “yes I stole”. The wife looked at him and only her eyes talked to say, “what are you saying?” The husband said, “yes I really stole and my wife kept half of the money”. The wife said, “look at this man he is mad, I think you must first check his mental health because he has got a mental problem”.
You see because of money, only paper, people put truth aside and sacrifice their souls to sin. So as for us, if we don’t walk with the truth; there will never be good fruit. You
might know the Word of God by heart or you might know all the important passages but if you don’t put this passage into practise, people won’t see the proof of your faith.
Fourteen years ago there was a man who was very rich. His son finished secondary school and he said when you get your results I will buy you something. The son said there were motorbikes, Suzuki 100cc that were very trendy. I want that because all the young people have them. The father asked, “Is that all that you want? Well I will get it for you, but there is something, I will change your identity, your name will be changed, and you will be called something else”. ‘By your wounds you have been healed’; this is the name the father gave his son. One-day the son’s results came and his father said I am very happy and proud of you. I have never known a son like you. You work very well.
He took a passport and gave it to his son. This passport bore the name ‘by your wound you have been healed’ the son put it in his pocket and said, “I am still waiting”. The father said, “you can go”. “No dad, what about your promise?” The father said, “yes I remember. To ride a bike you have to learn first. Did you learn how to ride a bike?” “Dad it’s not a problem, in 2 days I will be ready”. “Okay my son because you say that I will give it to you”. He took a New Testament and gave it to his son. The child looked at his father and changed his attitude. He took his passport and chucked it on the floor. “What’s that? Lying dad!” He left and slammed the door behind him. His dad let him go. Twenty years later his son got married and had a family. He learnt on the radio that his dad had died. He thought because his dad had died it’s time to go back and get an inheritance. His wife said, “be quick you have to go there, before people start sharing your father’s things, you have to be there”.
When he went home he didn’t go to see the body of his father, all he wanted was the inheritance. When he got there everybody was crying and he said, “where are the documents that he left?” People asked him, “what documents?” He said, “the will”. His mum said if you need a Testament there are two, the Old Testament and the New Testament, which one do you want? He said, “No, the will that my father wrote that is all that I want”.
After the burial the lawyer came. He told the son he could leave the house for it has been given to someone. The son asked, “how could that be, let me go to the bank”. The bank told him his father had 15 million dollars but he had given it to someone else. “But it is me who has to inherit it”. The lawyer asked for his passport. He showed him the passport with his original name of Floyd on it. He said it is not you so you can leave. The son remembered, my father said that my name had changed, I have another name, ‘By your wound you have been healed.’ “Well where is the proof, this is the true name but where is the proof?” Twenty years ago he had thrown away the passport that his father had given him. Where could he find it? He came back home and tried to find it and by chance he found the New Testament and the passport. He started crying. “What did I do against my father?” When he opened the New Testament he saw a key. It was the key to the ignition of the bike that had been bought twenty years ago. But because he had rejected the New Testament he also rejected the bike. It was written clearly that everything had been paid for. He went to the bike company but the company had already closed its doors. He went to the bank with this passport and he was given the money.
That is the way us Christians live today. We always call ourselves Children of God but the name and identity our Lord gave us, do we keep burying it or do we throw it away in front of His eyes? If you are a Christian do you carry the Christian identity with you?
Or do you have the Congolese or French identity? What is your identity? Your identity must always have facts that come with it
Sunday, December 20, 2009
REVIVAL
By Odon Bulamba (16 MAY 2003)
It’s a joy to meet again tonight. It’s a grace that we have that we might be together.
I thought about what happened in my life these last 10 years. One day like this one, my life changed, my life became something new. This day reminds me of something important in my life.
In our everyday life we remember about things that happened, we remember what happened 2 or 3 years ago, so sometimes we have memories. But sometimes we forget the big memories of God, for example if someone shared the gospel with you 2 years ago it’s very easy to forget. But if someone gave you a pair of shoes 2 years ago you remember who gave you these shoes. Why is this? Because sometimes we don’t give God the importance that He has, sometimes we forget that God exists. When we plan our day, every morning we think about what our children will eat and what they are going to do. It’s very easy to say at 9 o’clock I’ll take my son to school and at 3 o’clock I have to pick him up. This is a duty. But when it’s about God it’s rare to say everyday at 8 o’clock I have to pray, although the Bible says pray without ceasing. We remember sometimes to meet God. For us as Christians we are called to live according to the truth and the truth is the Word of God. The truth is Jesus Christ himself, He said I am the way the truth and the life. He also said the Word that you have is the truth, it is John 17:17. Because of that, truth is important in our life.
I meditated a little bit on my life; when you have to go to a court trial, for example, you find a witness who will give an oath to say; I give you the truth and only the truth. When you leave there you go to Christian people and they say only the truth will set you free. If you leave the Christians and go to the politicians they will say I will tell you the truth, the truth is this. When a parent corrects his child he will say; tell me the truth. Because everybody needs truth in his life. When the truth is there, there’s nothing to add to it.
When scientists do research and they find the truth, the research is over. The truth is the last thing of everything. When a journalist interviews someone he says I’m going to go in depth to find the truth. Even people when they argue together they say; what I say is the truth. They are eager to convince people what they think because they think it is the truth. Truth is truth only if it can be proven with facts. If there are no facts coming with this truth then this truth is vain. Why do I say that? Facts are very necessary in Christian life. Suppose I say today that I’m a Christian and the Word of God says Christians must live this way and if for example there are no facts proving that I’m a Christian will I keep saying that I’m a Christian? Suppose a child will say, “I can play a piano”, it’s true his talent won’t be visible on his fingers, but show him a piano and you’ll see.
When Lebon first came here to New Zealand he was only 7 years old but in everything he would say, “I know”. So we had to say prove it. Then he would say, “um, um, um…” We would tell him that if he doesn’t know then he has to learn and that’s the same thing in Christian life. When we say we belong to the truth there will be facts to go with this truth. If your truth were not facts it would be better to stop and see where it’s wrong.
Today we are talking about Revival. Revival is a very important step in Christian life. It works with the truth and the facts that go with the truth. Revival means strength or to find strength or to give strength. The facts around us give strength to our belief. One day when Jesus will be back, our actions will be there to be with us, and each Christian will be there with his acts. That will be the acts that will come with this faith.
If these facts prove that really you didn’t believe you would be one of those that say in the Bible, “Lord, Lord I walked with you”, but are not acknowledged as such. After having learned to glorify God we are going to learn a little bit about the truth and the facts that come with truth, to have a solid basis on revival. Who is a parent or a person who wouldn’t like the truth in their lives? When your child tells a lie, what do you feel in your heart? Do you feel joy or sadness? Sometimes you even feel you might punish this child, because the child has to change and walk in the truth. In front of God we live in the same situation. When for example we lie and say I am a Christian it’s not good for God because your actions don’t prove you are telling the truth when you say you are a Chrisitian. God feels uneasy in his heart and he sends people to teach you how to change your behaviour.
The Bible says a light will never be put under a table. If you want your lamp to lighten the house you have to put it on the table. If you hide this lamp underneath something it is covered. Many Christian’s have known the truth but they prefer to put the truth under the carpet. On Sundays they lift up the carpet and say, “I’m here, Praise the Lord Pastor, God bless you Pastor”. Only on Sundays you will hear their voice. Find them on the road on Mondays and you will see even the way they talk changes. They are evil, but on Sundays they are the first one to praise God.
This week I went to the IRD office in town and I found someone who works there and told him “I have a letter from you”. Because he saw me, maybe my race, I don’t know, he started talking in English I have never heard in my life. When I told him, “what do you say?” He said, “come on!” So I said, “but I have the right to understand what you say, could you at least speak slower and nicer please, because English is my sixth language, so if I talk to you in my 1st language you won’t understand, so please try to be considerate”.
Thank God another man came. He said, “how are you my friend?” I said, “I am all right”. I saw you somewhere, you were talking with other servants of God and I was happy with what you said. The man who first dealt with me looked at me and said, “are you a Christian?” I said, “yes I am”. He said, “oh, ok maybe we’ll talk later”. When this second man left, the 1st man said, “I am a Christian too”. His way of talking changed, he remembered there is a gift of the Holy Spirit that is kindness. He spoke with kindness and I started thinking if this is Christian life, when Jesus will be here nobody will know if it’s Jesus or not because I don’t know what Jesus’ face looks like. So we must put the truth on the table and practise it.
It’s a joy to meet again tonight. It’s a grace that we have that we might be together.
I thought about what happened in my life these last 10 years. One day like this one, my life changed, my life became something new. This day reminds me of something important in my life.
In our everyday life we remember about things that happened, we remember what happened 2 or 3 years ago, so sometimes we have memories. But sometimes we forget the big memories of God, for example if someone shared the gospel with you 2 years ago it’s very easy to forget. But if someone gave you a pair of shoes 2 years ago you remember who gave you these shoes. Why is this? Because sometimes we don’t give God the importance that He has, sometimes we forget that God exists. When we plan our day, every morning we think about what our children will eat and what they are going to do. It’s very easy to say at 9 o’clock I’ll take my son to school and at 3 o’clock I have to pick him up. This is a duty. But when it’s about God it’s rare to say everyday at 8 o’clock I have to pray, although the Bible says pray without ceasing. We remember sometimes to meet God. For us as Christians we are called to live according to the truth and the truth is the Word of God. The truth is Jesus Christ himself, He said I am the way the truth and the life. He also said the Word that you have is the truth, it is John 17:17. Because of that, truth is important in our life.
I meditated a little bit on my life; when you have to go to a court trial, for example, you find a witness who will give an oath to say; I give you the truth and only the truth. When you leave there you go to Christian people and they say only the truth will set you free. If you leave the Christians and go to the politicians they will say I will tell you the truth, the truth is this. When a parent corrects his child he will say; tell me the truth. Because everybody needs truth in his life. When the truth is there, there’s nothing to add to it.
When scientists do research and they find the truth, the research is over. The truth is the last thing of everything. When a journalist interviews someone he says I’m going to go in depth to find the truth. Even people when they argue together they say; what I say is the truth. They are eager to convince people what they think because they think it is the truth. Truth is truth only if it can be proven with facts. If there are no facts coming with this truth then this truth is vain. Why do I say that? Facts are very necessary in Christian life. Suppose I say today that I’m a Christian and the Word of God says Christians must live this way and if for example there are no facts proving that I’m a Christian will I keep saying that I’m a Christian? Suppose a child will say, “I can play a piano”, it’s true his talent won’t be visible on his fingers, but show him a piano and you’ll see.
When Lebon first came here to New Zealand he was only 7 years old but in everything he would say, “I know”. So we had to say prove it. Then he would say, “um, um, um…” We would tell him that if he doesn’t know then he has to learn and that’s the same thing in Christian life. When we say we belong to the truth there will be facts to go with this truth. If your truth were not facts it would be better to stop and see where it’s wrong.
Today we are talking about Revival. Revival is a very important step in Christian life. It works with the truth and the facts that go with the truth. Revival means strength or to find strength or to give strength. The facts around us give strength to our belief. One day when Jesus will be back, our actions will be there to be with us, and each Christian will be there with his acts. That will be the acts that will come with this faith.
If these facts prove that really you didn’t believe you would be one of those that say in the Bible, “Lord, Lord I walked with you”, but are not acknowledged as such. After having learned to glorify God we are going to learn a little bit about the truth and the facts that come with truth, to have a solid basis on revival. Who is a parent or a person who wouldn’t like the truth in their lives? When your child tells a lie, what do you feel in your heart? Do you feel joy or sadness? Sometimes you even feel you might punish this child, because the child has to change and walk in the truth. In front of God we live in the same situation. When for example we lie and say I am a Christian it’s not good for God because your actions don’t prove you are telling the truth when you say you are a Chrisitian. God feels uneasy in his heart and he sends people to teach you how to change your behaviour.
The Bible says a light will never be put under a table. If you want your lamp to lighten the house you have to put it on the table. If you hide this lamp underneath something it is covered. Many Christian’s have known the truth but they prefer to put the truth under the carpet. On Sundays they lift up the carpet and say, “I’m here, Praise the Lord Pastor, God bless you Pastor”. Only on Sundays you will hear their voice. Find them on the road on Mondays and you will see even the way they talk changes. They are evil, but on Sundays they are the first one to praise God.
This week I went to the IRD office in town and I found someone who works there and told him “I have a letter from you”. Because he saw me, maybe my race, I don’t know, he started talking in English I have never heard in my life. When I told him, “what do you say?” He said, “come on!” So I said, “but I have the right to understand what you say, could you at least speak slower and nicer please, because English is my sixth language, so if I talk to you in my 1st language you won’t understand, so please try to be considerate”.
Thank God another man came. He said, “how are you my friend?” I said, “I am all right”. I saw you somewhere, you were talking with other servants of God and I was happy with what you said. The man who first dealt with me looked at me and said, “are you a Christian?” I said, “yes I am”. He said, “oh, ok maybe we’ll talk later”. When this second man left, the 1st man said, “I am a Christian too”. His way of talking changed, he remembered there is a gift of the Holy Spirit that is kindness. He spoke with kindness and I started thinking if this is Christian life, when Jesus will be here nobody will know if it’s Jesus or not because I don’t know what Jesus’ face looks like. So we must put the truth on the table and practise it.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Revival
By Odon Bulamba (summary only - 9th May, 03)
Revival starts by glorifying God in everything...
The Bible says that each Christian needs to have a testimony. Whoever has a testimony is a child of God because what God does in our lives is very great. When you wake up in the morning it’s a testimony because a few people lost their lives during the night. When we meet together at church it’s a testimony because in some countries you cannot meet. When you find something to eat it’s a testimony because you can see on TV that there is famine in the world. When you walk it’s a testimony because there are those in hospital who cannot walk. For everything we do we must have a testimony. I remind you that God our God is a God of glory, He’s a God who wants to be glorified. Many people say how can I glorify God?
The glory of God is a testimony we give for what God has done. I glorify God because my brother got married and found a wife. I glorify God because we live in a time of cold, where I used to live it was 50 degrees, if I find this cold it’s a treasure for me. I glorify God because I can eat whatever I want and I can go anywhere without any problem. There are many countries where you are not free to go out, some people have to stay in their houses for 10 years without moving, without seeing what’s outside, we who are free isn’t it a reason to glorify God. In your country here you speak freely, you can talk to anyone and express your needs and people listen to you, but ask elsewhere and you will be told of a different story. So in everything we have to glorify God, but as Christians we don’t want to give this glory to God, God spreads His arms to receive the glory but we don’t give it to Him, His arms and hands are tired of waiting. So, we are called to give glory to God.
There was a lady who got married, when she got married she loved her husband a lot, she would call him my lord like Sarah used to. She lived a Christian life, which pleased everyone, but the people around her did not like the way she lived with her husband. Why do you act like a beast, you accept your husband to walk on your head, she would say no, my husband is the head of the house, it’s written in the Bible that I have to respect my husband and that’s why my husband loves me so much. Others would say to her you are really crazy, think about feminism, remember human rights, husband and wife are equal so don’t accept that your husband walks all over you. She would say it’s not my husband who walks on me, it’s the Gospel that walks on me, because the Gospel humiliated me and now I’m ready to follow the voice of the Lord.
Blessed are those who humiliate themselves before the Word of God because they will see the glory of God in their lives. If you never humiliate yourself in front of the Word of God, make sure that God will do it by force one day. The day where every knee shall bow you will do it too.
Many counsellors on the earth want their own glory, they will say, if you want success in what you are doing then do this, although it is not true. The measure you use for others will be the same measure He will use for you. You will see people who give advice, they will give advice that will not please God, and in the evening they are there with their Bible saying let’s praise God, how will you glorify God if you don’t glorify Him in your way of acting?
Start to count how many times you glorify God each day; when I wake up in the morning I say thank you God, when I start to stretch my hands I realise that I came from somewhere where I was really tired and I can feel that my hands have found their strength, I open my eyes because I can see the light, I must glorify God for this light. When someone knocks at the door I praise the Lord because my ears can still work.
One day I fell asleep and my nose was blocked, my throat was sore and I said why that, I started thinking why am I sick, how can a little thing like my nose make me sick? God helped me to meditate deeply on that. Close your mouth and your nose for 2 mins. I did it for 30 secs which felt like a long time and my body started fighting. Just to close my mouth and block my nose but my whole body started moving and fighting. I thought that my two nostrils have great value for the rest of the body, the whole body felt sick. God taught me something; the most insignificant thing in your life has such a great value for your life.
How great is the soul of man? A soul is a very small thing and we respect our bodies more than the soul. I can do everything for my body and forget about my soul. I can comb my hair, brush my teeth etc, but I can forget for 3 months that I have a soul. Because I couldn’t breathe I said no I must learn that my life doesn’t depend on me, I must glorify God for the function of my nostrils.
I know many people in Africa who have a problem to go to the toilet, they might eat but to excrete what they ate is a problem, it’s a very serious problem, they cry and shout to the point that they don’t want to eat anymore because they don’t know what’s going to happen. But you and me who are free, why don’t we glorify God? God taught me a lot about glory. From time to time we complain, I need shoes my God, but the one who doesn’t have legs, what will he say? Oh God I need a diamond ring, and the one who doesn’t have fingers what will he say? Aren’t we better than these people, why don’t we glorify God for all what He offers us.
Usually when a Christian wants to praise God, he is dry with his words; “oh, God I praise you because you are good”, oh, what else can I say, they start to look for words, a 3 minute prayer is long for them. We should be able to testify. If you start thinking how you spend your night, how you woke up, you look at your nails and see how they have grown, you will praise God for that because you can put nail polish on them and it will be nice, if I had lost my nails maybe I would have to hide my fingers, it’s something to praise God for.
For myself, my hair never grows longer than 3 centre metres and when I look at Michael’s hair I can ask God why doesn’t Michael glorify God for that? Some one who is bald will spend money to have more hair, and me who has my 3-centre metre hair and is not bald, do I glorify God for that? I don’t wear glasses, I can see people who wear glasses, and do I glorify God for my eyes. And those who wear glasses, if you see a blind person do you glorify God because you can still see? In everything, each minute there are things to glorify God for. When we don’t, God finds us ungrateful, these people I gave everything but they don’t glorify me. “Oh God I glorify you because we are together”, it’s the same prayer every day. It’s been nearly three years we’ve been praying prayed together and when it’s time to give glory to God sometimes it’s like a tape played over and over.
You wear nice trousers; do you glorify God for that? You have light here; there are some people who have never seen that, do you glorify God for that? As we meet here, do you glorify God for the presence of each person here? And if not then what do you glorify God in?
In each thing we must glorify God, if you have children glorify God for them, if you have clothes glorify God. I testified to you one day that there are people who have never seen clothes. If you find food, glorify God for it, at work you can glorify God, if you are beside your children or your wife then glorify God. You will discover that there are lots of things to glorify God for. If you count well you will see that you will be able to glorify God for more than 300 things every day, every day! But how many topics do you glorify God for?
We have to glorify God, God said in his first commandment, which is in Ex 20, you shall have no other gods before me. What does God mean? It is something that you glorify or adore, so don’t adore or worship anything other than me because I am a supreme being. This is in the imperative form. God always waits to see how we will glorify Him. Doesn’t God give us everything? I think what we lack is very little compared to what God has given us, but we don’t even glorify Him
For example, it’s mother’s day coming up, those who are mums please forgive me but I would like to say something, we respect you very much and God created you as our mums and gave you all the responsibilities for your families, but when we open our Bibles we don’t see a mother’s day, excuse me again because I am not against it but I tell you the truth. In some churches today they will say next Sunday is mother’s day so the service will be taken by the ladies in order to celebrate mother’s day, this is how we will glorify this day. God watches, instead of meeting for one day to glorify me they glorify a day that was organised by man, why would we give this day more importance than the day of the Lord?
People keep glorifying human things rather than God’s things. We know the Gospel, we know what the Bible says so why are we confused? Give to Caesar what’s his, but don’t forget to give to God what is His, God’s share is the first, if you forget this one then woe to you.
We are going to pray and our prayer tonight is that we are all going to stand up and glorify God, just that, glorify God as you want, in whatever language. You can glorify Him because your child is small or big, glorify God because you are slim or fat, tall or short, black or white, glorify God for everything, just glorify Him for whoever you are, be proud of what you are because for God you are precious in His eyes, pray your prayer and don’t listen to others, and concentrate on your prayer. Let’s pray.
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
Revival starts by glorifying God in everything...
The Bible says that each Christian needs to have a testimony. Whoever has a testimony is a child of God because what God does in our lives is very great. When you wake up in the morning it’s a testimony because a few people lost their lives during the night. When we meet together at church it’s a testimony because in some countries you cannot meet. When you find something to eat it’s a testimony because you can see on TV that there is famine in the world. When you walk it’s a testimony because there are those in hospital who cannot walk. For everything we do we must have a testimony. I remind you that God our God is a God of glory, He’s a God who wants to be glorified. Many people say how can I glorify God?
The glory of God is a testimony we give for what God has done. I glorify God because my brother got married and found a wife. I glorify God because we live in a time of cold, where I used to live it was 50 degrees, if I find this cold it’s a treasure for me. I glorify God because I can eat whatever I want and I can go anywhere without any problem. There are many countries where you are not free to go out, some people have to stay in their houses for 10 years without moving, without seeing what’s outside, we who are free isn’t it a reason to glorify God. In your country here you speak freely, you can talk to anyone and express your needs and people listen to you, but ask elsewhere and you will be told of a different story. So in everything we have to glorify God, but as Christians we don’t want to give this glory to God, God spreads His arms to receive the glory but we don’t give it to Him, His arms and hands are tired of waiting. So, we are called to give glory to God.
There was a lady who got married, when she got married she loved her husband a lot, she would call him my lord like Sarah used to. She lived a Christian life, which pleased everyone, but the people around her did not like the way she lived with her husband. Why do you act like a beast, you accept your husband to walk on your head, she would say no, my husband is the head of the house, it’s written in the Bible that I have to respect my husband and that’s why my husband loves me so much. Others would say to her you are really crazy, think about feminism, remember human rights, husband and wife are equal so don’t accept that your husband walks all over you. She would say it’s not my husband who walks on me, it’s the Gospel that walks on me, because the Gospel humiliated me and now I’m ready to follow the voice of the Lord.
Blessed are those who humiliate themselves before the Word of God because they will see the glory of God in their lives. If you never humiliate yourself in front of the Word of God, make sure that God will do it by force one day. The day where every knee shall bow you will do it too.
Many counsellors on the earth want their own glory, they will say, if you want success in what you are doing then do this, although it is not true. The measure you use for others will be the same measure He will use for you. You will see people who give advice, they will give advice that will not please God, and in the evening they are there with their Bible saying let’s praise God, how will you glorify God if you don’t glorify Him in your way of acting?
Start to count how many times you glorify God each day; when I wake up in the morning I say thank you God, when I start to stretch my hands I realise that I came from somewhere where I was really tired and I can feel that my hands have found their strength, I open my eyes because I can see the light, I must glorify God for this light. When someone knocks at the door I praise the Lord because my ears can still work.
One day I fell asleep and my nose was blocked, my throat was sore and I said why that, I started thinking why am I sick, how can a little thing like my nose make me sick? God helped me to meditate deeply on that. Close your mouth and your nose for 2 mins. I did it for 30 secs which felt like a long time and my body started fighting. Just to close my mouth and block my nose but my whole body started moving and fighting. I thought that my two nostrils have great value for the rest of the body, the whole body felt sick. God taught me something; the most insignificant thing in your life has such a great value for your life.
How great is the soul of man? A soul is a very small thing and we respect our bodies more than the soul. I can do everything for my body and forget about my soul. I can comb my hair, brush my teeth etc, but I can forget for 3 months that I have a soul. Because I couldn’t breathe I said no I must learn that my life doesn’t depend on me, I must glorify God for the function of my nostrils.
I know many people in Africa who have a problem to go to the toilet, they might eat but to excrete what they ate is a problem, it’s a very serious problem, they cry and shout to the point that they don’t want to eat anymore because they don’t know what’s going to happen. But you and me who are free, why don’t we glorify God? God taught me a lot about glory. From time to time we complain, I need shoes my God, but the one who doesn’t have legs, what will he say? Oh God I need a diamond ring, and the one who doesn’t have fingers what will he say? Aren’t we better than these people, why don’t we glorify God for all what He offers us.
Usually when a Christian wants to praise God, he is dry with his words; “oh, God I praise you because you are good”, oh, what else can I say, they start to look for words, a 3 minute prayer is long for them. We should be able to testify. If you start thinking how you spend your night, how you woke up, you look at your nails and see how they have grown, you will praise God for that because you can put nail polish on them and it will be nice, if I had lost my nails maybe I would have to hide my fingers, it’s something to praise God for.
For myself, my hair never grows longer than 3 centre metres and when I look at Michael’s hair I can ask God why doesn’t Michael glorify God for that? Some one who is bald will spend money to have more hair, and me who has my 3-centre metre hair and is not bald, do I glorify God for that? I don’t wear glasses, I can see people who wear glasses, and do I glorify God for my eyes. And those who wear glasses, if you see a blind person do you glorify God because you can still see? In everything, each minute there are things to glorify God for. When we don’t, God finds us ungrateful, these people I gave everything but they don’t glorify me. “Oh God I glorify you because we are together”, it’s the same prayer every day. It’s been nearly three years we’ve been praying prayed together and when it’s time to give glory to God sometimes it’s like a tape played over and over.
You wear nice trousers; do you glorify God for that? You have light here; there are some people who have never seen that, do you glorify God for that? As we meet here, do you glorify God for the presence of each person here? And if not then what do you glorify God in?
In each thing we must glorify God, if you have children glorify God for them, if you have clothes glorify God. I testified to you one day that there are people who have never seen clothes. If you find food, glorify God for it, at work you can glorify God, if you are beside your children or your wife then glorify God. You will discover that there are lots of things to glorify God for. If you count well you will see that you will be able to glorify God for more than 300 things every day, every day! But how many topics do you glorify God for?
We have to glorify God, God said in his first commandment, which is in Ex 20, you shall have no other gods before me. What does God mean? It is something that you glorify or adore, so don’t adore or worship anything other than me because I am a supreme being. This is in the imperative form. God always waits to see how we will glorify Him. Doesn’t God give us everything? I think what we lack is very little compared to what God has given us, but we don’t even glorify Him
For example, it’s mother’s day coming up, those who are mums please forgive me but I would like to say something, we respect you very much and God created you as our mums and gave you all the responsibilities for your families, but when we open our Bibles we don’t see a mother’s day, excuse me again because I am not against it but I tell you the truth. In some churches today they will say next Sunday is mother’s day so the service will be taken by the ladies in order to celebrate mother’s day, this is how we will glorify this day. God watches, instead of meeting for one day to glorify me they glorify a day that was organised by man, why would we give this day more importance than the day of the Lord?
People keep glorifying human things rather than God’s things. We know the Gospel, we know what the Bible says so why are we confused? Give to Caesar what’s his, but don’t forget to give to God what is His, God’s share is the first, if you forget this one then woe to you.
We are going to pray and our prayer tonight is that we are all going to stand up and glorify God, just that, glorify God as you want, in whatever language. You can glorify Him because your child is small or big, glorify God because you are slim or fat, tall or short, black or white, glorify God for everything, just glorify Him for whoever you are, be proud of what you are because for God you are precious in His eyes, pray your prayer and don’t listen to others, and concentrate on your prayer. Let’s pray.
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
Friday, April 3, 2009
10 Branches of the Great Salvation - Revival
By Odon Bulamba (summary only)
Revival is a step coming from death to life. When you are a sinner and your soul finds life again, this is revival for new Christians. Adult Christians need revival too but it is different from newborn Christians. For a mature Christian it is not about sin but about seeking God’s presence. We could read the Bible and pray when we were saved and then reached a level to understand and now we have reached a level to listen to God’s voice. The direct contact with God has died but now we want it to come back alive again. The need you have to see God is called revival.
We have to glorify God for everything at every moment of the day. We have to praise God for the bad things and the good things.
John 17:17
Truth is very important in our life. Truth is only truth if it can be proved with facts. Facts are very necessary in a Christian’s life. If I say today I am a Christian and the Word of God says I must live this way and there are no facts proving I’m a Christian; will I keep saying I’m a Christian? Revival works with truth and facts that go with truth. Revival is the strength, or the facts to give strength to our belief.
One day when Jesus comes back our actions will be with us and these acts come with the faith we have and if these acts prove you didn’t really believe, you will be one of those that will say, “Lord, Lord I did this for you in your name”.
Without truth, the Spirit can’t work and without the Spirit, truth doesn’t have value. The Holy Spirit gives revival.
This is how revival works, where everybody knows you are weak, God keeps making you grow and as a miracle you who were a simple Christian will become God’s servant.
Ezekial 37, John 3, John 5 and Ephesians 2&3
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
Revival is a step coming from death to life. When you are a sinner and your soul finds life again, this is revival for new Christians. Adult Christians need revival too but it is different from newborn Christians. For a mature Christian it is not about sin but about seeking God’s presence. We could read the Bible and pray when we were saved and then reached a level to understand and now we have reached a level to listen to God’s voice. The direct contact with God has died but now we want it to come back alive again. The need you have to see God is called revival.
We have to glorify God for everything at every moment of the day. We have to praise God for the bad things and the good things.
John 17:17
Truth is very important in our life. Truth is only truth if it can be proved with facts. Facts are very necessary in a Christian’s life. If I say today I am a Christian and the Word of God says I must live this way and there are no facts proving I’m a Christian; will I keep saying I’m a Christian? Revival works with truth and facts that go with truth. Revival is the strength, or the facts to give strength to our belief.
One day when Jesus comes back our actions will be with us and these acts come with the faith we have and if these acts prove you didn’t really believe, you will be one of those that will say, “Lord, Lord I did this for you in your name”.
Without truth, the Spirit can’t work and without the Spirit, truth doesn’t have value. The Holy Spirit gives revival.
This is how revival works, where everybody knows you are weak, God keeps making you grow and as a miracle you who were a simple Christian will become God’s servant.
Ezekial 37, John 3, John 5 and Ephesians 2&3
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
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