By Odon Bulamba (14th November 2010)
Jesus is warning us but it's not easy to accept a rebuke. Most of the time we compare ourselves to those who are baby Christians or even those who are not saved while we are not at that level.
(Rev 3:17) Wealth - Jesus told Nicodemus to seperate the spirit from the flesh but today we want to put the two together. For example, wealth and health prosperity teaching which is mixing the two but we should give God His place and wealth its place.
We are wealthy because we have our hands, and our eyes and our feet so we can use this wealth for God's glory but we don't want to use our wealth, and we forget that after this life we will go somewhere - either heven or hell. We might think we are saved and that is enough. God has given us everything we need physically to work for Him but what do we do? We invest mostly in the work of the flesh. Many people know the Word of God but they don't want to apply it in their lives. We have to decide to use our entire body for God.
We always delay when God wants to use us, we always want to think first instead of just taking action.
We have to know what is our level in the Kingdom of God. Ask God to help you to understand what is your position in the church and in the Kingdom of God.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Excellence: More Than Talent
By John C. Maxwell
"Excellence" may bring to mind unmatched performance, unusual expertise, or consistent high-quality performance. In our minds, we often associate excellence with talent. To be the best, surely you have to be gifted, right? Experience has taught me that talent, while important, in no way explains excellence. In fact, the primary pathway to excellence has three main steps, none of which depends on talent.
1) Find Your Passion
"You are nothing unless it comes from your heart. Passion, caring, really looking to create excellence. If you perform functions only and go to work only to do processes, then you are effectively retired. And it scares me-most people I see, by age 28, are retired. If you go to work only to fulfill the processes and functions, then you are a machine. You have to bring passion, commitment and caring-that's what makes you a human being." ~ Horst Schulze, Former President of Ritz-Carlton
People of excellence love what they do. They have learned how to fuel the fire that keeps them moving. How do you spot a passionate person?
1) They work with their whole heart.
2) They work with undistracted attention.
3) They work with maximum energy.
In life, the prize goes to the person, not who's the smartest or most talented, it goes to the person with passion.
Application: Reshuffle Tasks in the Direction of Your Passion
1) Take an inventory of the work activities that you enjoy, and in which you excel. What energizes you and makes you feel alive about them?
2) Take inventory of the work activities that drain away your energy. Ask yourself why these tasks feel so burdensome.
3) Have a conversation with your manager about shifting your workload in the direction of your passion. Don't expect your boss to allow you to reshuffle your responsibilities overnight. Be willing to take very small, gradual steps toward your passion. Even exchanging one de-energizing task for another that brings you energy is a victory.
2) Never Cease Practicing
"If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all." ~ Michelangelo
Passion won't take you anywhere unless you combine it with disciplined practice. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, studies success and discovers that innate talent has a lot less to do excellence than does practice. In fact, he found that the successful people he studied (the Beatles, Bill Gates) put in 10,000 hours of practice before making a big splash. Nobody cruises to the top on natural giftedness alone. As Gladwell writes, "Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good."
Application: Don't Just Learn...Do
In hospital emergency rooms nurses have a saying, "Watch one, do one, teach one." This refers to the fast pace of the profession and the need to learn quickly, then jump right in to practice what you learned on a real live patient, and then pass it on just as quickly to someone else. Notice that learning is only the first one-third of the job. The real key is putting that learning into practice. The principle applies to any profession or business. You can't just read about how to change a tire, write a contract, start a business, or perform open-heart surgery. You need to perform the skill to perfect the skill.
3) Honor Your Values
"I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me." ~ Abraham Lincoln
We all could give examples of talented, charismatic people who sabotaged their careers by abandoning their values. Passion and practice bring excellence, but character sustains excellence over time. Absence of strong character eventually topples talent. People cannot climb beyond the limitations of their character. Eventually the limelight of success brings to light the cracks in their integrity.
Application: Clarify Core Values
1) Consider the question: What does excellent character look like?
2) Brainstorm a list of qualities you feel are important to character (honesty, integrity, etc.). Keep thinking and writing until you have at least 10. Then choose three of them as "core values."
3) Set aside time on your calendar (30 minutes or so), twice a month for the next four months, to pause and evaluate how you're doing in honoring your core values.
Hayley Boud's comments: I can apply this to all areas of my life. My work, my service to God, my ministry/gift, my Bible reading, my praying, the way I share the gospel. If I start with a passion, it makes it easier, and if the passion isn't there, I can just ask God to give me a passion or to help me to find a strategy that brings out my passion (eg, I don't always feel passionate about reading the Bible but once I open the bible, I love it). Never stop practising is a good one too (in all areas of my life - especially the Word of God - if I practise what I read and then share it with others, I will probably be a transformed person) and writing down 10 core values is a great idea and then check on myself once a month to be sure I'm fulfilling my top three is very important to make sure I'm on track.
ABOUT
John C. Maxwell is an internationally respected leadership expert, speaker, and author who has sold more than 19 million books. Dr. Maxwell is the founder of EQUIP, a non-profit organization that has trained more than 5 million leaders in 126 countries worldwide. Each year he speaks to the leaders of diverse organizations, such as Fortune 500 companies, foreign governments, the National Football League, the United States Military Academy at West Point, and the United Nations. A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week best-selling author, Maxwell has written three books that have sold more than a million copies: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You, and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. His blog can be read at JohnMaxwellOnLeadership.com. He can be followed at Twitter.com/JohnCMaxwell.
"Excellence" may bring to mind unmatched performance, unusual expertise, or consistent high-quality performance. In our minds, we often associate excellence with talent. To be the best, surely you have to be gifted, right? Experience has taught me that talent, while important, in no way explains excellence. In fact, the primary pathway to excellence has three main steps, none of which depends on talent.
1) Find Your Passion
"You are nothing unless it comes from your heart. Passion, caring, really looking to create excellence. If you perform functions only and go to work only to do processes, then you are effectively retired. And it scares me-most people I see, by age 28, are retired. If you go to work only to fulfill the processes and functions, then you are a machine. You have to bring passion, commitment and caring-that's what makes you a human being." ~ Horst Schulze, Former President of Ritz-Carlton
People of excellence love what they do. They have learned how to fuel the fire that keeps them moving. How do you spot a passionate person?
1) They work with their whole heart.
2) They work with undistracted attention.
3) They work with maximum energy.
In life, the prize goes to the person, not who's the smartest or most talented, it goes to the person with passion.
Application: Reshuffle Tasks in the Direction of Your Passion
1) Take an inventory of the work activities that you enjoy, and in which you excel. What energizes you and makes you feel alive about them?
2) Take inventory of the work activities that drain away your energy. Ask yourself why these tasks feel so burdensome.
3) Have a conversation with your manager about shifting your workload in the direction of your passion. Don't expect your boss to allow you to reshuffle your responsibilities overnight. Be willing to take very small, gradual steps toward your passion. Even exchanging one de-energizing task for another that brings you energy is a victory.
2) Never Cease Practicing
"If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all." ~ Michelangelo
Passion won't take you anywhere unless you combine it with disciplined practice. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, studies success and discovers that innate talent has a lot less to do excellence than does practice. In fact, he found that the successful people he studied (the Beatles, Bill Gates) put in 10,000 hours of practice before making a big splash. Nobody cruises to the top on natural giftedness alone. As Gladwell writes, "Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good."
Application: Don't Just Learn...Do
In hospital emergency rooms nurses have a saying, "Watch one, do one, teach one." This refers to the fast pace of the profession and the need to learn quickly, then jump right in to practice what you learned on a real live patient, and then pass it on just as quickly to someone else. Notice that learning is only the first one-third of the job. The real key is putting that learning into practice. The principle applies to any profession or business. You can't just read about how to change a tire, write a contract, start a business, or perform open-heart surgery. You need to perform the skill to perfect the skill.
3) Honor Your Values
"I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me." ~ Abraham Lincoln
We all could give examples of talented, charismatic people who sabotaged their careers by abandoning their values. Passion and practice bring excellence, but character sustains excellence over time. Absence of strong character eventually topples talent. People cannot climb beyond the limitations of their character. Eventually the limelight of success brings to light the cracks in their integrity.
Application: Clarify Core Values
1) Consider the question: What does excellent character look like?
2) Brainstorm a list of qualities you feel are important to character (honesty, integrity, etc.). Keep thinking and writing until you have at least 10. Then choose three of them as "core values."
3) Set aside time on your calendar (30 minutes or so), twice a month for the next four months, to pause and evaluate how you're doing in honoring your core values.
Hayley Boud's comments: I can apply this to all areas of my life. My work, my service to God, my ministry/gift, my Bible reading, my praying, the way I share the gospel. If I start with a passion, it makes it easier, and if the passion isn't there, I can just ask God to give me a passion or to help me to find a strategy that brings out my passion (eg, I don't always feel passionate about reading the Bible but once I open the bible, I love it). Never stop practising is a good one too (in all areas of my life - especially the Word of God - if I practise what I read and then share it with others, I will probably be a transformed person) and writing down 10 core values is a great idea and then check on myself once a month to be sure I'm fulfilling my top three is very important to make sure I'm on track.
ABOUT
John C. Maxwell is an internationally respected leadership expert, speaker, and author who has sold more than 19 million books. Dr. Maxwell is the founder of EQUIP, a non-profit organization that has trained more than 5 million leaders in 126 countries worldwide. Each year he speaks to the leaders of diverse organizations, such as Fortune 500 companies, foreign governments, the National Football League, the United States Military Academy at West Point, and the United Nations. A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week best-selling author, Maxwell has written three books that have sold more than a million copies: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You, and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. His blog can be read at JohnMaxwellOnLeadership.com. He can be followed at Twitter.com/JohnCMaxwell.
Friday, November 5, 2010
A New Year (part IV)
By Odon Bulamba (02.01.04)
There was another lady in the Bible, she was lot’s wife. When it was time to leave Sodom, God told them, ‘because you need your lives don’t look behind, just keep going.’ That lady, her husband and her two daughters started their journey and on her way she was feeling in her heart that she had to look behind her to see what was going on there. Maybe she started to think about money that she left, maybe she started to think about saucepans that had been left behind, maybe she was thinking about sweet potato, her ideas were there in Sodom.
According to the Bible Sodom was really pretty, Sodom was really green like New Zealand and all farmers at that time wanted to be in Sodom. The lady’s thoughts were there, although her body was going forward but her head remained in Sodom and because of that attraction of the past, and of things that were behind her, she decided to turn around, she decided to accomplish her feelings, to satisfy her feelings above God. She turned around and as a result she was punished, she couldn’t move anymore, she remained there and when she remained there her daughters didn’t say, where is our mum. The husband didn’t say, where is my wife? They kept going, they carried on with their journey and she remained there.
Whenever we are working with God we have to respect his instructions, if God will say look forward, just look forward. If God says walk with me, walk with Him, don’t turn your eyes, don’t look on your side, don’t think about what happened. ‘oh I know last year this person did such and such to me, I will not accept that, I know that my friend told me such and such thing and so from now on I will make a decision, this year I will make a revenge.’ No we have to forget about plans like these ones because we are living a new life, we are living a new life.
As the Bible talks about alpha which means the beginning and when the beginning is there it means that nothing else exists because the beginning is the beginning. You cannot say there was something and then the beginning started, no, the beginning of something is the beginning, nothing precedes it. If we start this year as a new year, this is the beginning of this year and we don’t have to load our hearts or our souls with problems or with whatever happened last year, no, we don’t have to, we have to start the new year with new things, with new strategies, with a new gospel.
For you and me, what shall we do with this year that is coming? What shall we create? What shall we give breath to so that it can find life? Our families, our friends, who shall we bring to Jesus Christ? Who shall we help and say don’t look behind you, let’s carry on, let’s focus our eyes on Jesus.
Once God created man He said, this is all, I have to rest now. God was happy and I think this year must be a year of happiness for us. This must be a year of success, a year of fulfilling whatever we have to fulfil. It’s true that God created everything and He was happy to create them but on the sixth day God found that He really fulfilled all His tasks, I’m happy with all that I created and then He put Adam in the garden of Eden. So what shall we do during this year and we’ll give it a special place somewhere in the gospel? Shall I give my tithe? Shall I offer to God something, shall I sing to Him, shall I dance for Him, what shall I give to God that will represent something really special for Him, for which I know that there is a garden somewhere for which I will keep this treasure.
We have to think about that and know that this year is not a year of problems, it’s not a year of difficulties or misunderstandings. This year we are called to live the true happiness, the true joy and victory. If you don’t have a plan yet for 2011, this is the time to think about it and if you have planned something already, think now about your plan and your God. You can have your physical plan; I’ll buy a house, or a car, or I’ll go such place or I’ll do such for Odon or Colleen or Gustave or whoever, that’s your plan but what did you plan with God? Put God in tests and you will see how God is good to answer and to intervene. Let’s say we are sitting here and if you can hear Leah scream, what will Leah’s mother do? (I’ll go and check on her). That is the first thing, the mother will never say, ‘can I go?, never. She will just stand up and go there, although the baby will never the mother’s name, she will just scream but the mother will know that it is Leah and she must go, she feels she has to intervene.
And that is the same way with God, whenever we yell, ‘God we need your help, we are crossing a hard situation’, God doesn’t have to ask Moses or whoever is sitting next to Him can I go and help? Never, He will intervene. Only if we open our mouth and we call on Him and to scream doesn’t take ten minutes to be honest. If I scream now, one second is enough and everybody will ask what is going on there.
We have to call God. Many people when they want to call to God they think oh maybe I have to contact Kennedy to talk to him first and then he will advise me and after him I will get advise from Sylvie or Jessica and then Colleen and I can do it for five days. Whatever Jessica will tell me and Colleen will tell me will not match with whatever Pete will tell me and I will start to say, o what will I follow now, what can I do? So we are free and if we are free we have to speak to God freely, there is no formula which we are supposed to use to tell God, ok God before you listen to my prayer I must do this ceremony, no.
So we will stop there tonight, I will tell you: “be strong in the Lord, Jesus loves you and He loves all of us. He is our Lord, He is taking care of us, but He is calling us to be next to Him and He will be also next to us. If we trust in Him He will also trust in us. If we give to Him our time He will also give to us His time. If we call on Him He will answer. If we tell Jesus we need Him, He will be proud to tell us that He needs us too. If we tell Jesus we want you to intervene because we are unable, He will feel really that He is really glorified because we recognise His value. If we tell Jesus we want your presence among us He will feel the King or leader of our lives and He will intervene but if we keep quiet maybe He will not know what to do for us. He knows our needs, that is true but He is waiting for us to say something to Him”.
So we have to stop there, in the Lord I have to wish you all a happy new year, a year of joy, blessings, victory, light, and a year of power, success in all our activities, success in all our prayers, success in our meditation and everything that we will do for our lives and for God’s glory.
Lets pray, “Thank you Jesus because you are our leader, we are at the end of this meeting, let your power be with us. Meet us o Lord our God, we commit this year between Your hands. We need Your help and Your assistance. Guide us, bless us, show us the light, show us the way. In our conduct we need you, in our work we need you, in everything that will happen in our lives, Your presence will be really, really important. Jesus our God we have our family members, we have friends, our children, our wives and husbands, our brothers and sisters who need You in their lives, who want to see your power. God as you walked with Moses, we want Your power to be with us so that we can be the Moses of our families, we can become Moses of Your people, we can become Moses of our brothers and sisters and through us they can see You God performing miracles. Through us they can discover that You are really powerful. Oh Lord our God, we need our problems to runaway from us, we need o God to see Your light in our lives, we need to be protected by You, we need to walk with You, we need to cross the sea of difficulties and problems, we need to win and become victorious against all the powers of darkness, Jesus our Lord. We need anointment, o Lord Jesus, hold our hands and walk with us. We welcome You Jesus in our lives, control our lives, we give You the chance to reign in us, reign in our lives, reign in our family, reign in everything that we will do. Wherever we will go, we need You always, don’t leave us. Whenever we call on You, intervene straight away because our only solution is You, no one can help us, no one can intervene except you. Oh God, be our blessing and Be our Lord from now until the end of time. On the sixth day God You created something really special, something that you like, that you love and that was the day you created us God. We want also during this year that something can be created, something can come from us which will glorify Your Name, which will look like the creatures that you created on the 6th day. God we need to bring souls to You, accept those souls, convert their lives, make our people to be transformed. We know that satan is fighting against them, we know that sins are attacking them but God make us winners. Give them freedom from the power of darkness, so that they can see Your blood in their lives, so that they can see Your Hand touching them, so that they can feel comfortable through You o Jesus. We can’t transform their lives but everything is possible for You. Bless this house, bless everything present here, bless those people who are not with us tonight, be with them O God. We thank you because You are a God who takes care of us, in Jesus name we are praying, Amen,
There was another lady in the Bible, she was lot’s wife. When it was time to leave Sodom, God told them, ‘because you need your lives don’t look behind, just keep going.’ That lady, her husband and her two daughters started their journey and on her way she was feeling in her heart that she had to look behind her to see what was going on there. Maybe she started to think about money that she left, maybe she started to think about saucepans that had been left behind, maybe she was thinking about sweet potato, her ideas were there in Sodom.
According to the Bible Sodom was really pretty, Sodom was really green like New Zealand and all farmers at that time wanted to be in Sodom. The lady’s thoughts were there, although her body was going forward but her head remained in Sodom and because of that attraction of the past, and of things that were behind her, she decided to turn around, she decided to accomplish her feelings, to satisfy her feelings above God. She turned around and as a result she was punished, she couldn’t move anymore, she remained there and when she remained there her daughters didn’t say, where is our mum. The husband didn’t say, where is my wife? They kept going, they carried on with their journey and she remained there.
Whenever we are working with God we have to respect his instructions, if God will say look forward, just look forward. If God says walk with me, walk with Him, don’t turn your eyes, don’t look on your side, don’t think about what happened. ‘oh I know last year this person did such and such to me, I will not accept that, I know that my friend told me such and such thing and so from now on I will make a decision, this year I will make a revenge.’ No we have to forget about plans like these ones because we are living a new life, we are living a new life.
As the Bible talks about alpha which means the beginning and when the beginning is there it means that nothing else exists because the beginning is the beginning. You cannot say there was something and then the beginning started, no, the beginning of something is the beginning, nothing precedes it. If we start this year as a new year, this is the beginning of this year and we don’t have to load our hearts or our souls with problems or with whatever happened last year, no, we don’t have to, we have to start the new year with new things, with new strategies, with a new gospel.
For you and me, what shall we do with this year that is coming? What shall we create? What shall we give breath to so that it can find life? Our families, our friends, who shall we bring to Jesus Christ? Who shall we help and say don’t look behind you, let’s carry on, let’s focus our eyes on Jesus.
Once God created man He said, this is all, I have to rest now. God was happy and I think this year must be a year of happiness for us. This must be a year of success, a year of fulfilling whatever we have to fulfil. It’s true that God created everything and He was happy to create them but on the sixth day God found that He really fulfilled all His tasks, I’m happy with all that I created and then He put Adam in the garden of Eden. So what shall we do during this year and we’ll give it a special place somewhere in the gospel? Shall I give my tithe? Shall I offer to God something, shall I sing to Him, shall I dance for Him, what shall I give to God that will represent something really special for Him, for which I know that there is a garden somewhere for which I will keep this treasure.
We have to think about that and know that this year is not a year of problems, it’s not a year of difficulties or misunderstandings. This year we are called to live the true happiness, the true joy and victory. If you don’t have a plan yet for 2011, this is the time to think about it and if you have planned something already, think now about your plan and your God. You can have your physical plan; I’ll buy a house, or a car, or I’ll go such place or I’ll do such for Odon or Colleen or Gustave or whoever, that’s your plan but what did you plan with God? Put God in tests and you will see how God is good to answer and to intervene. Let’s say we are sitting here and if you can hear Leah scream, what will Leah’s mother do? (I’ll go and check on her). That is the first thing, the mother will never say, ‘can I go?, never. She will just stand up and go there, although the baby will never the mother’s name, she will just scream but the mother will know that it is Leah and she must go, she feels she has to intervene.
And that is the same way with God, whenever we yell, ‘God we need your help, we are crossing a hard situation’, God doesn’t have to ask Moses or whoever is sitting next to Him can I go and help? Never, He will intervene. Only if we open our mouth and we call on Him and to scream doesn’t take ten minutes to be honest. If I scream now, one second is enough and everybody will ask what is going on there.
We have to call God. Many people when they want to call to God they think oh maybe I have to contact Kennedy to talk to him first and then he will advise me and after him I will get advise from Sylvie or Jessica and then Colleen and I can do it for five days. Whatever Jessica will tell me and Colleen will tell me will not match with whatever Pete will tell me and I will start to say, o what will I follow now, what can I do? So we are free and if we are free we have to speak to God freely, there is no formula which we are supposed to use to tell God, ok God before you listen to my prayer I must do this ceremony, no.
So we will stop there tonight, I will tell you: “be strong in the Lord, Jesus loves you and He loves all of us. He is our Lord, He is taking care of us, but He is calling us to be next to Him and He will be also next to us. If we trust in Him He will also trust in us. If we give to Him our time He will also give to us His time. If we call on Him He will answer. If we tell Jesus we need Him, He will be proud to tell us that He needs us too. If we tell Jesus we want you to intervene because we are unable, He will feel really that He is really glorified because we recognise His value. If we tell Jesus we want your presence among us He will feel the King or leader of our lives and He will intervene but if we keep quiet maybe He will not know what to do for us. He knows our needs, that is true but He is waiting for us to say something to Him”.
So we have to stop there, in the Lord I have to wish you all a happy new year, a year of joy, blessings, victory, light, and a year of power, success in all our activities, success in all our prayers, success in our meditation and everything that we will do for our lives and for God’s glory.
Lets pray, “Thank you Jesus because you are our leader, we are at the end of this meeting, let your power be with us. Meet us o Lord our God, we commit this year between Your hands. We need Your help and Your assistance. Guide us, bless us, show us the light, show us the way. In our conduct we need you, in our work we need you, in everything that will happen in our lives, Your presence will be really, really important. Jesus our God we have our family members, we have friends, our children, our wives and husbands, our brothers and sisters who need You in their lives, who want to see your power. God as you walked with Moses, we want Your power to be with us so that we can be the Moses of our families, we can become Moses of Your people, we can become Moses of our brothers and sisters and through us they can see You God performing miracles. Through us they can discover that You are really powerful. Oh Lord our God, we need our problems to runaway from us, we need o God to see Your light in our lives, we need to be protected by You, we need to walk with You, we need to cross the sea of difficulties and problems, we need to win and become victorious against all the powers of darkness, Jesus our Lord. We need anointment, o Lord Jesus, hold our hands and walk with us. We welcome You Jesus in our lives, control our lives, we give You the chance to reign in us, reign in our lives, reign in our family, reign in everything that we will do. Wherever we will go, we need You always, don’t leave us. Whenever we call on You, intervene straight away because our only solution is You, no one can help us, no one can intervene except you. Oh God, be our blessing and Be our Lord from now until the end of time. On the sixth day God You created something really special, something that you like, that you love and that was the day you created us God. We want also during this year that something can be created, something can come from us which will glorify Your Name, which will look like the creatures that you created on the 6th day. God we need to bring souls to You, accept those souls, convert their lives, make our people to be transformed. We know that satan is fighting against them, we know that sins are attacking them but God make us winners. Give them freedom from the power of darkness, so that they can see Your blood in their lives, so that they can see Your Hand touching them, so that they can feel comfortable through You o Jesus. We can’t transform their lives but everything is possible for You. Bless this house, bless everything present here, bless those people who are not with us tonight, be with them O God. We thank you because You are a God who takes care of us, in Jesus name we are praying, Amen,
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
A New Year (part III)
By Odon Bulamba (02.01.04)
Lets read in Exodus 14:19-25,
Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He jammed[a] the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.”
So this is the time of fight now. This is the time that Pharaoh and his army are attacking the people of Israel saying that the way that they are walking, the way that they don’t have horses or chariots, we are able to catch them, this is our right time to kill them. And the Lord our God because He is a Lord who takes care of His people, He is the Lord who watches His people, He opened His eyes and looked on His children and saw that Pharaoh was following them. God knows that if He gives Pharaoh the chance to be next to His people, he will kill them so He decided to put Pharaoh in confusion.
The first thing that God did was the block of smoke and then God came through that smoke and He tried to disorganise Pharaoh’s army. Imagine we have an army which is really well organised, an army which is prepared to go and fight and just on their way, there is a disorder among them. Everything was ok but after a few seconds nothing works, the chariot that Pharaoh used was also blocked by God, God prevented them from moving anymore.
Pharaoh can represent our temptation, Pharaoh can represent satan, Pharaoh can represent our adversary or our enemy. He comes behind us every time, He is following us, he wants to hit us, he wants to kill us and by our own force we can’t overcome, we can’t win but we have to remember that God sees, God is watching, God is looking on us, God is there for us, God has never slept, He watches His people. So that is the first thing that you have to remember for this year, God is watching over you, although I am going through difficulties, although satan is fighting my faith, although I’m losing my position, although I am going through a hard situation, God’s eyes are watching over me and I know that if God is watching over me nothing can touch me. My heart will never be broken because God’s eyes are watching over me.
Secondly you have to know that God is able to disorganise your enemies, if my enemy is anger, God is able to disorganise anger in me. If my enemy is stealing, God is able to disorganise that character in me. If my weakness is fighting other people or abusing others, God is able to disorganise that army of satan in me and whenever it will be disorganised, it will not follow me anymore.
Sometimes we can feel pressure of life on us and sometimes we can feel our lives are becoming heavy, we don’t know what to do, we are blocked somewhere but remember that God knows our situation and if you forget about God and you think that first I have to contact X or Y person, God will not be happy with that.
The people of Israel crossed the sea and when they reached the other side, God didn’t leave that sea like that but said, you will never see that Pharaoh and his army again. God said that through Moses. Moses said, you saw that Pharaoh, forget about him because today is the last day that you will see him. Your eyes will never see Pharaoh anymore, your ears will never hear about him anymore, that’s all. So your problems, your situations, whatever you had known this year, you must know that it has gone. You will never see it anymore, it will disappear. If you have any problem with you or in your life, commit it between God’s hands and tell God, ‘God I don’t want to see it anymore, the way that you made Pharaoh disappear I want you to make this problem disappear for ever. The way that you made the army of Pharaoh disappear I want this problem to disappear forever and in all of that, let me become a victorious person. I need to be the victorious man’. And God will do that.
So when these people reached the point now of crossing, Pharaoh saw, ‘oh we are in danger now, this is our time to run away because the Lord of Israel, the God of this people intervenes, we have to run away’. Have you ever thought in your life, that your problems can run away from you? I think not, most of the time we try to run away from our problems. Whenever I have got a problem I have to find a solution right away and then run away saying that I don’t want this problem because…...
But there is something new here, Pharaoh decided to run away. The same way our problems can also run away from us. God is able to make our problems flee. And wherever they will flee they will not find a destination, they will be destroyed. So what do we need so that problems can flee from us? We need only to ask God for His intervention, that is all, we have to tell Him, ‘God intervene now, I want my problems to flee, I want my problems to go away from me, I’m tired, I’m not able to fight against them, I’m not able to resist, make them flee.’ God will look at your problem and your problem will start to shake and then your problems will run away.
So if problems will run away from you, how can you say that you don’t have peace or joy or that you are not strong or that you don’t practise justice and other fruit of the Holy Spirit? I think that the only thing that makes us sin is our problems. If I don’t have something to eat I will start to think, o God what shall I eat today. Problems will raise up, if I don’t have money I will start to think, if my son or daughter will start to do something wrong I will start to think, if my parents or whoever will do something wrong against me, I will start to think, whenever there will be a mistake at work or wherever I am I will start to think, this is a new problem. If you have a car accident, it’s a problem, whatever you do is a problem but we are called to live in peace and we are called to be the light of this world. How will we become the light if we are fleeing our problems? So we have to ask God to make our problems flee from us.
I remember what Jesus used to do; when Jesus was walking, evil spirits were running away. Whenever evil spirits would see Jesus, they will start to cry, ‘Jesus, Jesus, Son of God forgive us, give us the chance to live somewhere else,’ they were running, they were really fearing Jesus. Jesus told us that we would do more than Him. Whoever will follow me will do greater things than me. You will be given miracles, you be given whatever you want but make sure that you have to do more than me.
For the evil spirits to runaway from us, for all our hard situations to runaway from us, we need only one thing and that is to knock on God’s door and say, ‘God here I am, I know that you are the same God yesterday, today and forever, the same God who led the people of Israel, the same God who lead Elijah so here I am before you, lead me to. I want my problems to flee from me, I want to be the victory of my family and my life, I want to be the light in my life and in my family, I want to become the force or the strength of my family, of my church, of my friends. So lead me’. You will see what God will do for you but if you keep quiet, God will not answer.
The Bible says that whoever will knock, the door will be opened for him and if you do not knock, no one will open the door, no one will know that you are in front of the door, so you have to knock first. Knocking will not take you 10 seconds, to knock on a door is only a matter of one second. Even a child like Kennedy can knock on the door. Knocking doesn’t really require power as people think, ‘o to get this from God I will need really power and I’ll need really enough time for this’, no, just tell God I need this. With your faith it will be done.
So this new year that we are starting, I know that it will be a year of victory but we have to be ready for that victory. We don’t have to complain like the people of Israel, whenever they faced a problem, whenever they faced a hard situation they started to complain against Moses. Let’s put complaining aside, lets put our cries aside, lets put our hard situation aside and let us look upon God. God will do something, God will help us, God will lead us. If you had some problems with some people last year, or in the past this is the time to forget because that block of smoke is now between us and last year’s problems. Don’t look back on those problems forget about them.
Lets read in Exodus 14:19-25,
Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He jammed[a] the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.”
So this is the time of fight now. This is the time that Pharaoh and his army are attacking the people of Israel saying that the way that they are walking, the way that they don’t have horses or chariots, we are able to catch them, this is our right time to kill them. And the Lord our God because He is a Lord who takes care of His people, He is the Lord who watches His people, He opened His eyes and looked on His children and saw that Pharaoh was following them. God knows that if He gives Pharaoh the chance to be next to His people, he will kill them so He decided to put Pharaoh in confusion.
The first thing that God did was the block of smoke and then God came through that smoke and He tried to disorganise Pharaoh’s army. Imagine we have an army which is really well organised, an army which is prepared to go and fight and just on their way, there is a disorder among them. Everything was ok but after a few seconds nothing works, the chariot that Pharaoh used was also blocked by God, God prevented them from moving anymore.
Pharaoh can represent our temptation, Pharaoh can represent satan, Pharaoh can represent our adversary or our enemy. He comes behind us every time, He is following us, he wants to hit us, he wants to kill us and by our own force we can’t overcome, we can’t win but we have to remember that God sees, God is watching, God is looking on us, God is there for us, God has never slept, He watches His people. So that is the first thing that you have to remember for this year, God is watching over you, although I am going through difficulties, although satan is fighting my faith, although I’m losing my position, although I am going through a hard situation, God’s eyes are watching over me and I know that if God is watching over me nothing can touch me. My heart will never be broken because God’s eyes are watching over me.
Secondly you have to know that God is able to disorganise your enemies, if my enemy is anger, God is able to disorganise anger in me. If my enemy is stealing, God is able to disorganise that character in me. If my weakness is fighting other people or abusing others, God is able to disorganise that army of satan in me and whenever it will be disorganised, it will not follow me anymore.
Sometimes we can feel pressure of life on us and sometimes we can feel our lives are becoming heavy, we don’t know what to do, we are blocked somewhere but remember that God knows our situation and if you forget about God and you think that first I have to contact X or Y person, God will not be happy with that.
The people of Israel crossed the sea and when they reached the other side, God didn’t leave that sea like that but said, you will never see that Pharaoh and his army again. God said that through Moses. Moses said, you saw that Pharaoh, forget about him because today is the last day that you will see him. Your eyes will never see Pharaoh anymore, your ears will never hear about him anymore, that’s all. So your problems, your situations, whatever you had known this year, you must know that it has gone. You will never see it anymore, it will disappear. If you have any problem with you or in your life, commit it between God’s hands and tell God, ‘God I don’t want to see it anymore, the way that you made Pharaoh disappear I want you to make this problem disappear for ever. The way that you made the army of Pharaoh disappear I want this problem to disappear forever and in all of that, let me become a victorious person. I need to be the victorious man’. And God will do that.
So when these people reached the point now of crossing, Pharaoh saw, ‘oh we are in danger now, this is our time to run away because the Lord of Israel, the God of this people intervenes, we have to run away’. Have you ever thought in your life, that your problems can run away from you? I think not, most of the time we try to run away from our problems. Whenever I have got a problem I have to find a solution right away and then run away saying that I don’t want this problem because…...
But there is something new here, Pharaoh decided to run away. The same way our problems can also run away from us. God is able to make our problems flee. And wherever they will flee they will not find a destination, they will be destroyed. So what do we need so that problems can flee from us? We need only to ask God for His intervention, that is all, we have to tell Him, ‘God intervene now, I want my problems to flee, I want my problems to go away from me, I’m tired, I’m not able to fight against them, I’m not able to resist, make them flee.’ God will look at your problem and your problem will start to shake and then your problems will run away.
So if problems will run away from you, how can you say that you don’t have peace or joy or that you are not strong or that you don’t practise justice and other fruit of the Holy Spirit? I think that the only thing that makes us sin is our problems. If I don’t have something to eat I will start to think, o God what shall I eat today. Problems will raise up, if I don’t have money I will start to think, if my son or daughter will start to do something wrong I will start to think, if my parents or whoever will do something wrong against me, I will start to think, whenever there will be a mistake at work or wherever I am I will start to think, this is a new problem. If you have a car accident, it’s a problem, whatever you do is a problem but we are called to live in peace and we are called to be the light of this world. How will we become the light if we are fleeing our problems? So we have to ask God to make our problems flee from us.
I remember what Jesus used to do; when Jesus was walking, evil spirits were running away. Whenever evil spirits would see Jesus, they will start to cry, ‘Jesus, Jesus, Son of God forgive us, give us the chance to live somewhere else,’ they were running, they were really fearing Jesus. Jesus told us that we would do more than Him. Whoever will follow me will do greater things than me. You will be given miracles, you be given whatever you want but make sure that you have to do more than me.
For the evil spirits to runaway from us, for all our hard situations to runaway from us, we need only one thing and that is to knock on God’s door and say, ‘God here I am, I know that you are the same God yesterday, today and forever, the same God who led the people of Israel, the same God who lead Elijah so here I am before you, lead me to. I want my problems to flee from me, I want to be the victory of my family and my life, I want to be the light in my life and in my family, I want to become the force or the strength of my family, of my church, of my friends. So lead me’. You will see what God will do for you but if you keep quiet, God will not answer.
The Bible says that whoever will knock, the door will be opened for him and if you do not knock, no one will open the door, no one will know that you are in front of the door, so you have to knock first. Knocking will not take you 10 seconds, to knock on a door is only a matter of one second. Even a child like Kennedy can knock on the door. Knocking doesn’t really require power as people think, ‘o to get this from God I will need really power and I’ll need really enough time for this’, no, just tell God I need this. With your faith it will be done.
So this new year that we are starting, I know that it will be a year of victory but we have to be ready for that victory. We don’t have to complain like the people of Israel, whenever they faced a problem, whenever they faced a hard situation they started to complain against Moses. Let’s put complaining aside, lets put our cries aside, lets put our hard situation aside and let us look upon God. God will do something, God will help us, God will lead us. If you had some problems with some people last year, or in the past this is the time to forget because that block of smoke is now between us and last year’s problems. Don’t look back on those problems forget about them.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
A New Year (part II)
By Odon Bulamba (02.01.04)
The people of Israel (after preparing their luggage) started their journey and they were just following Moses. At some stage they found that the situation was hard because they looked behind and they saw the army of Egypt was following them. So fear started, panic rose up, everybody turned to Moses, ‘Moses where are we going, why did you let us leave Egypt to go somewhere there is no life?’ Complaining started.
It is true that during 2003 we have been going through a lot of problems and a lot of situations that were not easy, maybe you reached the point that you started to complain and say, ‘God where am I going with this, why this in my life, why is my life so hard, God tell me why am I crossing what I am crossing now?’
Moses did not know what to say and God continued to tell Moses, keep going and they reached a point where the sea was in front of them and there was no way out at all. That was the point that the mind of human being stopped, where the level of thinking was at its limit and they thought; this is our death. Maybe they thought we cannot overcome, we cannot win over this army of Egypt because we will be killed soon. Moses looked around and although he was the leader he didn’t know where to take those people. He called upon God, ‘God intervene’ and all of us know what God did.
Through the Red Sea God made a way and God was showing his glory through smoke and fire. Some versions say smoke and light. During the day He was like smoke behind them and during the night He was light. And that smoke played a big role, it was like a barrier between the Israelites and Egyptians. Remember the Egyptians had horses and they were following the Israelites but God put smoke as a barrier between them. A horse can never cross smoke and a human being cannot open his eyes while going through smoke because smoke can damage eyes, you can’t see properly and whatever is behind a big smoke can’t be seen.
So what is behind us? I’ll call last year Egypt and I’ll compare last year to the army of Pharaoh because we had a lot of problems and many complicated situations were following us, we were attacked by satan, we were attacked by our friends, we were attacked by everything around us. This is the time that we are calling upon God and the Lord our God intervenes and He has put now that barrier, that wall of smoke between our last year’s problems and ourselves and we don’t have the right to turn and look back again. If the Israelite people had not turned behind, they could not have seen Pharaoh and his army coming but because of that, they had fear and they panicked. But for us because we have that block of smoke, if we look behind we can’t see what happened last year because last year is behind us.
The Bible said that God manifested Himself as light or fire in front of those people and whenever there is light or fire we can see everything clearly, even small things can be found if light is there. So this year, will be a year of light and fire, a year where we can be lead by God. It doesn’t mean we have to hold torches in our hands but it means that God Himself is taking care of us. First of all He makes a way through our difficulties, through our problems, through everything that is impossible for us.
I’ll give to you an example, let’s say that I need some money and I am not working or getting any benefit and I say, ‘God help me, I need some money because it is really urgent’. And God says, ‘ok, through this situation I will find a way for you.’ I remember before I came into this country I didn’t have money to pay for my ticket, I didn’t have anything to leave where I was to come to New Zealand and we were praying and praying asking God to help us. Although we were full of mistakes and full of sin and maybe people who did not please 100% God but because of His mercy, because He loves us, because of His patience with us, God opened the door.
I remember my brother used to pray for me too and I remember that he used to tell me that I’m praying for you every time and when now it came time for me to leave where I was, God opened the door, even though I didn’t have a passport or ticket and in this world you can’t travel without these but God made the way for me to travel. I didn’t have a passport or a ticket but I was allowed to come to New Zealand. Through that God made a way, He opened a way through the sea, whatever you think is impossible for you God can make it possible for you because everything is easy to be done by God. So don’t be discouraged, don’t think that God is far away from me, don’t think that God will not be able to solve your problem, know that God is able and is capable of everything.
So we started a new journey to NZ and when we reached NZ we didn’t know anyone and we didn’t know where to go but by God’s grace we started and we are whatever we are now. And the people of Israel were also thinking what will happen for us because we don’t know where we are going, we don’t have friends in Canaan, we know that Canaan is full of our enemies, we know that wherever we go people will fight against us. What shall we become?
The way that you are here with me, maybe you have a plan for this year, I’ll go to England, I’ll do such and such and such, that’s your plan. You think that other things I will not be able to fulfil them, you can sometimes think that you will not be able to do such and such thing so who will be able to do those tasks for you? From where will you get your help? Did you tell God about that, did you shout as Moses did calling upon Him saying God here I am I don’t know where to go? God our Lord is not a carpenter but that day He made a wall, a barrier which stopped the sea and a road was there, God is not a road maker but that day He was a road maker and everybody could cross the sea. Imagine how great the sea is, how great the diameter of the red sea is but those people walked through the sea and maybe they could see fish but they crossed and they didn’t care what was beside them. They didn’t care about hippopotamus or crocodile, they crossed the sea because their objective was to go across to the other side and their eyes were focused. So after crossing that they found that they were victorious people.
Now we have problems, maybe we are starting this new year with difficulties, with problems with our friends, families and others what shall we do. What did you tell God yesterday? What did you tell God on the 31st of December last year? Are we really able to cross the sea? Maybe we will fear and say if I go down maybe the water will come back and maybe I will lose my life. Maybe we will fear crocodiles around us or the sea because the sea has many mysterious things but put your fear aside don’t think about your fear, don’t think about your doubt, don’t think about your hesitations, think about God and look forward and think, ‘I know my objective is to cross my problems, my objective is to find solutions to my problems, solutions to my family’s problems, solution to the church, solution to everything which I thought was impossible’. Don’t be distracted, don’t look on the left side or right side while you are going in faith. Don’t look at things that are coming here and there, people may knock on your door and say, ok open the door, many people can tell you, ‘don’t do this, follow our advice, you know if you want to succeed in life do such and such and such’. It’s good to get some advice but you have to know that God is the better advisor, keep your faith in Him and then you will see.
The people of Israel (after preparing their luggage) started their journey and they were just following Moses. At some stage they found that the situation was hard because they looked behind and they saw the army of Egypt was following them. So fear started, panic rose up, everybody turned to Moses, ‘Moses where are we going, why did you let us leave Egypt to go somewhere there is no life?’ Complaining started.
It is true that during 2003 we have been going through a lot of problems and a lot of situations that were not easy, maybe you reached the point that you started to complain and say, ‘God where am I going with this, why this in my life, why is my life so hard, God tell me why am I crossing what I am crossing now?’
Moses did not know what to say and God continued to tell Moses, keep going and they reached a point where the sea was in front of them and there was no way out at all. That was the point that the mind of human being stopped, where the level of thinking was at its limit and they thought; this is our death. Maybe they thought we cannot overcome, we cannot win over this army of Egypt because we will be killed soon. Moses looked around and although he was the leader he didn’t know where to take those people. He called upon God, ‘God intervene’ and all of us know what God did.
Through the Red Sea God made a way and God was showing his glory through smoke and fire. Some versions say smoke and light. During the day He was like smoke behind them and during the night He was light. And that smoke played a big role, it was like a barrier between the Israelites and Egyptians. Remember the Egyptians had horses and they were following the Israelites but God put smoke as a barrier between them. A horse can never cross smoke and a human being cannot open his eyes while going through smoke because smoke can damage eyes, you can’t see properly and whatever is behind a big smoke can’t be seen.
So what is behind us? I’ll call last year Egypt and I’ll compare last year to the army of Pharaoh because we had a lot of problems and many complicated situations were following us, we were attacked by satan, we were attacked by our friends, we were attacked by everything around us. This is the time that we are calling upon God and the Lord our God intervenes and He has put now that barrier, that wall of smoke between our last year’s problems and ourselves and we don’t have the right to turn and look back again. If the Israelite people had not turned behind, they could not have seen Pharaoh and his army coming but because of that, they had fear and they panicked. But for us because we have that block of smoke, if we look behind we can’t see what happened last year because last year is behind us.
The Bible said that God manifested Himself as light or fire in front of those people and whenever there is light or fire we can see everything clearly, even small things can be found if light is there. So this year, will be a year of light and fire, a year where we can be lead by God. It doesn’t mean we have to hold torches in our hands but it means that God Himself is taking care of us. First of all He makes a way through our difficulties, through our problems, through everything that is impossible for us.
I’ll give to you an example, let’s say that I need some money and I am not working or getting any benefit and I say, ‘God help me, I need some money because it is really urgent’. And God says, ‘ok, through this situation I will find a way for you.’ I remember before I came into this country I didn’t have money to pay for my ticket, I didn’t have anything to leave where I was to come to New Zealand and we were praying and praying asking God to help us. Although we were full of mistakes and full of sin and maybe people who did not please 100% God but because of His mercy, because He loves us, because of His patience with us, God opened the door.
I remember my brother used to pray for me too and I remember that he used to tell me that I’m praying for you every time and when now it came time for me to leave where I was, God opened the door, even though I didn’t have a passport or ticket and in this world you can’t travel without these but God made the way for me to travel. I didn’t have a passport or a ticket but I was allowed to come to New Zealand. Through that God made a way, He opened a way through the sea, whatever you think is impossible for you God can make it possible for you because everything is easy to be done by God. So don’t be discouraged, don’t think that God is far away from me, don’t think that God will not be able to solve your problem, know that God is able and is capable of everything.
So we started a new journey to NZ and when we reached NZ we didn’t know anyone and we didn’t know where to go but by God’s grace we started and we are whatever we are now. And the people of Israel were also thinking what will happen for us because we don’t know where we are going, we don’t have friends in Canaan, we know that Canaan is full of our enemies, we know that wherever we go people will fight against us. What shall we become?
The way that you are here with me, maybe you have a plan for this year, I’ll go to England, I’ll do such and such and such, that’s your plan. You think that other things I will not be able to fulfil them, you can sometimes think that you will not be able to do such and such thing so who will be able to do those tasks for you? From where will you get your help? Did you tell God about that, did you shout as Moses did calling upon Him saying God here I am I don’t know where to go? God our Lord is not a carpenter but that day He made a wall, a barrier which stopped the sea and a road was there, God is not a road maker but that day He was a road maker and everybody could cross the sea. Imagine how great the sea is, how great the diameter of the red sea is but those people walked through the sea and maybe they could see fish but they crossed and they didn’t care what was beside them. They didn’t care about hippopotamus or crocodile, they crossed the sea because their objective was to go across to the other side and their eyes were focused. So after crossing that they found that they were victorious people.
Now we have problems, maybe we are starting this new year with difficulties, with problems with our friends, families and others what shall we do. What did you tell God yesterday? What did you tell God on the 31st of December last year? Are we really able to cross the sea? Maybe we will fear and say if I go down maybe the water will come back and maybe I will lose my life. Maybe we will fear crocodiles around us or the sea because the sea has many mysterious things but put your fear aside don’t think about your fear, don’t think about your doubt, don’t think about your hesitations, think about God and look forward and think, ‘I know my objective is to cross my problems, my objective is to find solutions to my problems, solutions to my family’s problems, solution to the church, solution to everything which I thought was impossible’. Don’t be distracted, don’t look on the left side or right side while you are going in faith. Don’t look at things that are coming here and there, people may knock on your door and say, ok open the door, many people can tell you, ‘don’t do this, follow our advice, you know if you want to succeed in life do such and such and such’. It’s good to get some advice but you have to know that God is the better advisor, keep your faith in Him and then you will see.
Monday, November 1, 2010
A New Year
By Odon Bulamba (02.01.04)
We praise the Lord because He has given us this opportunity to meet again, lets pray.
“Thank you Jesus, we thank you because You are our Master, thank you so much for the gift of life that you give to us, thank you because you are among us, bless your Holy name because you take care of us, you have been working with us during all the day and if we gather together this evening it’s just because of your love and your grace. Bless this time be our light lead us in everything we will do and let the Holy Spirit take the direction and control of everything. Lord Jesus we commit ourselves between Your hands and we ask you O Lord to forgive us and to purify us with your blood. Thank you because you are a God who is full of blessing we praise your name once again in Jesus name, amen.”
Today is our first meeting for the year 2004 and yesterday has gone and we are living a new day which is today and the Bible says that when a day passes that is all and we cannot see it anymore, meaning that last year has gone, that is all, we will never live 2003 anymore. So we are starting now a new life with 2004 and tonight we will try to share something about the people of Israel, the time when they were supposed to leave Egypt and to go somewhere else.
So those people were well prepared by Moses and God was not far away from them. Moses tried his best to take care of the people of Israel but God was above them and controlling everything. Moses was responsible, Moses was like a leader but the true leader was God through Moses. We are also leaders of our lives, sometimes we are leaders of our families, we are leaders of our friends, we are leaders of our activities but what we are called to check is this; is God acting through us before we lead whatever we are leading. Do I have God in me when I am leading my activities, do I have the power of God when I am leading my children, do I work with God when I am doing my job or whatever I am doing? This is the question we have to ask ourselves this evening and we will try to think about it.
When it was the time for the people of Israel to leave Egypt, God prepared them, everybody knew that this is the time for us to leave Egypt. Everybody was prepared morally, spiritually, and physically because people collected stuff from neighbours, people collected their luggage, people were ready to leave Egypt to go somewhere else. Although they did not know their destination they accepted to leave Egypt because what they faced in Egypt was too much.
In our church today, in our century many people hope and prefer to hang on to what they are called to leave. Whenever you tell someone, leave this and start a new journey, the person will ask you first of all, where am I going? Why do you want me to leave what I am doing and take a new direction without a destination? But the people of Israel did not ask God where are you taking us, they knew that God promised them a land, a new land. But they didn’t really know what that land was, although they could hear about Canaan but most of them did not at that stage know Canaan. They knew that there was a country that has maybe milk and honey and is called Canaan but they had not seen that Canaan yet.
So whenever we are called by God to leave our activities, to leave our past life, to leave whatever we were doing, we don’t have to ask God, now what will be our destination because God promised us that we would get something that is really great. Jesus promised us and said that I will go to heaven to prepare a place for you, know that you are not alone I will be with you until the end of time but I am going to prepare something for you. Whoever will believe in me will never be ashamed, whoever will trust in me I will never let him down. Do I really believe in that or not?
We praise the Lord because He has given us this opportunity to meet again, lets pray.
“Thank you Jesus, we thank you because You are our Master, thank you so much for the gift of life that you give to us, thank you because you are among us, bless your Holy name because you take care of us, you have been working with us during all the day and if we gather together this evening it’s just because of your love and your grace. Bless this time be our light lead us in everything we will do and let the Holy Spirit take the direction and control of everything. Lord Jesus we commit ourselves between Your hands and we ask you O Lord to forgive us and to purify us with your blood. Thank you because you are a God who is full of blessing we praise your name once again in Jesus name, amen.”
Today is our first meeting for the year 2004 and yesterday has gone and we are living a new day which is today and the Bible says that when a day passes that is all and we cannot see it anymore, meaning that last year has gone, that is all, we will never live 2003 anymore. So we are starting now a new life with 2004 and tonight we will try to share something about the people of Israel, the time when they were supposed to leave Egypt and to go somewhere else.
So those people were well prepared by Moses and God was not far away from them. Moses tried his best to take care of the people of Israel but God was above them and controlling everything. Moses was responsible, Moses was like a leader but the true leader was God through Moses. We are also leaders of our lives, sometimes we are leaders of our families, we are leaders of our friends, we are leaders of our activities but what we are called to check is this; is God acting through us before we lead whatever we are leading. Do I have God in me when I am leading my activities, do I have the power of God when I am leading my children, do I work with God when I am doing my job or whatever I am doing? This is the question we have to ask ourselves this evening and we will try to think about it.
When it was the time for the people of Israel to leave Egypt, God prepared them, everybody knew that this is the time for us to leave Egypt. Everybody was prepared morally, spiritually, and physically because people collected stuff from neighbours, people collected their luggage, people were ready to leave Egypt to go somewhere else. Although they did not know their destination they accepted to leave Egypt because what they faced in Egypt was too much.
In our church today, in our century many people hope and prefer to hang on to what they are called to leave. Whenever you tell someone, leave this and start a new journey, the person will ask you first of all, where am I going? Why do you want me to leave what I am doing and take a new direction without a destination? But the people of Israel did not ask God where are you taking us, they knew that God promised them a land, a new land. But they didn’t really know what that land was, although they could hear about Canaan but most of them did not at that stage know Canaan. They knew that there was a country that has maybe milk and honey and is called Canaan but they had not seen that Canaan yet.
So whenever we are called by God to leave our activities, to leave our past life, to leave whatever we were doing, we don’t have to ask God, now what will be our destination because God promised us that we would get something that is really great. Jesus promised us and said that I will go to heaven to prepare a place for you, know that you are not alone I will be with you until the end of time but I am going to prepare something for you. Whoever will believe in me will never be ashamed, whoever will trust in me I will never let him down. Do I really believe in that or not?
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