How to Discover God in the Midst of Your Battle

By Odon Bulamba

It’s a blessing to be here again this morning.  Many people believe that blessing means only material things. If they get a nice car or money they believe they are blessed but blessing means more than that.  Sometimes you can go through suffering but that is a blessing.  E.g. a mother going through pain to give birth. 

 

How to discover God in the midst of your battle?

Truly, life is so short.  During this short period of time God gives to us, there are a lot of challenges.  Some are physical others are spiritual, moral and sometimes psychological.  No one will tell you that they have never faced a challenge in their life.  Challenges have different degrees and we all think that the challenge we are facing is harder than the challenge others are crossing.  When we cross a challenge we all say, “Oh God, why me?” but when we go through a blessing we don’t say, “Oh God, why me?”  We all want to grab it and enjoy it.

 

Joshuaua 5: 13-15, “Now when Joshuaua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshuaua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”  “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshuaua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshuaua did so.”

 

This verse sounds a little bit strange.  Joshua was a servant of Moses.  When Moses passed away, God told Joshua he was now to become a leader to lead the people of Israel and take that big role.  That was a blessing wasn’t it.  God raises you up to become the leader – lead my people.  I’m sure Joshua couldn’t stop smiling all night to be chosen to lead the people of God.  God promised to walk by his side to fulfill the mission.  Joshua was happy.  Everybody could salute and bow down in front of him when he walked passed and they showed him they loved him.  He walked pass them proudly.  When he spoke, everybody listened to him.

 

You and I are leaders of our lives.  When you grew up, God said you won’t be the same anymore, you won’t be a child anymore but a mother of a family, a wife of someone, you must become someone in your society, in your church, workplace etc.  You were a little boy yesterday but I’m taking you somewhere else, I’m raising you up.  You are not five years old anymore, I’m taking you to another step and finally you become a leader who others will learn from.

 

During the week a someone was telling me about our brother Hugh.  A lady told me about this man who runs every day and he is very strong although he is very old.  I wondered how a person can measure another person’s strength just by looking at them.  This lady told me that this man that she sees running has the courage to push himself to run every day. People have seen this man running for hours, for many miles.  How many have seen him, we don’t know.  Those who see him every day, they know him very well but Hugh does not know them.  Whatever we are doing with God bringing us up, people start to discover who we are.  They will say to Hugh, “I know who you are, I see you running everyday”.

 

Joshua was put up to the level where he was noticed by everybody and this was a blessing.  Now it is the time for him as leader to organize an army to fight Jericho.  We are the leaders of our own life, we make the decisions in our life such as when we will eat, go to bed, take a walk etc.  We who are the boss of our own life must take that role of commander in chief of our own lives.  Joshua was a commander and he was preparing now to fight Jericho. 

 

 

Jericho had a big wall surrounding the entire city made of solid bricks or concrete.  The Israelites had no rockets or missles or bombs to break the wall.  They would have had to climb ladders to get over it which is very hard because you can’t tell what or who is on the other side of the wall and they knew many soldiers would die. 

 

Joshua believed he was blessed with leadership and had strong army but he didn’t know how to cross this wall.  He thought hard to find a way to get into the city without losing people.  Today you have your family, friends, community and all those people can make a big wall in your life.  You talk to your child and they don’t listen, there is a big wall.  You talk to your husband and he doesn’t want to listen, there is a big wall.  You talk with your family, your friends and others in your community but they build a big wall to keep you out.  The people God gave you are like a barrier with a big fight.  God told Joshua, he would give him the city of Jericho but he is there now and doesn’t know how to take it.  The blessing started to become bitter.

 

Imagine someone giving you a car but no key.  Or like this morning, our family faced this a big battle because we couldn’t find the iron.  The clothes we prepared yesterday had to be changed all because someone had borrowed the iron without letting us know.  We all felt in our hearts anger and we felt like killing the person who took the iron.  He took an iron without thinking about us.  You will always find challenges along the way and those challenges will take you somewhere you never dreamed of.

 

Joshua went outside the city to pray and have a look.  He started to examine the big wall to find a solution of where the Israelites could go, what strategy to use, how to climb, who will go first.  He started to think maybe some will die and how he would feel as a leader.  Then Joshua saw this man with a sword in his hand.  Imagine you are going to fight an enemy and you know the uniform of your people and suddenly a stranger standing in front of you, you will think the person is the enemy because you don’t recognize the uniform and you expect a salute but the person says nothing. Joshua asked him, “Are you on our side or the side of the enemy?” He did not recognize it was God.

 

Sometimes when the battle field is in front of us and we are planning our attack, we start to tell God to choose whose side He is on, mine or the enemy?  We start to tell Him, “Hear what they did against me?” and we ask Him, “Where are you God? Do something?  One time when I was a child my cousin needed to go to the toilet so I did a whistle and she retaliated by smacking me.  I started to cry to my mum but my mum said, “bring me the machete to cut off her head, is that what you want, do you want me to kill her for you?”  sometimes your children will come to you and want you to be on your side and to punish the other side.  Sometimes we as children of God, want God to take revenge for us.  God will tell you clearly, I’m not on your side or the other side.

 

That brings us back to Jesus who told us to love our enemies and pray for them.  That is the first blessing.  We tell God, “God look at what I’m going through, look at all my problems, be on my side”.  How will you feel when God says He is not on your side?  You will feel rejected and disappointed.  Maybe we will ask ourselves, how can God say He is not on my side when I gave my life to him?  We have been given the role of commander of the army of the Lord so we wonder why God is not on our side.  We still have problems and challenges in life.  What is the role of the commander?  It is to command which does not mean to negotiate it means when God says to “do this”, you have to immediately do what you are asked.  There is no time to ask questions. 

 

When the commander of the Lord came to Joshua, maybe Joshua thought, “But God says I’m the commander in chief.  Who is commanding who?” Sometimes in your life you believe you are in charge but God pushes you aside and he puts Himself in charge.  We try to stay in charge but God says no, I’m the one who is going to do something here.  We might complain, “O God, what type of husband have You given to me?” or “What kind of child have You given me?” or “Oh my God this situation again”. 

 

For example, you can teach your child multiplication day after day after day and you put so much effort and struggle so they can learn but after two years they still can’t multiply 2x2.  You try your best but they fail it again.  Or you ask someone nicely, can you please do this and they turn up the volume of the television or they walk out and you start to ask God, “God, did you really give me this husband? They don’t really fit with me.  Everything I want they don’t do what I want.  You promised me God that I would be here to help them but they don’t accept anything from me”. 

 

Continuing with the story of Joshua, God told Joshua in chapter 6 that the whole of Israel must walk around the wall, “Go tomorrow around the city of Jericho”.  How long would it take us to walk around the city of Hamilton?  A long time.  They were to keep silent with seven priests with trumpets.  Next morning, go again.  Third day…how will we feel?  Maybe they started to think, “God You can find a solution immediately, why are You taking so long. We are tired of waiting”.  These people who were motivated on the first, second even third day will lose their motivation after the fourth and fifth day and yet they are told to walk again on the sixth day, around the whole city.  Then, on the last day, instead of going once they have to go around 7 times.  Maybe they thought “What are you thinking God, are you thinking of me?  It’s foolish, crazy”.  God told them, “That is what you have to do?”  Was it a blessing or a punishment? 

 

Sometimes you are asking God to solve a situation but God takes you around and around until you feel disappointed.  I once asked something from God but I didn’t get it until 11 years later and by the time I received it, I didn’t need it anymore.

 

After the 7^th time walking around the city, they were told to shout after all this time of not talking.  Now you see the glory of God.  The commander is fighting.  God doesn’t need your thoughts or skills or power to change the situation when He uses you.  Your skills or power are nothing without you.  You can have children without you being a mother.  To be a mother means to have responsibilities and know the role of the mother.  Dogs can give birth to puppies and when someone takes their puppies away, they forget about them after a few days.  If a mother loses their child, they will never forget them and will go everywhere to find them.

 

The blessing of Joshua was in front of the door.  Maybe if I was Joshua I would consult with others before doing what God asked of me.  Maybe I would tell them the story of this man who said he was not on our side or on the side of the enemy and he proclaimed to be the commander of the Lord but he had no army.  Maybe I would ask for their advice since the man gave no proof of being the commander of the Lord’s army.  Sometimes God will tell you the solution to your problem by coming to you as a simple person.  Sometimes God sends you someone that you don’t believe is the solution to your problem.  It could be your children or neighbors or friends who bring a solution but we are not sure they could be the answer.

 

Joshua was told, “The place you stand is holy”.  Can a battle field really be a holy place?  It doesn’t seem possible.  The holy place for me is church or where we offer sacrifices.  The situation you are crossing is the holy place because God is in the midst of that situation, no matter how bad or tough it is, God’s presence is there.  It is not for you to tell God what to do but for God to act.

 

God can solve the problem with a new strategy and you don’t even have to fight.  Maybe Joshua thought (and sometimes us also), “I have an army and I’m trained, I want to see blood” but God says, “That is not what I want”.  We hold our heads in our hands and say, “I’ve tried this and that but nothing works” and God tells you to walk around in silence and God will work.

 

Psalms 1:1-2: “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night”.

 

Blessed are those who do not get together with the counsel of the wicked.  When we have problems, we run towards people and ask for advice.  I remember when I was a child, I couldn’t memorise all of the citation that was given to me to recite in front of the class. The advice I got was to smoke marijuana and I was only 7 years old. Sometimes we go to the wrong people to get advice.  Once you are with the wrong person you will get wrong advice and then you will be discouraged to do what you should.  Once you have a bad advice, you keep it and believe it will be fine.

 

How often do we take our burdens to our family or friends and put God aside?  Will that advice bring a better solution?  We can ask others for assistance but we have to pray first to know who we should speak to and ask God for a solution from that person.

 

If you want to be blessed:

 

1. Put aside the counsel of wicked people.  Don’t live according to their way of living, don’t try to imitate them.  If the world is wearing a hat, you don’t also have to wear a hat.  E.g. this person used his cellphone to read a bible so that others won’t know he was reading the bible.  Sometimes we try to look like them, to fit ourselves in their lives.  God says if you are ashamed of me, then I was also be ashamed of you.

 

2. Don’t stand in the way of the way of sinners.  We should not live like them.  E.g. some will tell you that they are going to nightclubs to make lots of friends so they can bring them to Jesus but while there they drink they slowly, slowly lose their salvation.  Be far away from danger.  Joseph ran far away from Potiphar’s wife.  There were many advantages for Joseph if had accepted that women plus she was attractive but he saw the danger and ran.

 

3. Don’t sit in the seat of scoffers.  Scoffers are people that are just different when they make a decision.  For eg, I use to write comments on-line.  Some people’s comments are not good such as “go to hell” and their message is bitter for no reason.  E.g. Saul wanted to kill David for no reason.  These people have negative thoughts with no intelligence. Scoffers don’t accept other people’s point of views, you are wrong no matter what you say.  These kinds of people only talk negatively about others. We have people in our communities like that, full of bitterness and destroying wherever they go. We should avoid these people.  Ange can tell you she has a problem with Annette and in comes peter and tells ange negative words about Annette.  We should avoid those kinds of people.

 

God told Joshua he was chosen.  Why were others not chosen?  God chose you for a good reason, to be the wife of the one you have and the mother of the children you have.  How many walls do you have between you and your family?  How many battles do you have per day? 

 

I was telling a friend recently, you should give your life back to Jesus.  He answered, “But I do”.  I said, “No you don’t because the life you live doesn’t reflect the life of the one that the Creator gave to you”.  He answered, “maybe when I’m 90, I will”.  I told him many young people die and they have to stand in front of their God.  For me it was a battle, he doesn’t want to listen, to follow Jesus, he doesn’t care about his soul.  God is standing there in the battle field and God tells you that He is not on either side but continue to pray and do what you should do.  For how long?  Should I give up?  That is the way God works especially with those he loves the most.  If he takes very long to respond, that means He loves you the most.

 

A good parent will not give everything to their child.  A mother that gives everything the child asks  does not love the child because the child will learn wrongly and things will turn bad one day. 

 

You are not alone in your battlefield, God is standing next to you giving you new strategies and that is a blessing.  Avoid those that can mislead you and avoid scoffers.  It is time to remember that although I’m crossing this problem, God will deliver me from it.

 

                                                                                                                                          

 

 

 

 

Renew the Mind

By Odon Bulamba

 Imagine living on this earth without the love of God.  God always makes the difference.  Whenever God comes into your life there are changes.  He tries so hard to make you look at His image to become a copy of Him.  When He created Adam and Eve, He said, “let them look like us”.  What does it mean to look like God?  It means only one thing, to live according to His ways.

 

To be a believer, it is a hard task because you have a role to play.  God also has a role to play in your life.  When we are saved, our soul gets saved but not our minds or bodies.  God created Adam and Eve.  After their creation in Gen 2, He then gave them the body.  Previously Adam existed as an image of God (spirit) but then God gave him the body to cover the image.  For that reason, our body is called the temple of God.  After giving Adam the body, God gave him a big responsibility to take care of the garden.  How was he going to take care of the garden?  God gave him intelligence which is the mind. 

 

Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Do you want to know Gods will or power?  If so, you need to renew your mind.  When we are saved, most of us believe salvation is enough and everything will work according to what God wants but we still have this responsibility to renew our mind.  This means our mind becomes old and we have to give it a touch up and clean it so it can become new again. 

 

When you were born, you didn’t know about racism and your mind was clean and pure.  You started to grow up and learn both good and bad things.  For that reason Jesus came in front of Nicodemus and said you need to be born again so you can start with a pure mind with me, this is the only way if you want to enter the Kingdom of God. 

 

Many people believe to be born again only means to receive Jesus in your life but that is only one step.  After a child is born we start to teach the child for example, when the mother has the baby, she will be told when to put the baby to bed when to feed the child etc.  The mother will stick on those rules because when you don’t teach the baby those basics while young it will be hard to change the routine of the baby later on. 

 

Most pastors don’t teach about transformation.  After being saved, we need to be transformed and renewed in the mind.  God saves our spirit and soul but not our mind.  Adam had to wake up every morning to take care of the garden.  In the centre of the garden were two trees (1) the tree of the knowledge of good and bad (2) the tree of life.  God told Adam not to eat the fruit and it was now up to Adam to use his brain to decide not to eat it.

 

There is nothing more powerful in your life of Christianity and your physical life as your mind.  If you decide in your mind to do something, you can do it.  My body won’t say no to my mind.  That tool of the mind was given to us by God to transform ourselves and we must make the effort to do it.

 

Many people are praying in church but in their mind they are thinking about other things.  If God could one day show us what we are all thinking during the church service, the church would break down in one day.  You would see we are not in unity and every person is somewhere else. 

 

If you want to know Gods will, renew your mind.  Using his mind, Adam started to know how to take care of the garden and how to control everything.  Using his mind he named all the animals and knew the time of appointment with God was in the evening.  Using his mind, he decided to hide from God after he ate the fruit from the forbidden tree. 

 

Our mind is the battle field because that is the treasure God gave to us and satan knows the only way to mislead the people of God is to play with their mind.  If your mind doesn’t want you to sing or pray or eat, you won’t do it.  The mind is very precious.

 

How to renew your mind?  We all know the prodigal son who went far from his father after collecting his money.  With that money he had joy, sin and entertainment but these things did not satisfy his father.  You and I are on this earth and whatever we do and whatever distance we take from God, He is still waiting for us and he is not satisfied unless he sees us pray and giving him our soul, mind, spirit and body.  When you give God only your spirit and soul but keep your mind and body you become a luke-warm Christian with one foot in Christianity and one in the world.  People forget that God above sees everything.  They have salvation but they live like the people of the world.

 

Romans 12 tells us not to live like the people of the world.  How do they live? They freely sin because it means joy and entertainment.  Those that live a life where their mind lives according to the world, they try to imitate the world but when they come next to Christians they try to live like a Christian. 

 

Transformation doesn’t come by the Holy Spirit or by strength but by a decision.  If you make a decision right now, you will do it.  No one will stop you if you decide to do so.  Some might say, my decision this month is to pray 3x per day.  Once you make that decision, satan will try to change and influence your mind but we who have the power that can even quench the Holy Spirit can easily quench satan.  If you can quench the Holy Spirit, why can’t you control your mind and feelings?  That is the only responsibility God gave to us. 

 

God gave you salvation and your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, therefore don’t conform to people of the world but be transformed.  Transformation is given in concrete examples such as an egg can be transformed to a chicken.  The trees can produce flowers which will be transformed into fruit.  God put all of that around us so we can easily and clearly understand how things work. 

 

For example, this prodigal son reached a point where he said enough is enough and realized he wasn’t supposed to eat the food of pigs and live this lifestyle and made a decision to go back to his father.  He changed his mind.  By changing the mind you can achieve a lot. 

Someone can say today, I love this person, this church, this message and suddenly change their mind and dislike you. 

That tool (the mind) that God gave to us accompanies our faith.  Faith without actions is dead. Our actions are the fruit of our minds.  Your actions always follow your mind.  Where do you set your mind? If you set your mind far away from God, you will become a sinner.  If you set your mind on the Word of God, you will become a mature Christian.  How do you grow up your mind? Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.  For example, when Ange made a decision to become a nurse, she went to school as Ange but came out as a nurse.

 

If you use your mind properly, it will be easy to train others and transform your mind.  It will make your faith to become real.  Jesus turned water into wine to show transformation is possible.  When you see transformation in your life you will be satisfied and pleased with yourself.  For example, on the biggest loser there was a man was happy to see how much he had changed.  When I saw him, I thought he still looked big until I saw the past photos of him.  If people could see where you have come, they could understand how much you have been transformed. 

 

We should stop and think from time to time about our old life and how far we have come to see the difference God is making in us.  Many people who lose weight go back to the old weight again because they don’t stick to their decision and they change their mind.  Prepare your mind for the coming back of Jesus.  As we sang, I will never go back again.  The prodigal son came back to the father and the father ran to him and welcomed him back.  You can be the son of God but live far away from God, the Holy Spirit is quenched in you and can’t talk to you anymore because you do everything according to your own style but God is ready to welcome you back again.  All you have to do is make a decision to change your mind.  Pray for God to help you to transform your mind and renew your mind.

 

"Lord, update my file"

By Odon Bulamba

1 Cor 1:18, the words of the cross are foolishness for those who are not saved, but for us believers it is a different story.

 

Today we are going to talk about an awkward topic called “Lord, update my file” but before we do we will read together Revelations 1:18 out loud.  “I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades”.   Jesus himself said it.  Yesterday I was dead, I was crucified and killed but I am alive forever more. To die was one step, to be alive is another step but also remember the next step: “I hold the keys to hades and death”.

 

Imagine they could tell you these are the keys of death, it is up to you do decide if a person lives or not.  How many people would run after you and beg you for life?  This is a powerful message of Jesus that was addressed in Revelations.  He didn’t talk about it while he was alive but spoke about it later when he spoke to John to let him know the future because many people were saying He left and doesn’t talk to us anymore.

 

Today many people are talking about Easter.  Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, they all accept it but don’t want to believe that Jesus holds the keys of hades and death.  They don’t want to believe that life comes through Jesus and if you want to be far from hell and be judged on last day, you need Christ.  They don’t want to believe that.  Jesus is different from other leaders because of the resurrection.  All religions have leaders and they died but never came back to life. 

 

Mathew 27:52&53: “And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”

 

The day that Jesus came back from the grave, He didn’t come back by Himself.  He brought a group of people with Him, those who were believers and trusted in God and believed that God was their savior.  People like you and me saw them walking around the holy city with their own eyes.  Those people walking in the city – what does that mean for us today, what does that teach me? 

 

We have heard a lot of teachings of Jesus – buried and rise again.  Easter is the biggest party that Christians should have in life, the biggest celebration we should organize because it is the day of salvation, the day Jesus brought us back into the Kingdom.  When Jesus died He said it is finished, but what happened, people continued their normal life.

 

Before He died, He promised, “you’ll bury me but three days later I’ll come back to life”.  They took strong soldiers to look after the tomb day and night and when resurrection arrived, the people were like dead people and they couldn’t look at Him because of the power of resurrection.

If you see someone who passed away 20 years ago and they come back again, how will you look at their face?  What will be your reaction if you see them?  Will you hug them?  Some will scream, some will cry on the name of Jesus believing it is a ghost or run away because they will think they are demons.  There is power in resurrection and your body shakes.  When Jesus came back, those in the garden collapsed because of fear.

 

The lady who came to visit the tomb panicked but the angel told her not to fear.  She must have wondered, how can you tell me to not be afraid.  Why does God tell us to not be afraid?  He knows fear is there.  How often are we afraid to tell others about God, or to kneel down in front of others to pray, or to talk to colleagues and show them I am not a part of them. 

 

Miraculously Mary conceived through the Holy Spirit and gave birth and we also were miraculously given a new birth by the Holy Spirit and were born again.  We started to grow up like Jesus who loved so much to be in church and discuss with elders about the Word of God.  We also loved church and to read the Word of God.  There are similarities between Jesus and Christians but one thing we didn’t do was die on cross but we can pray and heal the sick just like Jesus. 

 

Now is the time of resurrection.  I believe all of us here are saved and something crucified you.  Maybe you have a problem with reading the Bible, maybe you feel tired every time you go to read it, or maybe people visit you just as you are about to open it or maybe you don’t have the strength to read it.  Maybe you are crucified because your body is weak so you are prevented from doing what is good, like Paul who said he wants to do good but his body doesn’t allow him.  Maybe you feel crucified because your body doesn’t do what you want and those are looking around you and expecting you to do something.  Sometimes your children have to remind you to say grace.  Sometimes we know what to do but we don’t’ because our bodies don’t allow us and because we don’t’ push our bodies to listen.

 

Jesus knew He would be crucified but He pushed his body.  Your time on this earth is very short and God didn’t hide this from you.  For God, He is telling us to get ready every second because you don’t know when he’ll call you back.  Although salvation is there, resurrection is the most important part.  When someone is dead in our cultures we decide to get rid of the person, we don’t want to keep the body, and we bury them.

 

My father was my best friend and when he died I was told to come and see him for the last time.  I freaked out because I couldn’t understand why I didn’t have the right to see him again and I was only 10 years old.  I started to think about bad people and old people and asking myself, why can’t they die.  When the time is there for someone to go forever, you will be invited to say good bye forever and they will take the body and dig a hole and cover it with dirt.

 

When they tell you, come let us dig here, this is your place…how will you feel?  I was once given a coffin for a present.  In my heart, I wondered what the person wanted, does he want me to die and all my thoughts were negative.  Opening the coffin, it said, to die is gain and I hope one day I will see you in eternity.  If you receive a coffin, how will you feel?  Most of us forget that we are going to die and any second death can take us.  Death doesn’t knock on the door and say are you ready or accept money instead.

The man with the keys of death is warning us that at any time I can unlock the door so why don’t you put your trust in me and hook yourself in me so you can be alive in my kingdom.  Maybe my key for life is my bank account, my job, or my will.  Do you have a will for where you are going?  Have you written that?  God, when I leave this is what I am planning?  God is expecting from you to come back to life as a saint.  Will you be a saint at the resurrection? 

 

In the passage we just read, Jesus came back to life and those who came back to life with Him were saints.  They had given their lives to Jesus and were committed to Him.  One day He is going to come back again and take us and only those that are clean and alive in Jesus will come back to life and reign with Him forever.

 

Look at your computer, you can have Microsoft word and your computer will tell you that you need to update your program.  Why do we need to update them? Because they need to be on the same system as the operating system of the computer.  Microsoft will update itself and in order to keep your files running properly, you need to update.  If you don’t, you could lose your file.  Your files become old. 

 

We have many Christians with old salvation, with old faith, with old gifts of the Holy Spirit, taking the mask of old people and with their old belief they walk.  God is the same yesterday and forever, He doesn’t get old and we should also be fresh every time.

 

One time someone was praying to God and he asked God to respond to a lady who was sick and after praying for a couple of years, the Holy Spirit spoke and said, you have to pray for that lady and he said, I’ve been praying and what I have prayed is enough, I have other topics. 

 

Many Christians continue to stick on yesterday and continue to believe that because Jesus died for me, I am saved.  If I don’t give my offering today, it is ok.  They start to try to find a place where they should fit but as Christians, we don’t fit there.  You have to know your place with God and fit in His puzzle.  Why are we on the earth?  Just to eat, to wear nice clothes, to have a degree, to have a family, to look at Gods creation…no…for one purpose…to come to earth to serve your God.  We are not here to get glory, or be seen by others as someone important but to serve God.

 

The day you go back, God will ask you what did you do?  During your 90years on earth what did you do?  You will never tell God about your glasses or suit.  Are you a servant?  Where do you keep what God gave you? What are they doing here on earth?

 

Jesus said you have to update your file. A computer will take a short time to update and once it has everything runs fast and smooth.  When was the last time you updated yourself?  When you die, they will bury you.  Jesus is coming back for the church. Those who die in Him will come back to life and meet the Lord in the air.  Are you ready to meet with Him?  Will it be a shame if your daughter, brother or sister say, “hey you used to pray, I’m in heaven and you are not” how will you feel.  Tell God that you want also to see your resurrection

 

If laziness is killing you, tell God.  Some are lazy to go to church.  You wish to sleep instead but don’t worry about sleeping because one day you will be in the grave for years and you will have the chance to sleep for many years until the day that Jesus comes back to wake you up. 

 

Some Christian’s behavior doesn’t reflect Jesus’ behavior.  If you die with the Holy Spirit in you then resurrection will be easy for you.  In all situations it will be easy for you.  In your work, your colleagues can try to kill you but remember when the time God arrives, he will rise you up no matter what.  Every year I tell God I want to come back with you and also be alive and look fresh.

 

When Jesus came back to earth his body changed.  He could appear and disappear and had an eternal body, a heavenly body.  How is your body? Do you continue to keep it as a temple of the Holy Spirit, does it reflect the heaven or does it reflect something else?  Through your actions people will know you; through your fruit.  What fruit are you bearing?  I questioned a church last week, what is the fruit of the Holy Spirit?  They couldn’t tell me because they don’t read the Word of God.  I asked them, how many gifts of the Spirit are there and one person said, there are too many to fill a basket.  So I asked them to tell me just 20 (although I knew there wasn’t) and then they started to tell me love is kind, patient, instead of giving me the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

 

Maybe we have forgotten here too because if we don’t hold onto it and remind ourselves, we will forget.  Some people can hold onto a pen and ask where is my pen which means instead of searching around, look at yourself first.  People don’t want to look.  Sometimes we see another person who is not ready to come to the meeting, and then we make a decision not to go also.  Salvation is personal so tell yourself you have to do it no matter what.  The day of salvation was given to you. 

 

I have been to Middle East and I have seen people praying at the wall and hitting their head on the wall for hours and they believe the more they hurt, the more God will hear them.  People hurt themselves with whips and blood comes so God can see how much they are sacrificing for Him but here, us Christians we are relaxing with a glass of wine with our dinner and we are dying.

 

Jesus said on the day of resurrection He came back with others from the dead.  How many people are you going to bring with you on the day of resurrection? Not only our actions will follow us so that we will be given a crown according to the work we did but also those around us will follow us into the kingdom.  For many years you have been saved, what have you done with that salvation?  How many people have you told to join you in salvation?  How many people are ready but you don’t give them the chance?  How many people envy you?  People will appreciate you for telling them the truth.

 

Years ago there were times when I had to borrow a pair of trousers and a shirt so I could preach and afterwards I had to give those clothes back and have nothing.  How many people outside are waiting for you to bring them into the Kingdom of God.  No one wants to perish, everybody wants to be saved.  We who know the master with the key of death we don’t want to lead them and we prefer them to be where they are.

 

Jesus is asking us to bring many people because the day of resurrection is coming.  You might say you don’t know where to go.  Talk to people, you lose nothing by telling them to change their lives.  If you are not careful on the day of resurrection, instead of enjoying the party you might be offended when you are asked, “why didn’t you do that, I told you to bring people but you didn’t”.  Will you eat when you have been growled?  Don’t allow your city and country to stay among the dead.  This is the time for our country, this is the time for the church to wake up. 

 

It was women who discovered Jesus was gone and told others.  We as women (the church) what story are you telling others.  Are you just going to eat with others but forget to tell them about Jesus?  God didn’t give you a mouth for eating only but also to make statement.  Jesus was only given three years to work.  How many years have you had?  In three years what did He accomplish?  What have you done with all these years?  What have you done? 

 

“Go everywhere to spread the gospel and make them my disciples”.  That is all, He didn’t ask you to perform miracles first but simply to make disciples.  They are waiting for you, your friends, neighbours, every person.  How do you know you are ready? Don’t you know your gift?  If you don’t know, update and ask God to remind you.  If you have file from 1997, your computer won’t accept it.  So start again, it’s not too late.  Jesus is coming back soon. 

 

Your clothing, food, job and people will stay behind and the only thing that will follow you is your actions.  What good is it for you to gain the entire world but lose the Kingdom of God.  You can think that salvation is enough but for God it is not enough.  Jesus died and said it is finished but His resurrection was another step and if He hadn’t come back to life, we couldn’t be saved.  He died for our sin but His resurrection is a sign that one day he is coming back for us and as a saint I shouldn’t stay as a dead person, I should be alive.  Breath is the only thing that makes you different from the dead.  Are you breathing? Is what God gave you operating?

 

Many people on the day of resurrection will run after you and say you never told me about the Word of God and we were always together and accuse you  because you didn’t tell them.  How happy will you be that day?  How will you feel when the world points the finger at you for not telling them the truth.  Shame on you because you are letting God down.  Make a decision today and that decision will change the lives.

 

We will pray, if you need God to help you to be alive to do God’s work then pray for that.  If you need to update your file, please stand up and I will pray for you.  If you believe you are fine, praise God and continue with the work and God will use you.