By Hayley Boud
Hebrews 10:24-25, "And let us consider how we may stimulate one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching".
“ let us consider”, we have to take time to think about encouraging others and find new strategies. I always tell Michelle after the meeting thank you for hosting the meeting which is good but now it is a slogan without real encouragement. It would be better for me to think of new ways to encourage her, send her a card in the mail or ring her during the week just to lead to know that I'm grateful. Let's find unique ways to encourage each other. Take the time to think about it in its make sure we consider everyone. Maybe we can use the list and tick people off and see if we can encourage everybody at least once a week. Let’s think how will I encourage the person in a way that makes them happy.
“ stimulate one another”, our encouraging should be stimulating for others. For example, the laser is a light that is amplified by stimulating electrons to produce a very powerful ray of light. The electrons do nothing, they are just resting but by stimulating them they create a laser which can do so much and is so powerful. The laser can perform dentistry, heart surgery, corrective eye surgery, face lifts and so much more, they are even used in compact disc players. So if we stimulate other Christians they can become more powerful lights. We as Christians are lights to this world but if we are lasers we will be Christians that are light amplified, lights that are more powerful, lights that can achieve much much more than ordinary lights.
“One another”, Let's not miss anyone out. Sometimes we only encourage those that are closest to us, or those we like, or those that we think need it. Often we forget about those that we don't have much contact with, or those that we don't really like, or those that seemed to be already awesome Christians. But everybody needs encouragement.
“ Love and good deeds”, our encouragement must help each other to love others and to put this love into action. Good deeds are actions that are good according to the word of God and not according to this world. Sometimes encouraging someone will not be treating them as though they are a cute animal but loving the person respectfully encouraging them to see the truth. If you see someone who needs help in a certain area, for example prayer, don't tell the person bluntly you are not good at prayer but instead encourage the person and tell him you are very good at praying and I believe you could be even better. Then we could make some suggestions.
When I was five I was sitting at school on the class mat with all the other kids and I was slouching and talking to my friend when the teacher said, “I want everyone to sit up nicely like Hayley” and immediately it encouraged me to stop talking and to sit up straight with my arms folded. Every day after that I would make an effort to sit up nicely so the teacher would point me out again. She encouraged me to make an effort. If she had growled me and said, “look at Hayley talking and slouching”, I would have been discouraged.
“don't forsake meeting together”, we often take it for granted and forget just how important it is to meet together and just by turning up this is a huge encouragement to others. I remember one intercessory prayer meeting Ange came while she was about three days away from giving birth and that encouraged me. It made me realize, that if Ange can do, so can I. Don't neglect meeting together, it is very important and we should meet as often as we can and do it with joy.
“Our own assembling together”, this includes the official meetings and just when we meet together. Don't take it for granted if someone wants to meet with you, everyone and every meeting is valuable and an important way to encourage each other to love and good deeds.
“as is the habit of some”, just because you see others not coming to the meetings doesn't mean you should follow their lead. Just because Hayley has said she is sick and can't come and has a habit now of doing that, don't be thinking, ‘ I'm too tired tonight I won't go’. Don't follow the bad habits of others but follow people with good habits, people like Tyrone and Coleen and Michelle and Ange and others who go every single meeting.
“encourage”, it's not about being pushy, it's about giving someone the courage to do something. Our way of speaking needs to be in such a way that our words will bring comfort to others, they will support others and appeal to others, our words will help others. We can do this by thanking the person for their good deeds or by telling the person about their good characteristics or by supporting them through difficult times (which can be simply by listening or by reminding them about the word of God).
Tonight we are going to encourage each other in a unique way: we are going to write our names on a piece of paper and then hand it to the person on the right and that person will write something encouraging about the person. Write one thing that you like about the person, or something that you would like to say thank you for. Then we’ll pass it around the room until we get our own one back.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Revelation 12 (Part 9) The Fight With satan
By Odon Bulamba (10th August 2007) Revelations 12:7-17
Revelation 12:12,13, "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath , knowing that he has only a short time….And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child".
Amen! This woman is giving birth. Imagine that pain of having a baby, the whole process and tiredness. She is tired and the dragon stood up and said it was now the right time to attack the woman: “I want to kill her. I want to finish her life.” First of all, at the beginning of the chapter, he wanted to kill the child but now he wants to attack the mother in order to kill mother and child together maybe.
Let us think, imagine you are in your house and you see a dragon coming and attacking you while you are holding your new born baby, what would you do? And what if fire comes out of its mouth? You will run…
You see it wouldn’t be easy. This lady with a new born is facing now a dragon, and the dragon is not happy, he is attacking her. The dragon is trying to follow, to pursue her and I can take that picture back in Exodus chapter 14:8 where Pharaoh decided to follow the children of Israel who was behind them. The Israelites were on foot but not him, it took horses, he went with his entire army and said he had to go, like army for a battle. So he went with that power of thinking he would take them back, he would kill, he would take them and they would serve him again. These poor people: in front of them, there is the Red Sea, on the left and the right sides, mountains, where to go?
Imagine a dragon following you and your baby and you are in front of the Waikato River… How will you swim with your baby, what to do and maybe you can’t swim like me. So, what would you do? Would you say: “Dragon, here I am. Kill me.” Or you would call for your husband?
These people of Israel found themselves in a situation where they didn’t know what to do and where to go. “Look now, Moses. You were the one who told us to leave Egypt”. They blamed him and pointed the finger at him: “It’s you! If we die it would be only because of you!”
In Revelations satan came to attack this lady and the lady was alone. As we said last time, the lady represents the church. She was alone, she didn’t know where to go and she didn’t know what to do at that time. But she had hope, the child was already born and the child must live.
Before even the dragon reached the woman verse 14 says that the woman was given the wings of a great eagle so that she might fly in the place prepared for her in the desert. She was given wings. Let’s see you flying like an eagle. What would you say? Most of us will think: This is just magic! Imagine you are talking to someone and suddenly wings appear and the woman can fly! I can tell you that if someone visits me who is flying with wings, I won’t accept to talk to her and if I talk to her, I will always a question in my mind: “Should I ask her about what happened the other day? How did she get these wings? Where were they from?” I will be a little bit curious to know but I will continue to fear: Who is this person?
So this lady was given the wings and she flew. She left the place where she was and God sent her to the desert. In Exodus 19:4,
Exodus 19: 4, "You, yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself."
Amen! It is not talking about bird’s wings, it’s just the direction God gave them. He helped them to leave Egypt, to go trough a certain way and reach a destination and this lady also was given the chance to avoid satan, by going to the desert.
Imagine if I say: we now live in NZ, but is there anyone who wants to live in Morocco, or in the desert in Australia? Can you go there, live by yourself in the desert for 4 years? Would you enjoy it? You would feel lonely. Here it’s cool, nice colours… but if we want to go to the desert to be suntanned … you will see you skin colour changed. If I am black, I will become blacker… if I am red I will be seen as I am cooked… The desert is really hot. I went trough the desert and I can tell you it’s better to live in the Antarctic where it’s extremely cold rather than where it’s extremely hot. The desert is not a good place. It is a place where you can breath suffering: the air is really hot, there is no oxygen, it’s not easy.
So this lady was sent to the desert: difficult to find trees, not easy to find food, not easy to find water, not easy to find people to talk to you. It is true that the wind blows but it’s just the sun to the point that ladies would never leave their hair uncovered. No one will see the beauty of your hair or your face because it’s just sand. Some people went through the desert like John the Baptist who stayed in the desert for years. What was he doing there? Eating honey, why? Why didn’t he go to the shop? He preferred to be in the desert for honey and he was there to prepare the way of the Lord, not just to eat but for a purpose, to bring back the people of God in order to make mountains flat.
You know, every time we have tall situations, tall problems, we, people we are short. People who are short in nature want so much to become angry and prove the taller he is stronger: “Don’t step on my nose because you are taller than me!” And tall people are proud because they believe a short person can’t threaten them. John was sent in the desert like someone who hadn’t t study, someone who knew nothing to come back and preach to people who were educated, people who had knowledge, people who had experience in civilisation, people who very well knew the development of the world.
Look at this man, Jesus, He went there for 40 days only while John stayed there for his entire life. Why 40 days and 40 nights? He went there to pray. But it was not all.
God told the people of Israel: “Leave Egypt now”. After crossing the Red Sea they went where God told them and found themselves in the desert for 40 years, walking around and around and around. They didn’t move on: we could say that God put a tornado in their lives, just turning and turning at the same place. They got lost in the desert, it is still a mystery. In Deuteronomy 8:3 the Bible says that the people were there for 40 years and they didn’t change their clothes, they didn’t change their shoes, they didn’t worry about food.
Imagine if I leave with my son now, he is 13, when we come back he will be 53. As he was growing, the clothes too, and the shoes also. This is powerful and miraculous. When he grows, everything on his body also grows. The clothes didn’t wear out, the shoes didn’t have holes because of the long walking and after 40 years, they discovered they had not bought shoes or clothes and everything was provided by God.
If I experience something like that, I think I will save a lot of money, day after day, and I will be so happy. Just having something that looks newer every time, I will say: “Yes, God, You are so good!” But these people were not really happy, and God said He would cook for them. He started to send manna: “ Don’t worry about cooking, don’t worry about standing in front of the wood to cook, No. I will take care of that. Just sit back and relax. If you have a game of cards, play cards, if you have the Torah read it, if you want to play basketball, do it. Don’t worry about your clothes, don’t worry about water. Don’t worry about life. And every morning the one thing you will do, collect the food. Take at much as you want under just one condition, to eat it and finish it.”
I am a little bit curious to know what the food tasted like. Did it really taste like Indian food, Chinese food, European food, I don’t know. But if someone told me today: This is manna. Have a taste. I think I would say: “Yes, God, I can die today, because I want so much to taste it. But complainers came, they were not satisfied, the food wasn’t good, they blamed God and said: “You are not good! We didn’t come here to eat manna, we didn’t come here to stay in the desert. We are tired!”
How many times do we complain against what God has provided for us?
- Lord, I hate my life. Lord, look how big my lips are, why didn’t you give me someone else’s lips?
- Look at my ears, there are so big, I don’t like my hair color, my neck my feet…
And we complain about everything. To the point that I met a lady who complained about her nails. She said she couldn’t keep her nails 2 weeks without breaking, and she said she hates that.
- I hate that!
- Come on, they are only nails. Can your really hate something like that?
I know that accidentally another lady went to a saloon and asked someone:
- Do such and such on her hair.
- Fine, just wait for me. I’ll be there within 2 minutes.
Another silly boy came with clippers and started to cut her hair:
- What are you doing?
- Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I thought that was my customer.
- Put my hair back. I need my hair back.
- Your hair will grow back.
- No, no I need my hair back. I will complain. Who is the manager here?
- I am the manager.
- I have to sue you.
And we can complain about anything. You can book an appointment with someone and ask God to help you meet with that person. God will give you the chance to be there, and the person will just be 5 minutes late. You start to complain:
- You are always late. You are such and such…
- Hey, hang on. You should maybe ask the person first of all why the person was late. There might have been a reason, something happened.
We always complain and when we are late we don’t want others to complain, we want them to shut up and accept the situation and carry on as normal.
So these people of Israel were complaining. The desert is a place where God will send you to learn his will. The desert in a place where you human beings you start to fight the desires of your body. Your body wants to do something wrong, but you will fight against it, you will start to remove all the routes of sin in your live. For instance if you make the decision to follow Jesus Christ: “From now on, I won’t take Marijuana anymore. From today on, Jesus will become my Saviour. From today on I won’t steal anymore, or do such and such and such anymore, then you will start to find that desert life, hard life, tough life, tough against yourself.
Then that lady was taken away where God should look after her, and she was in a desert that’s where God wanted her to be looked after. God fed her, the same way He fed Elijah for 3½ years. The ravens fed him, they would come with food. Imagine a raven came to you with food, will you really eat it? I’m not sure, I might think about it 7 times. That food again: a piece of bread and meat. Where did that meat come from? The raven cannot go to the butcher and buy meat, the raven cannot prepare or cook the meat for him. It must come from somewhere, somewhere dirty maybe.
Then Elijah, 1 Kings 17 went to see that lady who offered him oil. So we can see now, that in the desert where there is suffering, hunger, but God continues to provide. In your life, full of the desires of the flesh, God continues to provide you with something small for your soul to carry on living, to continue to survive. Do you accept what God offers you as meat or not? People will say: “Today I went to church, I didn’t enjoy the preaching”. The only preaching they will enjoy is the kind of preaching their soul will not enjoy. They need something their bodies will enjoy, that’s all. How to enjoy the preaching, how to enjoy the message from God? They might sometimes be enjoyable and other times not: they sometimes will correct us, or bless us and sometimes they will even curse us and we have to accept all of that.
Revelation 12:12,13, "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath , knowing that he has only a short time….And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child".
Amen! This woman is giving birth. Imagine that pain of having a baby, the whole process and tiredness. She is tired and the dragon stood up and said it was now the right time to attack the woman: “I want to kill her. I want to finish her life.” First of all, at the beginning of the chapter, he wanted to kill the child but now he wants to attack the mother in order to kill mother and child together maybe.
Let us think, imagine you are in your house and you see a dragon coming and attacking you while you are holding your new born baby, what would you do? And what if fire comes out of its mouth? You will run…
You see it wouldn’t be easy. This lady with a new born is facing now a dragon, and the dragon is not happy, he is attacking her. The dragon is trying to follow, to pursue her and I can take that picture back in Exodus chapter 14:8 where Pharaoh decided to follow the children of Israel who was behind them. The Israelites were on foot but not him, it took horses, he went with his entire army and said he had to go, like army for a battle. So he went with that power of thinking he would take them back, he would kill, he would take them and they would serve him again. These poor people: in front of them, there is the Red Sea, on the left and the right sides, mountains, where to go?
Imagine a dragon following you and your baby and you are in front of the Waikato River… How will you swim with your baby, what to do and maybe you can’t swim like me. So, what would you do? Would you say: “Dragon, here I am. Kill me.” Or you would call for your husband?
These people of Israel found themselves in a situation where they didn’t know what to do and where to go. “Look now, Moses. You were the one who told us to leave Egypt”. They blamed him and pointed the finger at him: “It’s you! If we die it would be only because of you!”
In Revelations satan came to attack this lady and the lady was alone. As we said last time, the lady represents the church. She was alone, she didn’t know where to go and she didn’t know what to do at that time. But she had hope, the child was already born and the child must live.
Before even the dragon reached the woman verse 14 says that the woman was given the wings of a great eagle so that she might fly in the place prepared for her in the desert. She was given wings. Let’s see you flying like an eagle. What would you say? Most of us will think: This is just magic! Imagine you are talking to someone and suddenly wings appear and the woman can fly! I can tell you that if someone visits me who is flying with wings, I won’t accept to talk to her and if I talk to her, I will always a question in my mind: “Should I ask her about what happened the other day? How did she get these wings? Where were they from?” I will be a little bit curious to know but I will continue to fear: Who is this person?
So this lady was given the wings and she flew. She left the place where she was and God sent her to the desert. In Exodus 19:4,
Exodus 19: 4, "You, yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself."
Amen! It is not talking about bird’s wings, it’s just the direction God gave them. He helped them to leave Egypt, to go trough a certain way and reach a destination and this lady also was given the chance to avoid satan, by going to the desert.
Imagine if I say: we now live in NZ, but is there anyone who wants to live in Morocco, or in the desert in Australia? Can you go there, live by yourself in the desert for 4 years? Would you enjoy it? You would feel lonely. Here it’s cool, nice colours… but if we want to go to the desert to be suntanned … you will see you skin colour changed. If I am black, I will become blacker… if I am red I will be seen as I am cooked… The desert is really hot. I went trough the desert and I can tell you it’s better to live in the Antarctic where it’s extremely cold rather than where it’s extremely hot. The desert is not a good place. It is a place where you can breath suffering: the air is really hot, there is no oxygen, it’s not easy.
So this lady was sent to the desert: difficult to find trees, not easy to find food, not easy to find water, not easy to find people to talk to you. It is true that the wind blows but it’s just the sun to the point that ladies would never leave their hair uncovered. No one will see the beauty of your hair or your face because it’s just sand. Some people went through the desert like John the Baptist who stayed in the desert for years. What was he doing there? Eating honey, why? Why didn’t he go to the shop? He preferred to be in the desert for honey and he was there to prepare the way of the Lord, not just to eat but for a purpose, to bring back the people of God in order to make mountains flat.
You know, every time we have tall situations, tall problems, we, people we are short. People who are short in nature want so much to become angry and prove the taller he is stronger: “Don’t step on my nose because you are taller than me!” And tall people are proud because they believe a short person can’t threaten them. John was sent in the desert like someone who hadn’t t study, someone who knew nothing to come back and preach to people who were educated, people who had knowledge, people who had experience in civilisation, people who very well knew the development of the world.
Look at this man, Jesus, He went there for 40 days only while John stayed there for his entire life. Why 40 days and 40 nights? He went there to pray. But it was not all.
God told the people of Israel: “Leave Egypt now”. After crossing the Red Sea they went where God told them and found themselves in the desert for 40 years, walking around and around and around. They didn’t move on: we could say that God put a tornado in their lives, just turning and turning at the same place. They got lost in the desert, it is still a mystery. In Deuteronomy 8:3 the Bible says that the people were there for 40 years and they didn’t change their clothes, they didn’t change their shoes, they didn’t worry about food.
Imagine if I leave with my son now, he is 13, when we come back he will be 53. As he was growing, the clothes too, and the shoes also. This is powerful and miraculous. When he grows, everything on his body also grows. The clothes didn’t wear out, the shoes didn’t have holes because of the long walking and after 40 years, they discovered they had not bought shoes or clothes and everything was provided by God.
If I experience something like that, I think I will save a lot of money, day after day, and I will be so happy. Just having something that looks newer every time, I will say: “Yes, God, You are so good!” But these people were not really happy, and God said He would cook for them. He started to send manna: “ Don’t worry about cooking, don’t worry about standing in front of the wood to cook, No. I will take care of that. Just sit back and relax. If you have a game of cards, play cards, if you have the Torah read it, if you want to play basketball, do it. Don’t worry about your clothes, don’t worry about water. Don’t worry about life. And every morning the one thing you will do, collect the food. Take at much as you want under just one condition, to eat it and finish it.”
I am a little bit curious to know what the food tasted like. Did it really taste like Indian food, Chinese food, European food, I don’t know. But if someone told me today: This is manna. Have a taste. I think I would say: “Yes, God, I can die today, because I want so much to taste it. But complainers came, they were not satisfied, the food wasn’t good, they blamed God and said: “You are not good! We didn’t come here to eat manna, we didn’t come here to stay in the desert. We are tired!”
How many times do we complain against what God has provided for us?
- Lord, I hate my life. Lord, look how big my lips are, why didn’t you give me someone else’s lips?
- Look at my ears, there are so big, I don’t like my hair color, my neck my feet…
And we complain about everything. To the point that I met a lady who complained about her nails. She said she couldn’t keep her nails 2 weeks without breaking, and she said she hates that.
- I hate that!
- Come on, they are only nails. Can your really hate something like that?
I know that accidentally another lady went to a saloon and asked someone:
- Do such and such on her hair.
- Fine, just wait for me. I’ll be there within 2 minutes.
Another silly boy came with clippers and started to cut her hair:
- What are you doing?
- Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I thought that was my customer.
- Put my hair back. I need my hair back.
- Your hair will grow back.
- No, no I need my hair back. I will complain. Who is the manager here?
- I am the manager.
- I have to sue you.
And we can complain about anything. You can book an appointment with someone and ask God to help you meet with that person. God will give you the chance to be there, and the person will just be 5 minutes late. You start to complain:
- You are always late. You are such and such…
- Hey, hang on. You should maybe ask the person first of all why the person was late. There might have been a reason, something happened.
We always complain and when we are late we don’t want others to complain, we want them to shut up and accept the situation and carry on as normal.
So these people of Israel were complaining. The desert is a place where God will send you to learn his will. The desert in a place where you human beings you start to fight the desires of your body. Your body wants to do something wrong, but you will fight against it, you will start to remove all the routes of sin in your live. For instance if you make the decision to follow Jesus Christ: “From now on, I won’t take Marijuana anymore. From today on, Jesus will become my Saviour. From today on I won’t steal anymore, or do such and such and such anymore, then you will start to find that desert life, hard life, tough life, tough against yourself.
Then that lady was taken away where God should look after her, and she was in a desert that’s where God wanted her to be looked after. God fed her, the same way He fed Elijah for 3½ years. The ravens fed him, they would come with food. Imagine a raven came to you with food, will you really eat it? I’m not sure, I might think about it 7 times. That food again: a piece of bread and meat. Where did that meat come from? The raven cannot go to the butcher and buy meat, the raven cannot prepare or cook the meat for him. It must come from somewhere, somewhere dirty maybe.
Then Elijah, 1 Kings 17 went to see that lady who offered him oil. So we can see now, that in the desert where there is suffering, hunger, but God continues to provide. In your life, full of the desires of the flesh, God continues to provide you with something small for your soul to carry on living, to continue to survive. Do you accept what God offers you as meat or not? People will say: “Today I went to church, I didn’t enjoy the preaching”. The only preaching they will enjoy is the kind of preaching their soul will not enjoy. They need something their bodies will enjoy, that’s all. How to enjoy the preaching, how to enjoy the message from God? They might sometimes be enjoyable and other times not: they sometimes will correct us, or bless us and sometimes they will even curse us and we have to accept all of that.
The Resume of Jesus Christ
Address: Ephesians 1:20
Phone: Romans 10:13
Website: The Bible.
Keywords: Christ, Lord, Saviour and Jesus
_____________________________________________________
Objective
My name is Jesus -The Christ. Many call me Lord! I've sent you my resume because I'm seeking the top management position in your heart. Please consider my accomplishments as set forth in my resume.
Qualifications
I founded the earth and established the heavens, (See Proverbs 3:19)
I formed man from the dust of the ground, (See Genesis 2:7)
I breathed into man the breath of life, (See Genesis 2:7)
I redeemed man from the curse of the law, (See Galatians 3:13)
The blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant comes upon your life through me, (See Galatians 3:14)
Occupational Background
I've only had one employer, (See Luke 2:49 ).
I've never been tardy, absent, disobedient, slothful or disrespectful.
My employer has nothing but rave reviews for me, (See Matthew 3:15 -17)
Skills Work Experiences
Some of my skills and work experiences include: empowering the poor to be poor no more, healing the brokenhearted, setting the captives free, healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind and setting at liberty them that are bruised, (See Luke 4:18).
I am a Wonderful Counselor, (See Isaiah 9:6). People who listen to me shall dwell safely and shall not fear evil, (See Proverbs 1:33 ).
Most importantly, I have the authority, ability and power to cleanse you of your sins, (See I John 1:7-9)
Educational Background
I encompass the entire breadth and length of knowledge, wisdom and understanding, (See Proverbs 2:6).
In me are hid all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, (See Colossians 2:3).
My Word is so powerful; it has been described as being a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path, (See Psalms 119:105).
I can even tell you all of the secrets of your heart, (See Psalms 44:21).
Major Accomplishments
I was an active participant in the greatest Summit Meeting of all times, (See Genesis 1:26 ).
I laid down my life so that you may live, (See II Corinthians 5:15 ).
I defeated the arch enemy of God and mankind and made a show of them openly, (See Colossians 2:15 ).
I've miraculously fed the poor, healed the sick and raised the dead!
There are many more major accomplishments, too many to mention here. You can read them on my website, which is located at: www dot - the BIBLE. You don't need an Internet connection or computer to access my website.
References
Believers and followers worldwide will testify to my divine healing, salvation, deliverance, miracles, restoration and supernatural guidance.
In Summation
Now that you've read my resume, I'm confident that I'm the only candidate uniquely qualified to fill this vital position in your heart. In summation, I will properly direct your paths, (See Proverbs 3:5-6), and lead you into everlasting life, (See John 6:47 ). When can I start? Time is of the essence, (See Hebrews 3:15 ).
Send this resume to everyone you know, you never know who may have an opening!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Revelation 12 (Part 8) The Fight With satan
By Odon Bulamba (10th August 2007) Revelations 12:7-17
Revelation 12:9, "And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with them".
We see in this verse that satan, who is called the dragon, is clearly identified.
What is a dragon? Have you already seen a dragon? And what comes with a dragon?
The dragon is a myth, a legend, something created. He was given a shape we can’t really define or describe. Some people can draw a dragon with scales like a fish and we will see at the end of the dragon’s tail a hook or an arrow with a head like a crocodile with strange shaped teeth. It is something that people adore, something people enjoy to have: some even have dragons’ tattoos on their bodies.
Dragons are represented to show power, to show defence, the value of our ancestors, according to them but the dragon is satan, and although he took that picture of a monster, something people will fear, God told us not to fear him. He just tries to cover himself but that dragon is satan and satan means “someone who lies”, someone you cannot trust, because all his ways are just lies. So this satan is trying his best to deceive the world, to remove the world from the right path and put them aside. That is his mission. And this mission started only after he was cast down from heaven: he became jealous…
“I have to kill people. I have to make their lives hard. I have to struggle so that they can perish to let God down and show Him that He had created people who don’t even respect Him, and don’t even care about You. Those people don’t even belong to you!”
This is satan’s mission. As you can see he wasn’t cast down alone but he came down with his angels and then…
Revelation 12:10-11, ‘Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: “Now the salvation and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ has come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.”
Amen! John heard this voice and it was a loud voice. Someone was talking loudly. He couldn’t describe or tell us who was that person but he said: “a loud voice coming from heaven” and he said: “Now the salvation and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ”. This declaration means something to us. A voice came from heaven, this is John’s time, we are in the New Testament. He was told now….
- Amen! The kingdom of God has come. This is the time for Christ to rule. This is the time you have to know you are starting a new adventure, a new life adventure. Things will change, satan will not rule anymore. There is now a new ruler, this is Jesus Christ and if you look clearly: satan was cast down from heaven but God continued to give satan the opportunity to meet with him, to catch up with Him. satan will talk to Him…
- God, do you know? Odon has been doing such and such and Hayley stole me such and such.
But on this day, things changed. Jesus said that satan’s right to go back to accuse people before God was stopped. Although he didn’t have a place in the heaven, he still could go and chat with God but from this time on, it was the end of that story, he was told not to report anymore.
As you know, satan went to accuse a few people in the Kingdom of God. For instance, what did Job do wrong? Nothing. satan was there just to accuse him. There was another man who was also accused. Do you know who it was? Joshua. If you read the book of Zachariah.
Zachariah 3:1, “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and satan standing at his right hand to accuse him”.
Amen! Look at this man! Whenever Joshua stands in front of his God, satan also comes and starts to accuse him for what he had done wrong somewhere, for sin. So this time now, Jesus has decided that:
- This is too much. The people who are free now, people who trust in me don’t need to carry on suffering sent by this accuser. I have to stop these accusations. And in John 12:31, “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out”.
So Jesus told his disciples:
- From now on, the prince of this world who is satan, will just leave. He will be out, he doesn’t have anymore power to come here and tell us stories.
In John 16:11, “And concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged”.
It is clear that satan was condemned, he was driven out and God said: ‘Finished! You are not the accuser anymore, you cannot continue to accuse people, because these people have overcome you by the blood of the Lamb”. What is the role of the blood of the Lamb? To purify us. Jesus is the name of God and the blood is there just for you and I to be purified. So whoever is forgiven by God, whoever is purified by the blood of God becomes automatically sinless. So satan can’t go and report to God:
- Look at such person, he is a sinner, he did such and such.
If you read carefully John 13, you can see how God was teaching us that the battle is finished and Jesus continues to talk:
- “I’m going. I’m going to do something for you, to prepare a place for you."
He gave us a lot of promises, he told us a lot about his blood, he told us a lot about forgiveness, He taught us a lot about life after life and finally He gave us the authority to cast out demons, to fight against the power of darkness and everything that you know. He never ever said that satan will be stronger than us, never and ever. Jesus says, “You will win everywhere, just trust in me”. To the point that He said, “even if your faith is really tiny, you need just that to win the battle”.
So Revelation1:5, “And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born of the dead, and the ruler of the things of the earth. To Him, who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood”
Amen! Then we received that freedom. And God said it was not important that satan reports to me, the blood is enough. So, whenever you are attacked, whenever he tries to annoy you, just try to remind him of the blood of Christ: the blood is enough. “Don’t continue to harass me and make me feel guilty, or make me feel I am far from God’s will, satan, get out of my way!”
Romans 8:33 says that people chosen by God, people elected by God can never and ever be condemned anymore. So, unlike or Joshua, although they were God’s elected people, satan continued to show them that they must be condemned because they did something wrong. Jesus doesn’t allow this to happen anymore to the church.
“Those people overcame by the blood and the word of their testimony”. “The word of their testimony”, what does it mean? It is just the gospel we have. The Bible, the Gospel you read will overcome satan, will win the battle. This means that if you read the Bible, if you understand what it says, and you apply it in your life, satan won’t be able to overcome you but if you don’t do it, you will see the consequences.
For instance: The church of Smyrna had that problem. It is said that among them were disciples of satan, demons were living in that church. Even in the church of Philadelphia: Be careful, demons are there, they are just the temple of satan and today every church under the sun will proclaim they are the Philadelphia, they are the best one.
So if everybody is Philadelphia, who is Laodicea, who is Smyrna and who are the other churches? The Bible said that the number of people, who will inherit the kingdom of God, will be small: many people will perish. Just look around and see how many believe in Christ today, I think it’s more than you can imagine: lots of people believe in God and want to go to heaven, everybody we can say they want to go to heaven. I might say: “I am the son of satan. I want to go to hell”. It’s actually just a way of speaking, but if I saw the picture of hell and when death comes, I can easily change my mind. Now many people want to inherit that kingdom but they don’t want to fit in the rules of that kingdom.
For instance, someone wanted to travel. He was wearing a Tee-shirt, with “Bush” on it (it was on TV), he was told not to travel with that Tee-shirt because the picture with Bush and the words written on it didn’t honour Bush. Although it was not a criteria to go to Australia, or to go wherever, they made it a rule. And in the Kingdom of God, things are sometimes not written in the Bible but if they don’t please God, they become a problem. Someone might say: it is not written in the Bible not to smoke. If the Bible doesn’t say: “Don’t smoke” how come smoking is a sin? Last week we discussed the question: Can the pastor’s wife wear a bikini? Is that a sin? What to say about it? Someone can come to you and say:
- Look, I’ve got some money but I’m not sure if I should help or not because the person I want to help will spend it on drinking alcohol. So, should I help or not?
There are things not written in the Bible, but God will find this is a sin or this is correct. So, we have to learn the Word of God and understand it.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Revelation 12 (Part 7) The Fight With Satan
By Odon Bulamba (10th August 2007) Revelations 12:7-17
Revelation12:8, “And they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven”.
Although Satan resisted, his power is really limited. He is not really powerful: he thought because he had with him a third of the angels, he would fight, resist, and win the battle. Some children, think that when they grow up because my father is tough, I will avenge myself. People will tell you: When I was a child, I used to think this and that. And Satan also believes he is able to fight God without weighing how strong he was, without thinking twice about his own ability compared to God’s.
The church today knows that they are not strong but they still try to resist God, to try to oppose God’s will in our lives, in our society in our communities, we really try to push God far and far away: but God knows we are weak, from the beginning to the end of our lives in this bodies, we are weak. A scorpion can sting you and you will know that you are weak. Even a mosquito, that gives you malaria, you will know how weak you are, an ant can bite you and you will feel sick, just any small thing can make you sad, lose joy, and become completely sick.
Satan was not strong and the Bible tells us, we are stronger than him. I John 4: 7, “You are from God little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world”.
We have even been given the power to be stronger than Satan because of someone who lives in us. If you have God in your life, you are stronger than Satan and as I always say, Satan is really stupid, he doesn’t use a good strategy, he will come to you and say:
- Look, what about stealing $5. And he gives you the chance to think and to decide and you can say:
- No, I am not stealing and Satan will not be able to push you. Satan can say:
- Just, $5 because you can use it for such and such thing and you can answer:
- No, I don’t want to. And that is the end of it.
But if for instance death comes, nobody can tell death:
- You are not taking me. Death will tell you:
- I am here. Even if you say:
- Here are ten million dollars.
- No, not your money. I have to take you. You can’t say:
- Death, take my wife, take my children.
- No, I’m just coming for you. And death will always be right.
If Satan had such power of influencing our lives, we could be someone who is really superior. Unfortunately, he is a negative hero: someone who brings thoughts, ideas and is stopped in that small box. So we are stronger than him as the book of James 4:7, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you”. Satan lost his place in heaven. What happened? I think you know the story according to Isaiah 14: 12 and Ezekiel 28. They talk about Satan in the Kingdom of God, the way he was cast down because of arrogance, because of pride. He wanted to replace God and take his kingdom. So he was told to leave. We all know that story. And when he was pushed out, he came down, he came on earth and started a new life here. He started to build up his kingdom here.
CONCLUSION
We are stronger than satan and if we resist the temptation then he will flee from us.
We are not stronger than God, so don't resist Him or try to fight against Him when He asks us to change or do something.
Revelation12:8, “And they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven”.
Although Satan resisted, his power is really limited. He is not really powerful: he thought because he had with him a third of the angels, he would fight, resist, and win the battle. Some children, think that when they grow up because my father is tough, I will avenge myself. People will tell you: When I was a child, I used to think this and that. And Satan also believes he is able to fight God without weighing how strong he was, without thinking twice about his own ability compared to God’s.
The church today knows that they are not strong but they still try to resist God, to try to oppose God’s will in our lives, in our society in our communities, we really try to push God far and far away: but God knows we are weak, from the beginning to the end of our lives in this bodies, we are weak. A scorpion can sting you and you will know that you are weak. Even a mosquito, that gives you malaria, you will know how weak you are, an ant can bite you and you will feel sick, just any small thing can make you sad, lose joy, and become completely sick.
Satan was not strong and the Bible tells us, we are stronger than him. I John 4: 7, “You are from God little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world”.
We have even been given the power to be stronger than Satan because of someone who lives in us. If you have God in your life, you are stronger than Satan and as I always say, Satan is really stupid, he doesn’t use a good strategy, he will come to you and say:
- Look, what about stealing $5. And he gives you the chance to think and to decide and you can say:
- No, I am not stealing and Satan will not be able to push you. Satan can say:
- Just, $5 because you can use it for such and such thing and you can answer:
- No, I don’t want to. And that is the end of it.
But if for instance death comes, nobody can tell death:
- You are not taking me. Death will tell you:
- I am here. Even if you say:
- Here are ten million dollars.
- No, not your money. I have to take you. You can’t say:
- Death, take my wife, take my children.
- No, I’m just coming for you. And death will always be right.
If Satan had such power of influencing our lives, we could be someone who is really superior. Unfortunately, he is a negative hero: someone who brings thoughts, ideas and is stopped in that small box. So we are stronger than him as the book of James 4:7, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you”. Satan lost his place in heaven. What happened? I think you know the story according to Isaiah 14: 12 and Ezekiel 28. They talk about Satan in the Kingdom of God, the way he was cast down because of arrogance, because of pride. He wanted to replace God and take his kingdom. So he was told to leave. We all know that story. And when he was pushed out, he came down, he came on earth and started a new life here. He started to build up his kingdom here.
CONCLUSION
We are stronger than satan and if we resist the temptation then he will flee from us.
We are not stronger than God, so don't resist Him or try to fight against Him when He asks us to change or do something.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Revelation 12 (Part 6) The Fight With Satan
By Odon Bulamba (10th August 2007) Revelation 12:7-17
Revelation 12: 7, “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war”.
There was a war in heaven. When I think of a war, I see calamities, any types of disasters and any bad pictures of war. But the politicians say that if you want peace we must start war, if you want to win the power, you must fight for it, if you want the victory or success or control over something, you must fight.
In the heaven there was a war: that war wasn’t God against Satan but Michael the Archangel was the one trying to fight against Satan. Satan stood up and said: “I’m not leaving this kingdom because I have the right to be here”. When God created Satan, He knew that one day Satan will revolt against him. So He said: “You have to get out”. And the archangel said: “We must use force because you are not accepting”, and he pushed Satan and he was cast out. But Satan did not just go just like that, he resisted, he fought back. Imagine someone standing up in front of God and trying to fight God, imagine someone who says: “I don’t accept your decision, God, I will resist it. I don’t have the same opinion as you”.
Frankly, today the church has been trying its best to fight God’s will. People today will stand up and say:
- No, I’m not sure if what you are telling me is correct. I am not sure if the message of God is true. I’m not even sure if God Himself exists.
And they will tell you a lot of things, which oppose God’s power and sometimes they will be pushed by someone:
- Look, the Bible says such and such things. What do you think? And they will tell you:
- No and then give you another version. For instance, someone told me one day:
- If God was really merciful the Tsunami could not have happened. If God was really merciful, the event of 9-11 could not have happened. So, how can you say that God is love? How can you say that God is so great and merciful with all that is surrounding us?
So, we, the church today, we stand up and oppose God and when we reach that level of intoxicating other people, revolting other people, telling them: “Join us and we can fight the truth”, that is the time for God to push us out.
So, Michael as you know is an archangel and he fights. That’s his role, to defend God’s army, to defend God’s glory but Michael is also there to defend God’s people. Some will tell you they are walking in the street with angels of God and they protect me. But not all angels protect you, only Michael has that right towards the people of God.
Conclusion:
Let's listen to God's voice and the Word of God and not resist it or fight against it but make the effort to live according to it so that we will not be pushed out of God's Kingdom in the same way that satan was.
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