By Odon Bulamba
It’s a joy to be here this morning. Today we are going to read together Mathew 4
& Luke 4. I am going to share with you about the baptism and what Jesus
went through. First, I praise God for
these girls (Leah, Rebekah, and Anna) being baptised on 02 02 2020. If you read it backwards, it is also 02 02
2020. This has only happened 01 01
1010. It’s an amazing coincidence that
means a lot that they were baptised on this day.
We don’t get baptised because we love water
but because it is a command from the Lord.
To make the command strong in what we believe, Jesus Himself came down
and accepted to be baptised by immersion.
When He got baptised, it was just in a river. It was a normal day but it was a special day
in heaven because a voice came down from heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son”.
When our girls got baptised, it wasn’t just
because everyone does it. When Jesus was
baptised, something happened in heaven.
That was the beginning of the tough journey for Jesus. When you get baptised, it is a day of joy but
the journey of becoming a Christian and serving the Lord starts now.
In some churches, they give you a ring and
put it on your finger so that from now on you are a true believer. If I take off the ring and put it somewhere,
does that mean I lose my alliance with God?
Your alliance with God should be more than a ring that you can take
off. Be a Christian forever.
Don’t be a Christian because the situation
is tough for you and you need God to help.
For example, some will pray to God, “If you change my situation, I will
give my life to you”. If you pray in
this way, you are lying to yourself and making a wrong decision. We must decide to give our lives to Jesus and
let Him control our lives.
The day Jesus was baptised, Jesus didn’t
stay there but moved to the wilderness.
The Spirit took Him to the wilderness.
When you give your life to Jesus, the first thing you must do is let the
Spirit to take you somewhere, ask the Holy Spirit to lead you and accept the Holy
Spirit to take you to the right direction.
If you accept Jesus but you give restrictions to the Holy Spirit, then
you won’t be able to serve your Lord in the right way.
Imagine coming from a river where there is
plenty of water and now Jesus is heading to the desert where there is no
water. A few minutes ago, He was in a
river and now He is somewhere dry. He
spent 40 days with no food. When you
leave somewhere and you have lost everything and don’t have access to all that
you had previously, how are you going to decide to live?
My ancestors 100 years ago didn’t know clothing,
they walked naked. Still today, in some
places in Kenya they still walk naked and believe clothes are a curse. One time I went to take the gospel to such a place
and I was told that I had to walk naked like them before I could enter. I prayed, “Lord, is this correct”. Then a thought came in mind, when Jesus was
crucified, He was left naked. It was a
tough decision to take off all my clothes and then read my Bible.
It feels morally incorrect and
contradictory but because their souls need the gospel, I decided to do so. Now these people wear clothes and have
several churches. This was God’s plan
for them. If I didn’t accept their rules
and then teach them about God, clothing, and humanity, maybe they couldn’t
accept Jesus at all.
Satan came to Jesus in the wilderness and
gave three big temptations. There are
only three types of temptations in our lives and Jesus went through all 3. The first one is “the lust of the
flesh”. It wasn’t Jesus fault to feel
hungry and this is not a sin but because Jesus’ body needed food, that was the
first temptation. Satan came with that
temptation.
Some people feel like drinking alcohol or
stealing. This is the lust of the
flesh. Satan uses the path of what your
body wants. The lust of the flesh does
not last long. If you say no, the
temptation will go. Someone can feel like a cigarette but then they can tell
themselves no. It is a matter of
decision. It is a simple decision that
any person can make. We all have the ability
to say no to the lust of the flesh.
We have the power to defeat satan. He will run away from us by simply saying no
and resisting him. This morning, my
aunty rang me and I was feeling sick myself.
I was in my bed and I wondered if I should go to church. I told my body, “On the day they bury you
what are you going to do? I have no time
to waste”. I decided to come. I felt dizzy driving here but now I am
good. It is up to me to decide where
should God want me to be. Where does the
Holy Spirit take me?
You can have the intention of
stealing. You look left and right and
take it because no one sees you but if you look up, someone is watching you
from above so you can easily tell yourself no.
My mum is very old now. Two days before Christmas, she went to the
second hand shop and wanted to buy a small box.
The owner of the shop said, “Look, instead of buying this box, I have
one that my grandmother used to keep.
You can buy that instead”. She
bought out a small box. My mum’s
intention was to keep money in the box. Mum
bought the box and it fell onto a stone on the way home and it smashed. Inside the small box was a small bag of pure
gold.
Mum didn’t know if she should take it back
to the family or keep it. Her mind was
divided. In such a case, what will you
do? She decided to take the gold back to
the owner of the shop. The lady was surprised,
“My grandmother never told me, what can I give you as a reward, here is a hug
and a blessing”. My mum thought, “Maybe
I should have kept half”. Mum’s children
told her, “You are so dumb, you should have kept it”.
Recently, a person came to her and said, “Thank
you for giving the gold back. For the gesture
you did, I have a surprise for you”.
Sometimes we do things according to our will and thoughts but God has a
different plan where He will put you in a challenge and you have to
decide. This is where Jesus told satan,
I am hungry that is true but I cannot change bread from stones because it is
not written that way. Check the Bible to
know what you can and can’t do because your life doesn’t belong to you now.
The man said to mum, “I bought this mansion
a few years ago, you can take it”. My
mum is 86 years old and didn’t think she could take care of such a big mansion
at her age. The man suggested it could
be used as a house for those girls who are victims of rape, “They can stay here
and we will provide food, water, and clothing to say thank you for bringing
back the gold to us”.
The man said, “All that gold we sold and we
have purchased this house, land, and the remaining money will help those girls”. Whatever we lose in the world, we gain. When you say, I lose something, God will tell
you, no you didn’t let me prepare it in another way, I will give it back to
you.
The second temptation is “our eyes”. Satan took Jesus on top of the mountain and
showed Him, look all of this is mine, I can give it to you if you bow
down. Satan uses that part of our bodies
frequently. Looking at Colleen, that is
a nice top. Looking at Odon, ugly
top. We judge others by looking. We envy by looking. Because of what we see, we kill each other,
we want to steal, become aggressive and sometimes insult people.
How often have your eyes led you to
sin? When you see something, anger can
rise up in you. When you see something,
you may become judgemental or a tough situation may rise up or jealousy because
you need the same thing and that leads to envy and hatred.
Don’t look around. My father was among the most rich people in
Africa in the early 30s but on the day he passed away, he had nothing. We used to have a room in our house where bank
notes stored. We had servants and some
were there just to count bank notes and put as bricks in that room. When my dad became sick, money couldn’t give
back his health. Money couldn’t buy back
his life.
When they buried my father, he took nothing
with him. He had plenty of nice clothes
and shoes and jewellery but they selected one shirt and one pair of trousers
and no jewellery or shoes when he was buried.
When we went to the cemetery, I jumped into the tomb because I didn’t
want my dad to leave me. Although I am
his son and wanted to go with him, I was told you can’t go with him.
What are you planning to take that
day? We have investments, nice cars,
house etc. Who are you investing for?
Yourself, the next generation, or God? It
is not a sin to invest in this world but we must also invest in the Kingdom of
God because that is where our treasure is kept.
To give to God money or to help others, it is a challenge. Where do you invest?
The third temptation is “pride”. Satan took Jesus to a third level, “If you
jump from here, angels will hold you”.
When you believe you are a child of God and you can do what you want,
then pride will kill you. People in
Africa are extremely proud and that is what has destroyed Africa.
One time I travelled from one city to
another. This authority picked out
people and said follow me. He gave order
to soldiers to arrest people for no reason and they went to jail because he
wanted to prove he is the boss. Some can
kill for no reason except to prove that they are strong.
I have seen people smash a baby against a
wall to prove they don’t fear. Pride is
one of the things that made satan to be kicked out of heaven. Satan continues to use that path, bringing
pride to people which can lead people in a wrong way.
When Jesus went to pray at the mountain of
olives, he knelt and prayed. He saw
something coming. He said, “Let this cup
not come on me,” but the will of God was something else. In your journey as Christians, sometimes your
will does not fit in the will of Jesus. Jesus
will say, “This is My will and although you have your will, My will must be
done”.
Sometimes you can cry just as Jesus did
with tears of blood but Jesus has His own will.
Today, many Christians want God to bow down before their will. If God doesn’t want it, then it will never
happen. Many want to kill or steal to
get what they want. In your Christian
your life remember not everything will be given to you unless God has a purpose
to give it to you. Mathew 7:7, God will
give to you when you ask but not everything will be given as you expect.
If you ask because you have a desire of
your flesh, then God may say no. If you
pray because others have it and you don’t, then God may say no. Will you quit because God doesn’t give you
what you wanted? Some quit for that
reason. I’ve seen human beings say, “You
are not my child anymore,” but they will still be there child. When you tell God, “You are not my father
anymore”, you will continue to be God’s child but you need to repent and keep
walking by His side.
Put your pride aside and follow Jesus. Jesus told us, remember olives produce oil
and to get the oil the olives need to be crushed. When you are crushed, that is the time of
anointment, blessing, and you will produce oil.
That is not the time to run away because your body is suffering or because
you don’t get what you need or because you don’t have what others have.
If you want to follow Jesus, carry your own
cross. Every single day, people tell you
about the cross of Jesus. People wear a
cross around their neck believing they carry Jesus with them. Even those next to Jesus carried their own
crosses. We must carry our own
cross. What did the cross of Jesus
do? Jesus was nailed to it and hung for
six hours in pain on it. The cross that
you are carrying where are you taking it?
Golgotha? Christ?
When you are crucified on your cross, who
do you blame? Since I have become a
Christian, I don’t enjoy life anymore or gain money anymore, who do you
blame? Jesus on the cross did not blame
but forgave. How often do you forgive
those that treat you harshly? How often
do you step back and say, yes they have done wrong to me but I need to love
them and teach them?
Jesus said to the one next to him, today I
will see you in paradise. Will you tell
your enemies that they can come to heaven with you?
The life of following Jesus is not easy but
only requires to make the right decision.
We are on the earth today but tomorrow we will die or Jesus will come
back. When Jesus comes back, no one can
stop it. We will go by ourselves. Prepare your way to go to heaven. Whatever the Bible restricts, then take it as
a restriction. Do not sin. No one will blame you if you don’t sin but if
you do, the entire community will be on your back. When you say no to sin, everyone will see
that you reflect child of Jesus.
