Sunday, September 20, 2020

End Days - Mathew 24:29 - The Time of Darkness (Noah)

 


By Odon Bulamba

It’s a joy to be here again this morning.  We will carry on with Mathew 24:29

Last time I said the sun and moon will turn to darkness and the stars will follow.  When I was a child I was courageous but the only thing I was afraid of was darkness.  I could be naughty during the day but if my mother told me to get outside when it is dark, I will scream and ask for forgiveness. During the day, I will say, “I will do whatever I want,” but when I got back in the evening, I will be told to get out.

Darkness can teach you something.  It is a time where we have eyes and sight but we can’t see because of the lack of light.  When darkness appears, we will not say we are blind but the absence of light makes us see differently.

One time I was living in Uganda, we were supposed to go through a forest.  During the day we can’t cross, it must be night-time.  We were five people including my brother Oscar.  We saw a lion in the darkness.  We walked for 5/6km but it felt like we walked for 10 days due to the fear.  My body was shaking because I could see the danger of being killed.  However, some people are happy to see darkness so they can do bad things.  E.g. nightclubs and all other evil, prefer to operate when there is no light so people can do their acts in secret.

We are living today in a day that has no light.  Evil is now in action.  Danger now surrounds Christians.  How much temptation are you tempted by per day?  Have you tried to write down each time you are tempted?  My heart or body can ask for something wrong.

Yesterday, a witch lady rang me.  She is an extremely old woman of around 90-100 years old.  I see a picture of someone come up on my phone that I have never seen before.  She said, “I am a witch, a snake and I want to work with you so that you can become someone big in this world”.  My heart was beating.  Then my phone rang, the person said, “This person can help you to become extremely rich in 3 weeks only”.  I thought, my wealth is in heaven not on this earth.

My Father wealthier than what she thinks.  If my heart was not in a good position, I might think it was a good thing and I might easily take that position.  Looking at the lady herself, she can’t move or walk and she is ready to give me something that herself doesn’t have.

Satan will promise us something so we will become famous and get respect but never accept to work with satan.  The sun will be turned to darkness, many Christians who don’t see properly, they will accept satan’s offer because they think it is accepted in secret.  Once accepted, you compromise your faith and you become the slave of satan instead of Christ.

Suddenly I saw the rates from Hamilton City Council and bills kept coming in.  If I accept this deal, I won’t mind paying my bills but my soul is more important than my bills.  For that reason, Jesus said light won’t be there and then heavens will be shaken and suddenly the sun of man will appear in the sky and every eye will see Him.

Before the end of the time, God has told us that things will be exactly like the time of Noah where people are eating, drinking, and getting married.  Genesis 6, you will read and you will see even angels came down and found that the children of human beings were extremely beautiful and angels adored our beauty and the angels accepted to sin.  Today beauty has taken the highest level that the world can consider.

If someone appears on TV, they must spend 4 hours first to look beautiful.  If we are invited to a party, we want to appear beautiful.  Our beauty is higher than what God found beautiful.  God created me and I believe I am handsome the way He created me but when I look at myself in the mirror, I start to correct what God created, I’m bald, my nose is short.  I might give myself 2/10 because I compare myself to others.

God looks at us and thinks, who are you to correct me and believe that you know beauty more than me.  That vanity of wanting to look impressive and beautiful has led thousands in sin.  What is your purpose to look beautiful?  Is it so that others will appreciate you and for you to get glory while God wants all the glory?  We are now fighting for His glory so we can also be glorified and to be seen.

One time I was talking to two ladies from different corners of our country.  One looked at the feet of the other while the other looked at the other’s dress.  “Her shoes are not as good as mine” and the other one, “The dress she is wearing is not as good as mine”.  To buy a car, glasses, we want something greater and better than others so that wherever we go people can appreciate us.

My shoes maybe cost me $20 and when I see Leah’s shoes, I see fashion.  Every single young person will know Vans shoes but when I hear the name Van, I think of transport.  They are worth more than $100 for a pair of shoes and if mummy tells the kids, “Lets buy food instead of Vans,” they won’t accept it because they want to be seen by others as special in their Vans.

Our eyes most of the time focus not on the light but on physical things that we see.  Our light is Jesus but our focus is not there and we want to walk in darkness and appreciate what the world gives to us instead of appreciating what God has given us.  Every girl today can be a Miss World.  How many beauticians do we have in New Zealand?  Maybe thousands.  Our neighbour is a beautician and we see many cars arriving at her house per day. 

Physically she’s not that beautiful.  People want to look more beautiful than her.  People walk in and they come out looking more beautiful. They rush in so they can’t be seen and when they leave, they walk slowly, “Stop, look at me now”.  That appearance does not last.  After a few weeks, they go back again. 

If you are beautiful in the Lord, you will shine every day.  People will see the glory of Christ every day and you won’t need to take care of your body that much because you are preparing the body for the One above.

I eat like a pig and I know some people who have a diary of food.  Monday at 6pm, peanuts.  Monday at 8am, egg whites.  Some people have very good discipline even if they are dying hungry.  They don’t have a big tummy like I do, they are fit and healthy.  Imagine how healthy you would be in front of the eyes of the Lord if you ate spiritually healthy.  Sugar is bad for us.  Open your Bible, what is bad for your soul?  Although the sugar tastes good but it is bad.  What is bad for me? Sin, it can be tasty but it is bad for me.  I am on a diet and I must protect my soul.

Today, you will see all people fighting to eat healthier which is good.  One time in Paris, I looked at the menu and the meal was so small.  It was healthier so it was more expensive and portion size was much smaller.  Do you know that the Word of God is very expensive? Do you know that Word of God is well prepared by the best chef ever, Jesus who has been serving this to us day after day but we complain, we don’t want this, it doesn’t taste good, we prefer KFC. 

Our desire, our mind is only on the world.  People were eating in the time of Noah.  Everybody wants to get married.  Married to whom.  Not to Jesus or the Word of God or to God our father but to human beings which is normal but not for the purpose of forming a family that pleases God but one of sin.

It is better to marry a poor lady than a multi-millionaire.  Today, if you have a lot of money you can marry anyone.  Many will tell you that they love you but they only love what you possess. When you don’t possess what they expect you to offer, then that love will die.

Our father, Jesus, our Lord, our God has offered us life but we are not grateful for that, we want more.  We can be like those angels like the time of Noah where we start to envy other creatures and go astray.  The world has become crazy. 

It is as it is written in Romans 1:5 onwards where the Bible says clearly that man will go for man and women for women.  Pastors read it but because we are living the similar time as Noah, the pastor will still bless a same-sex marriage.  You call this house the house of the Lord and you say that you read the Bible but you don’t accept certain verses of the Bible and only consider where God says, “This is what you have”.  This is a serious problem of the church today and if we don’t open our eyes to see the light, we will live in darkness and when Jesus comes back, we won’t be aware. 

Today I came late on purpose to see what would happen.  I wondered how you would respond, “We have started the programme, who is going to preach?  Where is he, what happened?”  Maybe this created worry and doubt.  What will you do Tyrone if the preacher is not here?  Maybe there is no plan B.  When the time of Noah was there and he was building the ark, he was telling people to repent but they didn’t believe him and their minds were only on looking to marry beautiful people and a life of partying.

Finally, the Lord came and it was time for the rain and when God came down, He locked the door of the ark.  The people couldn’t find salvation anymore. God was the barrier.  Noah had neighbours and because they were late too come they could not enter the ark.  God said to collect the animals. The animals were so respectful and walked into the ark politely but human beings said no.

Once the door was shut, many would have shouted, “Open the door,” but he couldn’t open the door because God had shut it.  When you come late, people worry about you.  Aren’t you sometimes late to God’s plan?  When you give yourself the assignment to read the Word of God every morning at 6am, do you do it?  When you have an appointment to pray for someone, are you on time?

The first thing God taught us was time, He was creating things on time.  As the time is moving, the day is also moving forward and you can’t stop it.  If you say you will start church at 10am, if we are late, the time will keep moving forward and God will say you are late.  Once we are late, we can’t justify ourselves, just repent.

We are late today to give the gospel to others.  Since the time of your salvation, how many promises have you kept with God?  When was the last time you surrendered yourself in God’s hands?  Noah knew exactly what he was doing building the ark.  Have you built your ark?  Those measurements God gave you, “Start here, step one, step two,” how many steps have you done?

Lebon had a true a experience in his life at Lois’ place and how he was so scared of cows and even to touch a baby cow’s mouth.  It was a big experience to see a farm and he wanted to become a farmer and he had extreme joy.  If I go through my junk, I can find the DVD of Lebon being on a farm for his first time.  Even children can enjoy learning something new and we must teach them new things. 

What we are doing is important for Christ’s return.  If you focus only on eating, drinking, and parties, according to God that is a big distraction.  The main party we are waiting for is when Jesus comes back and then we can have a big feast.  Let us seize the opportunity to talk to others about Jesus.  Don’t go to parties to create envy in you.


Sunday, September 6, 2020

End Days - Mathew 24:29 - The Stars will Fall from Heaven

 


By Odon Bulamba

Mathew 24:29, today we are going to talk about the stars.

It is written in the Bible that stars will fall from Heaven.  Imagine the stars falling.  What will happen on the earth if they fall?  We don’t know how big they are or the damage they will cause to the earth.  Normally stars are another type of Christian who don’t shine that much and don’t produce light to show us the path.  Those type of people are Christians are really far from God.  When you meet with them and you are told that this person is a believer, you are shocked because the way they live does not reflect God’s light, at all.

When I was growing up we had kerosene lamps to light the house but without the kerosene oil, the light starts to die.  Today, the number of Christians that are like stars are more than the true Christians.  You can visit churches all over the world and see a greater number of Christians whose light is failing compared to the true Christian that is shining the light of God.

Satan is called a star, God is called a star, we are called stars, and there are stars in nature.  Satan was a star but was kicked out of heaven because of pride, he wanted to be worshiped. In Genesis 15:4-5, you will see Abraham was visited by God and going through a serious problem of not having a child and God told him, “Come outside your tent,” and come out.  He looked towards the heaven, and God said, “Count the stars.  Then the number you have counted will be your descendants and your children”. 

Have you tried to count the stars?  You won’t have time to bother yourself because there so many that you can’t count them.  My mum used to ask me, “How many children will you have when you grow up?”  I wanted a small number but for Abraham God is asking him to count the stars to determine the number of descendants you want. 

How many stars will you count?  How many children do you want Rebekah?  Four.  Not 4 hundred?  We all believe we don’t need many children because the more children means the more trouble and challenges we will face.  All of us are Abraham’s descendants.  How many stars did he count?  Many.  Once you count a big number, you get lost. 

As we are born again and the light of the world, God asks us sometimes to come outside from our tent to start to count the number of believers that are not shining anymore.  He asks us to count the number of those that are counted as Christians but are no longer the light for God because their light is hidden.  Once counted, we will take the responsibility of becoming their parent, care for them, look after them, pray for them, fast for them, preach for them, come close to them and treat them like our own children.

Someone can be older than you physically but can be younger than you spiritually even if they met Jesus before you.  How much do you care for you children?  When you think about your children, how do you feel?  You may see hundreds of children at school but when it’s your child, you give them special attention.  You go to school because you have a child there and you prepare them to go to bed, feed them and be there 24/7 to protect your child.

Abraham was given this huge task of becoming a watchman.  Are you a watchman of those who are not shining anymore?  Those stars will fall.  When satan was thrown down, he was thrown to the earth.  Our bodies came from the earth and that is where physical life is, eating, drinking and sinning. 

Many of those who are not shining the light of Jesus, they continue to fall in sin, they are sinners.  Once they were saved but have decided to go away from the gospel and live like sinners, they are falling.  Now fallen, we don’t know who will pick them up again, this is the big responsibility we have.

Pray you will never be like a star.  Many people have created gods around the stars.  We have no choice than to come outside and help stars.  The message of Jesus was to make disciples.  We have these disciples who are lost and they need to come back. 

For example, Trish’s cat Cody got lost because Trish moved houses.  He kept going back to the old house.  Trish would do her best to bring him to the new house but he kept going back.  She tried her best and she loved Cody but Cody doesn’t care about Trish’s love and care.  Imagine how hard it was for Trish that her cat is back and she has happiness but after some time he disappears.  She keeps hoping he will come back to join the family.

When a child of God leaves His family, God sends someone to bring him home but even when they come back to church, they leave again.  Do we get tired?  Do we give up?  God has been encouraging us, don’t give up, don’t get tired.  If just one soul is saved, it is a big party in heaven.  Don’t feel like you have done enough, keep helping, their number is enormous and God wants these people to come back to Him again.

It’s a big task, a tough one.  You may go to that person and they may give you many verses to show you that you know nothing but your victory will be in your prayers.  Your words won’t change them unless God is in you to change those people.