Easter

What does Easter mean?  Jesus was arrested on the Friday night, crucified and today He is alive.  Why was He arrested?  Why was He crucified?  Why did He come back to life?

The cross at that time was the maximum penalty, there was no worse punishment, it was the maximum pain.  Jesus accepted to go through that for us to be saved.  We believe in Jesus because He died for us. 

While on the cross, He said a few words and then at the end He said, “It is finished”.  Someone came with a spear and stabbed Him in the side after He’d already died.  Water and blood came out.  Usually only blood should come out.  The water was separated from the blood.  Miraculous.  This is only seen when a baby is born. 

When we trust in Jesus, when we go to the cross, we see our new birth, we are born again.  Repent, ask for Jesus blood to wash you and with that blood, we are born again.  Jesus accepts us as new children. 

One day we will die or Jesus will come back for us.  We need to be ready for that.  To be ready we need to:

1. Accept to know what is sin and try your best to live without sin and if you do sin, repent.  If you know how to repent and ask for forgiveness, this is a big step.
2. Feed your soul.  Read your Bible daily.
3. Actions.  On the day of judgement, Jesus will sit on the throne and you will be judged only by your actions.  If your actions are not good, fix them.  If you have a problem, fix that problem with that person. Mark 11:25, “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”  Don’t wait for the person to come to you, go to them. 

Jesus died for you to be saved and we can be children of God.  We must prepare our way for heaven.  The only thing you will take with  you to heaven is your soul and your actions so be careful with your actions.  Do you treat yourself as a Christian or not?  Am I a good Christian or not?  If Jesus comes back now, will He take me or not.

Wait on the Lord

 There are lots of verses that say, “wait for the Lord”.  We have discussed this many times before and all agree that it is not waiting “for” the Lord but rather waiting “on” the Lord.  There is a big difference.

If we go to a restaurant, the customer sits down and the waiter comes to the customer to “wait” on them.  The waiter asks the customer, “How can I help you? Would you like something to drink? Would you like to order your meal now?”  The waiter waits for the answer and then does what they are told.  It would be a disaster of the waiter came back with fish when the customer asked for lamb, especially if the customer was allergic to fish.  Everyone would wonder whether the waiter doesn’t listen or if they are careless. 

It is the same with God.  He is sitting on His throne and we come to Him to wait on Him.  Sometimes we might have to wait a while before He tells us what to do.  Sometimes we might ask questions, “Shall I do this or that?”  God gives us directions and we must obey.  We obey because we know it will be a disaster if we don’t.

It’s different with a café.  When we go to a café, the customer stands up and orders their meal at counter.  The customer goes to the shop assistant rather than a waiter coming to the customer.  The shop assistant waits for the customer.  God doesn’t work that way.  We don’t wait for God to come to us.  God is on His throne.  He doesn’t leave His throne to wait on us.  We have to come to Him.  “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (John 4:8).

We sometimes think that we can do what we want and God will come down and intervene.  We sometimes think that we can sit down and wait for God to come to us.  God won’t.  We have to make an effort to go to Him like a waiter.  We are His servants not the other way around.  We have to make the time for Him, to pray, read His Word, to listen to His voice.  He is the King above all kings.  We wouldn’t expect the Queen of England to come to us, we go to her.

In Ruth 1:1, “In the days the judges ruled”.  In the days that the judges ruled, “everyone did as they saw right in their own eyes” Judges 21:25.  Sometimes we do what we want instead of waiting to know what God wants.  Imagine a waiter at a restaurant bringing you something and you didn’t even ask for it.  You won’t be happy if the waiter brings you something you can’t stand to eat and then demands you pay for it.

In Ruth 1:1, Naomi and her husband left Bethlehem.  Bethlehem means the house of the bread of God.  Naomi and her husband left God’s house to do what was right in their own eyes.  We have to be careful not to leave God because that’s where we are fed spiritually.  We have to be careful not to do what is right in our own eyes but to seek God and wait for Him to lead us.

Once in Moab, Naomi’s sons married Moabite women which is against God’s law to marry a non-Israelite.  When we leave God’s house of bread (Word of God) and His presence, it is easy to make wrong decisions that are against His law.

Once Naomi’s husband and sons died, Naomi had to go back to the Lord’s house of bread.  The Lord’s bread didn’t come to Naomi.  She had to go back to the Lord.  We must always go back to God.  We must always be in His presence waiting on Him.  When we make the mistake of leaving and doing what is right in our own eyes, we have to make a decision to come back to God.  He won’t come after us.  Just like the prodigal son.  The father didn’t go after him, the son had to come back to the father.

Let’s wait on God.

Preparing to Hear the Message of God and Pray Together

 

Apollos

Acts 18:24-28, Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more accurately.  When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. 

Apollos was might in scriptures.  He had been instructed in God’s ways and was fervent in spirit.  He was speaking accurately in the things concerning Jesus.  He spoke boldly in the synagogue even though he didn’t know everything.  Then Priscilla and Aquilla heard him and took him aside and explained to him God’s ways more accurately. 

Then Apollos wanted to go to Achaia and Christians encouraged him and helped him by writing to the disciples and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who believed and he demonstrated using the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ, the Savior/Messiah.

Tonight we are meeting together and we all are mighty in scriptures because for many years we have been dedicated to reading the Word of God, meditating on it and using it to worship God and pray.  Although we don’t know everything, with the little we do know, we have been speaking accurately about Jesus to each other and to our family, friends and work colleagues etc.

Tonight we will have a message and I trust that this time that we have taken aside will be used by God to teach us more about His way.  It will be a time to encourage us.

Achaia means grief/trouble and most of the time we want to avoid grief/trouble but as Christians we can’t avoid it, it is part of the journey that God has for us.  Tonight we are going to be like Priscilla and Aquilla and the other Christians who encouraged Apollos.  We will encourage each other tonight through being together, praying together, worshipping together and hearing God’s Word.  This encouragement is vital and will greatly help us to pray for other tonight and will give us the boldness to keep sharing God’s Word.

Let’s begin our night by praising God for His Word and His encouragement to us.  Let’s thank God for each other because we can’t go through grief or trouble without God and each other.

Now let’s pray for God’s Spirit to full us with fervor, encouragement and help us to have a greater understanding of God’s ways so we can pray accordingly.

Grief or trouble can be a temptation for us.  Pain, suffering, tiredness and difficult relationships can all lead us to sin.  Let’s pray that God will help us to overcome temptations.  Let’s take some time now to repent from those times we have fallen into temptation this week and let’s decide to not fall again.  Let’s pray against evil spirits that will try to tempt us tonight.

Communion - John 1:29 - The Lamb of God

 John 1:29, The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’

When we take the bread and juice, this is what we are to remember, that God came down from heaven, took on the form of man and became the lamb of God, the sacrificed lamb to die on a cross so that our sin can be taken away.  He did this for us.  God Himself paid the price.

Imagine Bill Gates, billionaire, accepting to go to jail for you.  Not even dying for you, just jail.  He won’t.  Bill Gates isn’t even as powerful or as rich as God and yet God Himself died for you. 

Are you aware that if the top richest people in the world pooled all their money together we would end poverty and sickness and they would still have $40 billion dollars each but they can’t sacrifice their money for others.  Yet Jesus, God Himself, didn’t just sacrifice money but he sacrificed Himself.

Isaiah 53:5 says He was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace [peace with God] and with His stripes we are healed.

As we eat the bread, let’s remember his body that was wounded for us and crushed for us and chastised for us.  As we drink the juice, let’s remember His blood that flowed so we might be forgiven.

Make a Plan

When we wake up in the morning, we wonder what we will do today.  Parents usually don’t have to shake their children to go to school and intervene unless the children a slow but children usually know how to get ready for school. 

Even if you didn’t plan yesterday what you will do today, you will make a plan for your day.  Why do we have to plan what we will do?  Because that’s the nature that God gave to us.  Our body, mind and soul tells us we have to plan and we have to work.  Do you sometimes feel like you don’t want to go to work but you are forced to go? 

We make plans and then it is our responsibility to fulfil those plans.  2022 is a new year, what is your plan for the year?  For today?  Although we have our plans, if we are not committed, we will fail our plan.  Have you thought about what you will do for 2022.

Proverbs 16:1-3, “To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue.  All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord.  Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans”.

God encourages us to have a plan.  In your heart, what do you feel like doing this year?  You must have a plan that is good for you, good for God, and good for others and not a plan that leads you to sin.  Then you need to commit to your plan to God.  Take your plan to Jesus and tell Him, “In February, I plan to do this, in March, this…”

When you plan and pray for something in the name of Jesus Christ and when it is accomplished, it will be a miracle and will only happen by faith and committing it to God.  2021 had a lot of challenges but God stood with you.  You cried and He was with you and pushed you through that plan to be fulfilled.  When things go wrong, that’s a path you have to go through to reach the next step. 

For example, Paul was proudly persecuting the church until God spoke to Him and he realised he was wrong to enjoy persecuting others.  Sometimes we are told by God to speak to our friends and tell them that they should not enjoy what they are enjoying.  Maybe someone you know persecutes their soul or the souls of others but you are afraid to tell them.  You may pray and ask God to talk to them because you fear to talk to them. 

Sometimes panic will hit your mind and body and you don’t know what to say anymore.  It’s not about your abilities, it’s about satan versus the Holy Spirit.  In your spiritual life, when you panic, you lose concentration and everything will be wrong and whatever others do will be negative.  Don’t let 2022 be a year of panic.  Let my fears be victory this year.  What I failed last year, let it be fulfilled this year.  Let your plan be there in 2022 and the rest will follow.

Before to go on a journey, I ask myself if I have all that I need and I check before leaving.  I check the oil and water.  I check the petrol.  I check I have my wallet, sunglasses etc.  Sometimes I have to wash my car before I go anywhere even if I am late.  One time I had to borrow a friend’s car and it was so dirty that I was obliged to spend an hour cleaning it before I could start my journey.  Sometimes we need to help others what they are not able to fulfil and to do it with them. 

If others discover you are dirty it will be a shame and that is why I cleaned the car of my friend.  My son once told me that he tried smoking once because a friend offered him a cigarette.  Don’t accept to sin just because a friend is encouraging you to.  Whatever God has put around you, use it.  As you get older, you use up things.  For example, you may lose up all your hope or you may lose up the fruit of the Holy Spirit and gain wisdom.

In summary, make a plan for 2022, commit your plan to God, complete your plan, use what God has given you and don’t fall in temptation.

 

Who Satisfies Your Desires - Psalm 103:5

Be Watchmen and Watchwomen - Mathew 24: 40-51