Guard Your Heart

By Colleen Podmore

There are many things we can learn about our spiritual lives as we daily live our lives. These lessons can help us understand what is important and how to live wisely. Last weekend I was out tramping on Mount Pirongia. As part of my study this year I have to find a specific native shrub that unfortunately only grows at high altitudes. This reminds me a lot of our Christian walk – in a spiritual sense we also are seeking a rare plant –Jesus is described as the Rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley a very rare and beautiful flower in the desert (SS2:1).

The thing is I can’t sit at home and find it – I have to get out there. I have to have the faith that it is where others have said it is and to start looking for it myself.  Similarly the Bible says we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses (Hebrews12:1 , Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnessess),  eyewitness accounts of the majesty and God says that he will be found by those that seek Him, especially when they seek him with their whole heart!  (Matt 6:33 But seek first His Kingdom). This is our journey – to know Him, to be like Him and to be with him forever. Amen!

Other thoughts I had as I walked along were how grateful I was for the path that someone before me had made. Imagine if I had to make my own path through the bush. No signs on the way, no steps to help in the difficult areas.  In a spiritual sense, we need each other  – people have gone before us showing the way - the church is a like a light shining on a hill (Matt5:14 You are the light of the world...), the word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, it says in Psalm 119:105. All through the ages there have been people, martyrs who have stood for righteousness, not denying the faith, showing us how to live in the darkness.

As I walked steadily up the track I was glad I had dressed appropriately, I had good strong shoes on my feet, a pack with drink and food, comfortable clothes, a hat. I was prepared for the journey. Do we go out in the morning without our spiritual clothes? Ephesians 6 talks about putting on the armor of God – spiritual armor, know your enemy-protect yourself. How foolish to go out in the bush in jandels, shorts and t-shirts. How foolish to go out in the world without the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteous, the belt of truth, feet fitted with the gospel, the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit.

Finally after one hour I reached the top of the first hill –I looked back and saw how far I had come. The views were amazing.  Sometimes in our spiritual journey we need to take time out, look back to see the faithfulness of God, look out to see His marvelous works and worship and thank and praise Him.

But I couldn’t stay there, I found my rare plants but I wanted to continue on the journey, so I struck out again for the summit. The path became narrower, I had to climb up steep banks, and once again someone had been before me and placed a secure chain that I could pull myself up with. Finally I reached a place where my heart faltered. I saw a glimpse of the path ahead and nearly gave up because it looked impossible – too hard for me.

Have you reached a point like that in your spiritual journey? It all seems beyond you? The Bible talks about this point as being a good place to be because we can learn a lot about our motivations.  Are our lives like the seed that fell in shallow soil – the plant sprung up but it had no root and when the sun came out, it died (Matt 13:5) we like the when we see what is in our hearts. Will we give up or will we go on, drawing on all the resources of God and experiencing His presence with us. Praise God for the tough times that we will prove thast our lives are like the good soil and we will bear much fruit!  Romans 5:3,…but we rejoice in our suffering because we know that suffering produces perseverance and perseverance character and character, hope.  James 1:3, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance

After walking for another 2 hours, I had to re-assess my situation.  It was about 12.30pm and I had just eaten my sandwich and it started to rain and I began to feel afraid. I felt very vulnerable and isolated and a long way from home. It would take me at least three hours to walk back to my car. Was it wise to keep going at this stage or should I turn back. I had achieved my goal for the day and perhaps I was now being stubborn and walking into danger. You seen not all fear is bad, it’s true fear can stop us doing things we have to do, but it can also stop us getting into trouble as well. It’s not the fear that is the problem it’s the voice we listen to.  So I assessed my situation and I knew I needed to turn back and make my way down the mountain again.

Sometimes in life we may be on a wrong track, don’t be afraid to turn back. The summit will be there another day. I gained a lot of experience and knowledge through that journey.

King Solomon also had experience and knowledge that he has shared with us from his life and the gift of wisdom that God gave him. Let us listen to what he has to say about what is important.

Proverbs 4:20-27
The passage starts out with a strong warning about listening to the words he is saying  (vs 20-22) an exhortation to follow  the good advice he is giving. But in vs 23 he gives the most important advice of all and that is...’ above all else guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life’. Guard your heart or some would translate this word soul, guard it, for it is where life comes from. In other words make sure you live a righteous life. No-one will drink from a polluted stream – so with the heart – no one listens to a polluted life.

How can we do this? – Solomon goes on to out-line four ways (vs 24-27)

Firstly, watch your speech.  Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far away from your lips. But not just what we say, what we put into our minds, what we look at, the decisions we make and our devotions – who or what we are devoted to.  Eventually if we make friends with the world we will begin to sound like them and our hearts will become polluted.

The other day I was next to some guys who were talking amongst themselves and I was sort of eavesdropping. I was shocked with the way they spoke even though they knew I could hear what they were saying they did not refrain from bad language.  It’s amazing how some words can become ‘normal’ after a while and be part of everyday speech but we Christians should not use the language of our culture or our hearts will become polluted. Love is not rude (1Cor 13:5)

Secondly, don’t be too curious, vs25, Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.

The Spirit of God spoke to me the other day about this and I was convicted. At work we have a corridor around the building with doors into people’s offices. Normally I would walk down the corridor and peer into each office. As I was reading these verses, I was reminded of this habit and I felt I was not to do this anymore. Keep my gaze fixed ahead. And it’s the same with each other’s lives – do we ask all sorts of questions out of curiosity and expose the person’s life. Why do we do that when we don’t really care

Thirdly, make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. This speaks to me of decision making. Do I make decisions impulsively without regard for the consequences and end up in all kinds of trouble?

Fourthly, do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. Where do we spend most of our time.What do we look forward to the most. What are the gods we adore that distract us from our devotion to God?

Finally what are some things we can do to help ‘guard our hearts’

·         Spend the best part of your day with God – take time, don’t rush.

·         Keep a journal and write down verses to memorise, thoughts that you have, what you are going to do

·         Read through the Bible

·         Pray – talk to God, ask for others, yourself last

·         Don’t give up meeting together with other Christians, exhort and encourage each other as we look for the return of our Lord.

 

Above all else ‘guard your heart’

God bless you.

 

The Bride Adorned (to the Praise of His Glory)

By Graham Print

Deuteronomy 4

Deuteronomy means the second reading of the moral law. Moses is speaking in Moab, East of Jordan, going through God’s law the second time before going across the Jordan to conquer Canaan and to destroy the wicked tribes there.

Verse 5: “See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?”

Today’s message is focusing on the observations of the nations around Israel – what did the nations around the Israelites see? We the Church are the bride adorned so the world looks at us and observes. What do they see?

We lived in Rotorua for 13 years and our neighbors were an elderly couple which we had a marvelous relationship with. I’d sometimes sit and chat with the elderly man and on one occasion the door opened for me to share the gospel. I started but the man said, “No I’m not interested”. His reason was because when he was a teenager he lived in a small community and at that time there were about a dozen religious groups/churches. Each would have nothing to do with the other. They would backstab and talk negatively about the others. This closed the door for this man. These people who professed to know Jesus, did not possess what they professed and there was a lack of love among them. God intended for the Hebrew people (as written in Deut) and with His church today to be to the praise of his glory. 

In Deut 4:6& 7, it says the Hebrew people were a great people. In what way were they great?

Deut 7:6-8, ^“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

God didn’t choose the Hebrew people because they were the largest in number. He didn’t call them great because they were great in number.

Deut 9:4-6, “After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

God did not call them great because of their righteousness. God says this three times which means He wanted to ensure people understood and this applies to us today. Our righteousness is like filthy rags in front of God but any righteousness we have has been imputed to us by faith – Jesus’ righteousness. We have no righteousness of our own, it must be the righteousness of Jesus. We are called to be to the praise of God’s glory, we are to be like light and salt that hasn’t lost its flavor.

St Francis of Assisi was born in 1181. One of his sayings was “Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary use words”. We need to preach the gospel by our life, through our attitudes, actions and way of living. We should be able to impact the world by our lives even before opening the scriptures.

The church existed not only in the New Testament but also in the Old Testament. What is the church? How do you define it? It is an assembly of Gods’ people that He has called out. This applies in Old Testament and New Testament. The people of God in OT were the Hebrew people, one nation and were called out of Egypt by miracle. Egypt is a picture of the world in which we live today. The NT church, is not one nation. It is many nations but one people consisting of Jew and Gentile. In both NT and OT church we are people saved by grace through faith. Abraham is mentioned in NT as the father of the faithful and we are the faithful. In OT, the people were saved by the grace of God through faith. 

There are many differences between OT and NT which is obvious from reading the book of Hebrews. Hebrews reveals that the New Testament covenant is superior to the Old Testament Covenant. The sacrifices for sin were made complete in Jesus, He was the final perfect sacrifice for sin. God dwelt in the midst of His people in the OT church because God was between the cheribim on the Ark of the Covenant. The tabernacle was situated in the center of the Hebrew community. A better way has been ordained for the NT church because God dwells in each of His people by dwelling in your body when you receive the Lord Jesus. When we come together, Jesus is with us not because we are in a building but because he dwells in each individual.

Titus 1:5, 12-13; 2:9-10, “One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith… Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.”

This is a letter from Paul to this Gentile believer and an elder called Titus. He tells Titus to make the teachings of God “attractive” which means to adorn the doctrine or make it beautiful, to garnish it. Like going to a restaurant and the fancy meal is garnished with parsley in order to present the food attractively. We are to make the gospel attractive by our lives. Non-Christians know how Christians should live and they are watching and looking to see if we possess what we profess to be. If we trip up, they lose interest and call us hypocrites. 

Everyone to a lesser or greater extent is a hypocrite. This means that we act in a manner to gain acceptance by other people. We act according to what we think other people would be able to relate to.

1 Peter 3:1-7, “Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers."

Before I became a Christian, I worked in Whakatane for a few years in a merchandise store. At the time there was a Christian co-worker going to the farmers with produce. His name was Ian. I was a pagan at the time and had very little thought about religion but I was observing Ian. He was a very pleasant 19 year old. He was different. For example, if Ian made a mistake or there was a problem at work and Ian was the one to blame, he would straight away confess. In other situations when someone else was at fault, the guilty one would try to pass the buck. That impacted my life. 

Another example that impacted my life was a day when some of the staff went to a seminar. During the lunch hour we went to the bar and we all ordered drinks. Ian ordered something non-alcoholic and engaged in the talk. When he finished his glass, someone came to top up the drinks but Ian put his hand over his glass and said “No thank you, I’m drinking something else”. 

Another example was during the break time in the work staff room there were sometimes dirty jokes told and Ian would just quietly get up and move out. All of this time I was observing him and his example was impacting my life. Another occasion Ian invited me to have lunch at his home. Before lunch he asked me, “Would you mind if I give thanks for this meal?” I thought that was awesome. It was his own home and he is free to do what he wanted but he asked if it would be acceptable to me. He was so sensitive and considerate of other people and their needs. I thank God for Ian because his life moved me toward repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

I go to Waikeria prison weekly. Three years ago there was a special event there and I was surprised that Ian was there. I hadn’t seen him for 45 years. I introduced myself and he didn’t know that I had become Christian. 

Let’s be like Ian, presenting a beautiful gospel. We can present ugliness of self or the beauty of Christ. We can adorn the gospel, or fail if we are not walking according to His will. His instructions on pure holy living are in the Word of God.

Bruised But Not Despairing

By Barnabus Fund

 

Bruised but Not Despairing

Collect the Leftovers

 

John 6:12

By Odon Bulamba, September 2013

 

How much did you pay to God for giving you the air that you breathe today?  Did you think about the fact that you are only alive because the air is given to you freely?  This air is extremely expensive and valuable but we have it for free.  It would be better to lose my sight than lose my ability to breathe.  For God, the way that we see things is not the way that He sees things.  God looks at those who are alive sometimes and sees them as dead which is why He had to send someone to save us. 

 

Jesus put on a body (this jacket = flesh) and was not born at the maternity at Waikato hospital with caring nurses and pretty atmosphere.  His mother at 9 months pregnant had to go on the back of the donkey; no ambulance for her.  How many women would accept that today?

Mary gave birth in a very poor condition; in a place where animals were sleeping.  Who would accept their child to be born where cows sleep? Jesus grew up poor in the poorest area.  Jesus never knew luxury on this earth and although he was God, he accepted to live in these conditions. 

Jesus wanted to become a simple man.  His father was a carpenter and He was not education at school.  At the age of 30 He started His ministry.  The Bible says, He came as God to John the Baptist who said, “I’m baptizing people but the one coming will use fire, I’m using water but He is bringing fire”.  It’s easy to touch water but you’ll think twice about fire.  Jesus coming to baptize with fire; who will accept that type of baptism?  If someone says to you, I’ll use fire to baptize you, you’ll not want it because fire is dangerous.  Fire brings persecution and torture and can easily be consumed by fire so we have a fear of fire.  If you want the baptism of God, you have to accept to be consumed and accept your life to be changed.

After Jesus was baptized, He selected his disciplesiples and went to Canaan where there was a wedding celebration.  The people celebrating needed wine so Jesus said, fill these with water and the water was turned to wine.  Jesus was going one step up at a time.  He was a poor person and no one wanted Him and then John talks about Him bringing the baptism of fire and now there is this miracle of water to wine so people are now talking about Him. 

Then Jesus moved to another step where he met with Nicodemusodemus.  It was night time and he came to Jesus in secret, “tell me” he had the knowledge and knew very well the Word of God.  He wanted to know more and Jesus said, “you must be born again”.  Nicodemusodemus thought he was clever asking how he can be born again and maybe it was a type of mockery, ‘what do you know you man from a poor nation, how can I go back into my mother’s womb?’  It was hard for Nicodemusodemus to understand because Jesus was talking about spiritual things.

Jesus wanted people to understand the spiritual life and turned water to wine for a spiritual teaching.  The next step in the life of Jesus is the Samaritan woman who was at the well around 12pm.  Usually Israelite women in that culture fetch water very early in morning so they can have a shower in the pure water from that river.  But Samaritan woman couldn’t come early in the morning because she was a prostitute and people would bully her if she came early so she went after everybody had gone.  How do you feel when people are aggressive towards you?  How uncomfortable do you feel when people abuse you?  How much peace do you feel when all your friends are against you?

Jesus said to the woman, “give me water and I’ll give you back water that is eternal life”. The woman said, “I can’t because I don’t belong to your tribe”.  He said, “if you knew her you were talking to”.  He answered this way because He wanted her to think about spiritual life.  Jesus wants us to think deeper about the spiritual life rather than physical life.

Our business according to John 6:12, is to “gather up the leftovers so nothing will be lost”.

Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, to a Samaritan woman and now it is our time for Him to talk to us.  After talking to the Samaritan woman, it was evening time and Jesus left with his disciples.  A crowd was following Him and He told the disciples tell them to sit on the grass. When you are following Jesus, He will ask you to sit and listen, not because you are tired but because if you are walking you might miss what He is trying to tell you.  Then Jesus started to preach and His preaching was going on and on and people were like, ‘oh, this man can talk, oh it’s too long, can you be quiet’ but no one said that out loud. 

To my surprise it was the disciples who stood up first and told Him, ‘master people are tired, they need food because it is getting late, shops will close, please allow them to get food’.  If you think deeply, the Bible doesn’t say the people sent the disciples to tell Jesus, but they did it on their own as if Jesus could forget something important.  How often when we need something we use other people’s names for example we might tell the boss, ‘people are saying’ when it is really  our intention.  Jesus wanted us to learn something.  When we need something, just come straight to God and tell Him your problem and what you need rather than going through other people. 

Jesus said, ‘what do you people have, feed them’.  Jesus was told, ‘we have nothing’.  When you tell God I’m hungry, my brothers and sisters need something and Jesus tells you, ‘give what you have’ and you say, ‘you see I have nothing but you are asking me to give it to someone else’. 

On this day, a little boy had five bread and two fish.  That is what he carried with him.  When you go to the meetings, what do you take with you? When you go to listen to the Bible, what do you take?  Some go empty so they can be filled but at some stage you start to feel hungry for something else and that is when you see people distracted, they are at church but thinking about the lunch afterwards, or thinking about their husband, or about their holiday.  They are in church but hungry for something else because they didn’t possess it.

Jesus said, ‘bring the child here’.  There were 5,000 men (not including children or women).  Someone who wasn’t even counted is the one holding the treasure. The child held the bread and fish that the entire community will benefit from, wasn’t even counted.  Don’t minimize yourself, for God the little that you hold is the most important, no matter what others say.

The disciples approached the boy and asked for the bread and fish.  Maybe he didn’t eat all day and now he is asked to share with others.  Imagine I (Odon) bringing Eden up front (a small toddler).  [Odon calls Eden to come up but she says no].  For a child it’s easy to say no and they won’t think about the consequences but this little boy offered what he had.

The Bible tells us that Jesus said to put the people into groups of 50.  They were sitting down and now forced to sit into groups of 50. Once sitting, Jesus picked up the bread from the child, blessed it, broke it, gave it to disciples and told them to distribute it.  This reminds us that the little that you have, the small message you have, the little knowledge of the Word of God, take it and use it for God.  Many Christians are afraid to share Word of God.

On Friday went into town and these pretty girls were on the street and I said, “honeys, let me talk to you” and they looked at me like I am an ugly old person.  They came up to me and I said, “tonight is a good night”.  I asked them what they will do and they said they would go dancing for fun.  I asked them if they wanted what I had, I told them I had something funny and I could share it with them.  I asked them to sit on the seat next to me so I can share with them.  I said, “Do you know that someone can take the breath from you and you can become a dead person?  You could die today and you have to tell God this is what I have been doing?  After this life is an eternal life.  I will tell you something, when I was young, I was extremely naughty.  I used to do things that you’d never believe.  When I became a scout and being trained as a soldier, I was taught to be very naughty.  I could take off your shoes without you knowing.  I was very acrobatic and could jump and roll out of windows.  This training is according to my country way, so I could kill people.  Someone can appear to be innocent and quiet but they can kill, destroy and harm.  One time my mum told me, do you know there is someone who can remove you from where you are and bring you down.  Regardless of my age, I was only 9 years old when I started to preach and I’d started to learn jujitsu because it was a prestige.” 

Then I asked one of the girls, ‘do you see what I mean?’  Then I took one of her clips from out of her hair without her knowing.  Satan can quickly come into your life and steal without you realizing it.  I’ll have just a sip of this wine and then it turns into 10 bottles or I’ll lie just a bit and tomorrow you will be called a liar.  All these 7 girls that I was talking to prayed and I told them, go home to sleep.

When Jesus broke the bread that is when the miracle started.  When those pieces of bread were there, no one could see the miracle.  How could this bread feed 5,000?  He broke off small pieces and kept breaking pieces over and over and then baskets started to fill up.  The disciples gave it to the people.  We are disciples of Jesus and He is giving us today a piece of bread and He asks us to give those people around us some food.  When was the last time you gave someone spiritual food?

Last week I went to McDonald’s and asked for everything on the menu but the lady doubted and thought I was not serious and she wouldn’t serve me.  I had to ask the manager and he said, ‘this is impossible’.  I told Him, ‘I want to buy the food for you’ but the manager didn’t need McDonalds because he was surrounded by it and could make his own burger for less than what it would cost me to buy it.  Sometimes we have things we don’t need but others are dying for it.  How much spiritual food do you have in your store, how many preachings have you heard and how much Word of God have you read and listened to?  Why can’t you share it?  Many say, ‘I’m too shy’.

When I got my PhD I was the first black person in Canada who gained a PhD with high distinction and I was only 23 years at that time and forgot it all came from God.  I could sit my exams without study.  I could repeat word for word what the lecture would tell me.  I could sit a 2 hour exam in 1 hour and most of the time I would preach in churches and streets right before my exams.

Sometimes God gives us things and we think we are special, I’m an expert while you others are nothing.  Once I got that PhD I had an offer from 4 countries and people were after me.  When I put God aside from life, God said to me one morning while I was praying before going to work, ‘pick up your diploma’ and He asked me to destroy it.  It was very hard to destroy it.  I thought God was going to bless it but He asked me to destroy it.  I destroyed it but when I asked for another copy the University said it can’t be replaced, once it is gone, it is gone.  I used to speak 13 languages but suddenly they started to disappear.  God wanted me to wake up.

The people in the story of John ate the bread and fish and after eating Jesus said to collect the left overs.  The people were full and satisfied and He didn’t want to leave the leftovers for animals or birds.  In a restaurant here in hamilton, I went to see the leftover garbage and it was not attractive.  Imagine collecting everybody’s leftover food when you are at home and putting it all together on one plate.  It doesn’t look attractive: bones, potatoes, banana skins all together.

The disciples thought, ‘this is just rubbish, come on Jesus’.  Most people don’t like to come close to rubbish.  Yet, the chef cooked it, took time and effort for you to eat but the remaining is waste.  Jesus didn’t want to waste it.  Jesus made the food, He multiplied it.  When God blesses you, He gives you more than enough, He will multiply it only when you accept to feed others.  When you offer to God, you will see multiplication. 

Very often I live like a bird, I wake up and have no money but before it’s too late I’ll have money and even more.  Very often, wherever I go, people give to me.  Whatever I give, I don’t hesitate to give it away.  Whenever I need $5, I surrender the issue to God’s hand and ask Him to take care of it and then I get more than $5.

David said, my cup is full and overflowing.  Tell God, look at my job, it’s small but multiply it.  Tell God this is my situation, break it again and multiply it.  One time we went somewhere and met a lady who was 66 years old and her only purpose was to have a child.  She declared, ‘if God can give me a child then I will become a believer’.  According to science, once you reach an age, you can’t give birth and she asked us to pray for her, ‘If you want me to believe, do this’.  How can you sort this out? God this is just a small piece of bread back to you, to feed all those who will testify and once she gives back the story, it will bring more for you.

Why did Jesus ask them to collect the reminder and take them with you?  The disciples collected all of it.  They were to take the boat and He was to pray on mountain.  The disciples rowed the boat and somewhere in middle of sea, the waves came and Jesus started to walk towards the disciples on the water.  The disciples wandered who it was, they were afraid of a ghost on the water.  Even if you are a good swimmer, where will you go? 

One time we were camping and were told to kill the fire before going to bed but we thought ‘rubbish, that fire must be there all night’.  Rhinos and hippos always come towards the smell of fire.  Someone saw this big animal coming and screamed, ‘we are dying’ and I was like, ‘be quiet, let me sleep’.  But then I woke up and saw it was very close to me.  I froze in front of the animal and it came closer and I peed in my pants and was shaking and I thought I was dying and all my friends were in the trees looking at me.  I didn’t know what to do.  The animal sat down and I can tell you, those three minutes felt like 3 years.  The animal left, I ran straight into a tree and I realized I could easily lose my life if I don’t listen to the alarm in my life.

Tell God, this is dangerous, help.  Those who saw the ghost coming, they could see the waves coming, they recognized His voice.  Sometimes God will come to you through the waves and we think it is satan but it is God Himself.  When problems come, Jesus will be there to protect you.  If you want victory, victory comes from God.  We all want to be victorious.  Sometimes situations bring us down and things turn wrong and we need victory.  It’s between God’s hands and you only see it when you offer it to Jesus and ask for His solution.  If you don’t give it to God, you won’t get anything back.  If you do as Jesus asked you to do, then you will see the result.  You need to accept Him.  If you want yourself to change, ask God to break you.  God changed me completely after I asked to be broken.  I went to Sweden and was being translated wrongly.  God changed the situation and I started to speak the Swedish language.  It’s your turn today to speak another language and you’ll see God bringing solutions to your problems.

Pray for yourself and your children.

Trangressions, Iniquities and Sins

By Colleen Podmore

“Have mercy on me O God, according to Your unfailing love, according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” Psalm 51;1-2

There is a note at the top of the psalm that explains the reason David wrote these words.  It says that it was about the time David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then contrived to murder Uriah, her husband. If you don’t know the story you can read about it in 2Sam11.

Briefly, David committed adultery with Uriah’s wife Bathsheba. Then when she became pregnant, David tried to cover his sin by recalling Uriah from the front-lines of battle so that he would sleep with his wife and think that he was the father of her child. But Uriah was an honourable man and he would not go to his wife while his men were at war – so David arranged to have him killed in battle and then David married Bathsheba and their son was born.

How old do you think David was when this happened? 20? 30? 40? 50? Probably in his 50’s. What were the sins David committed? Coveting, adultery, lying, murder – 10^th, 7^th, 9^th and 6^th commandments. Who had he sinned against? -Bathsheba, Uriah, Community, his body, God.

It’s hard to believe that a man like David, a man after God’s own heart who had suffered so much in his life could get it so utterly wrong and furthermore be blind to his wrong-doing. It’s a bit scary really because are we so different to David?

In this psalm we see the initial petition David makes – vs1. Straight away we see a man taking responsibility for his actions. He does not say, ‘Have mercy on me because I’m the King, or because I have worked all my life to serve God and I’m a pretty good person!’ He admits his wrong-doing and cries out to a God whom he believes is all these things - merciful, loving, and compassionate.

In these first two verses we can see some of the beauty of Hebrew poetry. These are the first three triplets of three triplets in these verses –‘merciful, unfailing love, compassion’, ‘blot, wash, cleanse’, and ‘transgressions, inequities, sins’

David goes on with his petition – He says, ‘Blot out, wash and cleanse’. These three words are quite interesting if we look at them. Blot – this is a legal term and means to expunge a record so that there is no longer any trace of the wrong-doing. David knows his sin is recorded somewhere (Ps 56:8; Jer18:23; Is 43:25). But his request is to have it completely removed from the record. Wash – this is a laundering term. It means that the garment is so clean that there is no stain left. Cleanse – means to make clean. Perhaps to remove a guilty conscience compare to the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 9:14).

Finally we have the last of the three triplets  -  transgressions, iniquities and sins

These are the three most common words the Bible uses for offences. Transgressions and iniquities are used in the OT and mainly sin in the NT

Transgression once again is a legal term for breaking the law, Iniquities are immoral or unfair behaviour like injustices. Sin is just missing the mark.

Transgressions and iniquities may be words or actions pertaining to the law – very relevant to the Jews who lived by law, but we who live by grace don’t break any specific laws- we just miss the mark. There are no laws for us to live by except the perfect law – ‘to Love the Lord our God...’ (Matt22:37)-there are no ‘do this’, ‘do that’, ‘go to church’, ‘don’t swear’, etc. Just the requirement to live in such a way that we don’t stumble anyone (1Cor 10:24).

David sinned – but it was not until Nathan confronted him that he was convicted and realised the state to which he had fallen. And Nathan was able to reveal to David in such a way that it reached into his soul.

King David wrote down this psalm and it has become a model of repentance. Even though we all sin and fall short of the glory of God, we have one who intercedes for us.  This does not give us license to sin however, no we should never abuse the grace of God. And if we see a brother or sister in sin then we should try to ‘gently restore them’ (Gal 6:1).

Finally, David wrote a sequel to this plea for mercy - Psalm 32. ‘Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven....’ Amen.

Clear Oil From Olives Beaten to Make a Lamp Burn Continually

“Clear oil from beaten olives to make a lamp burn continually”

Leviticus 24:2

By Hayley Boud

By looking at this verse, what is your overall first impression?  What do you think it means?

A lamp is a light and in order for it to give light continuously, it has to have oil beaten from olives and that oil must be clear oil, not dirty oil.

The first word is “clear”, what does that mean?  Why does the oil have to be clear?

If oil is dirty, it can destroy the machinery.  For example, a microscope lense can get scratched or the car engine can get destroyed.  If I said to you, please wipe this oil that contains sand over your reading glasses to clean them, would you think it was a good idea?  You would say no because you know the dirty oil will scratch your glasses and destroy them – you won’t be able to see clearly anymore.  Dirty oil makes the lamp to burn with smoke which makes not only yourself to become blinded but also those around you and the lamp will not be useful in leading people in the right direction.

This is the same with our spiritual life, we have to be clean or we will destroy ourselves both physically and spiritually.  We reap what we sow.  A friend of mine is now unable to get pregnant because she got chlamydia as a teenager and so she destroyed her physical body because she didn’t keep herself clean from sexual immorality.  If we want to see clearly with our spiritual eyes, we need to keep our soul clean.  If we don’t want to misled others or be a stumbling block, then we have to be clean. 

What does oil do? What does the oil represent?

Without oil, your car won’t work.  The car will seize up and stop working.  It’s impossible to see anything on the microscope slide without oil. If we put dirty oil in an engine it will clog up not only the engine but the other parts around it.  The oil makes things run smoothly and allows all the parts of the machine to smoothly work together.

The oil represents the Holy Spirit Himself, baptism of the Holy Spirit and anointment of the Holy Spirit.  We need the Holy Spirit to make our lives run smoothly and not only our own lives but the lives of those around us and when we have the Holy Spirit and no sin in us (clear oil) the work we are doing together as Christians will go smoothly.  It is impossible to do or see anything without the Holy Spirit.  We need Him in our lives and we should do our best not to quench Him by keeping clean and pure so the Holy Spirit can work in us.  If we are dirty, we cannot work properly and we can even destroy those around us, so let’s make sure to repent when we have sinned and make a decision to not sin.

What do the olives represent?  Why do they have to be beaten olives?

Olives are a type of fruit and as Christians it should be our aim to produce good fruit.  Without beating the olives, there will be no oil.  To beat olives takes hard work.  It requires patience, time and effort.  We have to remember, to produce good fruit for Jesus, we need to make an effort, work hard and be patient.  Faith without works is dead or useless. We have to work hard as well as have faith. Read the Bible, pray, spend time with Jesus, serve God and serve others.

Also, the word “beaten” sounds painful.  We have to remember that in order for God to transform us, we might have to go through times of testing and trials in order for our character to become like Christ’s.  If I didn’t have this illness for all these years, I would never have learnt what I have and I would never have changed but being sick for so long tests my patience, perseverance, faith and helps me to be more compassionate, caring and kind to others.  So the beating will remove the outside of the olive to produce the good clear oil which is used to light the way.  Our testing times will remove what is not good in our lives to produce something useful for God and others.

Why should a lamp burn continuously? What does it mean for us?

We are the light of the world and therefore we should be continually burning that light for Christ and for the world to see Christ so they can be drawn to the Kingdom of God.  We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, clean of sin and we need to work in order for our lamp to burn continuously.  I want an eternal flame, not one that goes out after a few days or weeks or years.  Therefore, I need to make a decision to not sin anymore and if I do sin; repent immediately in order to keep clean.  I need to ask the Holy Spirit to lead me and anoint me and the work I am doing.  I need to work for God, serve Him and those around me.

Verse 3: This was in the tent of meeting where the Levites gather, not just the priests.  The Levites are a picture of Christians because they were given that role by God to serve Him and others and to show the rest of Israel how they should behave.  They were to be a good example of to live.  We as Christians have to do the same for the world around us.  They are watching us so we need to be a good example.  Therefore our light has to shine everywhere we go, not just when we are around Christians.  When I’m at work, Uni, supermarket, at home, with friends and family, I have to be a light that leads people to Christ.  Can I honestly say that at every second I am shining a light that leads people to Christ?  If not, now is the time to say sorry and make a decision to change and then change. 

Verse 3 says “kept in order from evening to morning”.  All day and night we must keep our souls in order.  Every second of every day we must be sure that we are clean and we don’t fall into temptation.  When night comes (satan) don’t fall into that temptation, remember that after night comes the morning so tell that temptation you won’t be tempted today and know that after a few minutes, the temptation will disappear. 

Let’s pray all together for ourselves.  Ask for forgiveness if this message has touched an area in your life.  Praise God if you are on track.  Ask God to help us to not fall into temptations, tell Him you decide today to be a light to those around you leading them to Christ through your actions, your purity and the Holy Spirit leading you.  Ask the Spirit to help you so your light will burn continuously and never go out. 

Staying on Track - Proverbs 3:6

“Staying on track”: Proverbs 3:6

 

By Odon Bulamba

 

I’m so happy every time to pick up my phone to read a verse in the morning, because it helps me to pray and start my day.  The Bible can feel heavy but the phone is always there, so easy to program it with reminders to pray, or praise the Lord.

 

Life doesn’t have a draft version, what you are living is it; there is no chance to correct what you are doing tomorrow.  I have three Bibles that look exactly the same, blue, black and red.  This red Bible is from Pete and it is a special gift for me.  When I came to New Zealand, I had a Bible which was so old it didn’t have a cover on it anymore and a lady covered it for me but it wasn’t very good and Pete saw my Bible and he gave me his Bible (this red one).  I look after this Bible because it was a special gift that I will never forget.  The actions we do, we can forget them but the recipient will never forget them.

 

Proverbs 3:1-6, “My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.  Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.  Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

 

In all your ways acknowledge him and direct your paths.  Today’s message is about  “Staying on track”.  We hear people say all the time, “I’m on track”.  The first thing in life that keeps you out of the track is discouragement; that is the first enemy.  Discouragement wakes up with you, when you have a shower it’s there with you, someone had a hot shower before you and now the hot water is gone and you feel discouraged.  You have a hot coffee and it didn’t taste good.  Doing your make-up, you are discouraged; I don’t look really good.  When eating, you are discouraged; this isn’t the food I was expecting.  Even wearing your clothes you can feel discouraged and change them several times.  Discouragement can push you off track when you allow it to be your twin brother.

 

If you want to be a good Christian, you have to fight against disc.  When it comes, tell it, “no your place is not here, there is no seat for you here, you stay away from me”.  Discouragement will listen.  It won’t fight back.

 

Sometimes when I look around and I can see weak people or evil doers as David in the Bible calls them, they get all the blessings without praying, fasting or even thinking about God and all their business is blessed, they have victory and suChrist Churchess while me who prays strongly and shout and cry to God…God won’t allow it to happen to me but he gives it to other people who are evil doers. 

 

Psalm 37 reminds us that we don’t have to envy those people or put our mind or trust in the result of what they are getting because shortly it will be cut off.  Those who are evil doers feel fine, they have no need to go back to God, I don’t need him I have everything that I need: a wife, children, money, job etc.  Do I really need God?  I can tell you those blessings will be cut off very soon.  Verse 7 says to wait patiently for God for him to intervene.  Sometimes when you are asking for something you want it to happen immediately.  You tell God, “now not later because if you don’t give it to me now….such and such thing will happen or won’t happen”. We put God aside while He knows better what is going to happen.  We tell God if you don’t heal me now I will die and God looks at you and says, “I am the one who determines death”.

 

The second thing after fighting discouragement is patience.  Patience is the best tool to stay on track. By not being patient the prodigal son in Luke 15 wanted his blessing now from his father because he wanted to do his own life.  Maybe I have prayed like the prodigal son in my life telling God I want it now.  The father said, do you really want this, do you think this is the right time?  The son said, give it to me now.  The father was so kind and gave it to him.  Some Bible theologians will tell you it was a big amount of money, gold and silver around $50M today and the boy packed everything and said goodbye, this is what I was after and I have to go.  When God blesses you and you receive from God, isn’t that the time you tell God, good bye now because I don’t need you anymore, I have to take my own direction.

 

He went to another country.  I watched the movie Shrek, and in that movie is the kingdom of far, far away.  Many people after receiving their treasure from God, they start to look around to find a kingdom from far far away from the track.  They start their journey.  The blessings of God led the prodigal son to become a sinner…it was life for him but death for God.  Is it good to beg God and shake him to make you have what you want now?  This is not a good strategy because it might lead you somewhere where you can’t return. 

 

If I take my car key now from my pocket, and say to Chris who is only 8 years old, “you are my son, I love you so much, this is my car key, take my car and drive to the supermarket”.  Am I a good father?  Chris will say yes and the car will never refuse Chris.  I am free to give it to my son but this is not the right time I should say, “wait the time will come when you turn 16 then you will have your car so you will be protected and safe.  If I give it to you now, you will crash and kill yourself or someone else”.

 

Blessings are already there, God has prepared all the blessings for us and He is now working on us to be ready for those blessings. 

 

When we go to the train station we see the tracks, we see the long metal lines in parallel like stairs with lines in between them.  We used to think of trains as big snakes when we were kids.  When you go to the station, the first thing you need to know is where are you going, do you have a destination.  If you know your destination you will come on time, sit down, read, talk to others and once there, someone will say, the train from Auckland to Christchurch is leaving in the next few minutes and you will stop what you are doing and get ready to go.  JESUS has given you the ticket and you have everything you need to border the train and the train will come.  You can see in your eyes you are going to Christchurch but you are still in Auckland but in your brain you know you are going to Christchurch. Some train stations are under ground and you will need to use stairs.  You need climb the stairs, accept it or not. 

 

When I was a child we had a two story house and you had to go up the stairs to get to our bedrooms.  Stairs can sometimes look ugly and sometimes people try to cover them with carpet or lights or flowers and pictures but the stairs are still stairs.  When you go up the stairs you will sometimes feel pain and your legs will tell you, you have just walked up stairs.  When my mother was 8 months pregnant, she was upstairs and I shouted from downstairs, I’m dying (joking) and she tried to rush down and she jumped one step and fell down like a potato sack at the bottom of the stairs and when she realized I was just joking, she smacked me and then I saw the blood coming from my mum and I saw the damage I caused.  We have to go one step after another and we can’t jump stairs or we will cause damage to ourselves.  Once you are up one stair, don’t go back to the step where you were once before and don’t let satan push you down.  We have to press ourselves to move up the next step.

 

When you want to be someone who stays on track for the Lord, praise God for where you are now.  Praise God for being able to drive, praise God because the vehicles starts, praise God for what you see on your way, Praise Him for safety.  “If God you were not watching over me, I could kill this person.  Thank you Lord because I am in victory, what I failed yesterday I have now passed that and I am one step ahead.  Thank you for all that I have”.

 

David was just a simple man and God sent Samuel to bless him as a king.  Samuel anointed him as king but imagine this king became a shepherd looking after sheep.  Who could believe a king could be there with a staff from morning to evening running behind the sheep, supporting the sheep to give birth.  Imagine being told you are going to be a king and you have to shepherd the sheep.  I will start to doubt God, was the promise true or not.   The time wasn’t there yet but when the right time was there he was king because he stayed on track.

 

God asks of us to, “Respect what I ask you, respect My Word”.  Do we respect it or not?  Jesus fed the thousands and people wanted to make Him their king and the answer of Jesus was, “this is not the time, wait until the time I will be crucified”.  Crucifixion made him become a king.  Your sickness will make you get healing, your poverty will make you become rich.  What you are challenged with today will lead you to victory.  You praise God when you are sick and then healed but someone who has never been sick will never understand what you are talking about.

 

When you sit on that train of going forward, the speed will start to increase, no matter how you want to reach your destination; the train has its own schedule.  God has put you on the train and this is the destination but you now control the train, you drive your feelings but remember this is the speed limit. 

 

This lady sang this song, “Jesus take the wheel”.  She was driving with a baby in the car, she was going too fast and she started to crash and she couldn’t control the car anymore and she surrendered the car and she said take control of it.  Jesus has given you a train that you pull with many people behind you.  If Anna works as a doctor, how many lives will depend on her.  If Pete approves my accident compensation case, my whole family benefits because it’s a train.  If Anna heals me, look what will follow, my whole family will be benefit from that healing.  The train you are given by God is a long train carrying precious cargo.  If you go at high speed the train will leave the track and it can never get back on the track.  Many people lose their lives because of one person driving.  There is a recent case of that man who was distracted driving the train and has taken the life of more than 70 people.

 

Read your Bible, meditate on it and stay on track.  Read Bible and find for yourself what is written there, and ask, “what are your directions Lord”.

 

I cried once at my daughter’s primary school.  My eldest daughter sat an Australasian exam for English and she got in the top 1% of all the Australian and New Zealand schools.  The principal said, “now I have this to share with you, this person who became the top 1% she is not a native speaker of English, but she made it and that person is Roda”.  Everybody clapped and I started to cry and I didn’t cry for the certificate but I cried because it was a victory for me.  Roda is naturally intelligent but the school would not let her move to higher levels.  Whenever I asked for her to move up, they would refuse.  Instead, the teachers would discourage her from working because her level was ahead, they would tell her to slow down and not work so hard so she could stay at the level of the other children, they didn’t want her to move up.  So I cried for the victory.  What makes you cry?  God will move you upstairs and with your tears tell God thank you although the world will not always accept it but when you show your results to the world, the world will see.

 

Now Roda wants now to go to Harvard and she is serious because she believes God has a plan for her there.  Do you believe God has a plan for you?  If you do praise God, just stay on track. 

 

This small machine is a GPS and when you have this in the car with you, you put all your hope and trust in this.  I’m going to visit someone in Whakatane, I’ll just let my GPS, once I put in the address it will tell me how long it will take and the route to take.  If on the way, there will be delays, the GPS will modify the time and advise on taking another route. 

 

Sometimes I’m not patient especially when I ring a company and the phone says, press one, press two especially with IRD, they will tell you “please be patient” after every one minute and the music plays.  One time I waited for IRD for 1 ½ hours and I had to listen to the message, “Please be patient”.

 

One time I was very hungry and I was coming from Palmerston North (five hour trip) and when I saw Burger King, I parked my car and smelt the food and became very hungry but with 20 people in front of me waiting in the queue, I complained, “Oh God, what can I do, help me.”  Because of lack of patience I drove home but there was no food ready and I was supposed to start to cook from zero.  Sometimes when we lose patience and we lose everything.

 

When you are going in the wrong direction, the GPS will tell you.  It will tell you, “You are out of the track, make a you turn, turn around”.  What is your GPS in your Christian life, do you have one, when you are away from God and it says turn around, do you turn off the GPS?  If you don’t want to get lost, you will listen to the message and turn around but if you turn it off you will get lost.

 

I programmed by GPS and somewhere it turned off because the battery was dead and I wasn’t at my destination and I couldn’t call anyone because it was out of coverage.  Look after your GPS, (your conscience) check you are on the right track and don’t lose your GPS.  Many people didn’t go to church this morning because of the rugby game last night and they drank and now can’t wake up because the spent the whole night celebrating but if you tell them to celebrate for the Lord, they will think 20 minutes is too long.  The train you are leading is the train of life and takes the life of your children, parents, and neighbors.    

 

Paul in the Bible said, “I have finished my course”.  MY course.  It is my competition and I have to participate.  You have to participate.  This athlete completed the race even though he lost and did it for the glory of his country and his career.  Better to compete than to give up.  Never pull out because on that day of judgment, Jesus will tell you, “when I called you, you rejected me”.  He called you to follow you in the same way He called the disciples.  When He calls you what do you answer, put aside your excuses and follow Him and don’t get off the track.

 

When you got married, on that day how happy were you.  Men walking with their wives proudly but today they the wife is there to do their cleaning while children are observing.  We have to come back to the track – remember our first love.

 

Proverbs 3:1, you can forget anything else in your life but don’t forget the laws of God.  You read your Bible every time but you try to forget who He is and what He has done for you.  Don’t forget Him.

 

All your problems and challenges in your life and in your family and friend’s lives, God has the solution and the solution is already with you but He is preparing you so you will be ready to receive it.  Don’t be discouraged or down because you don’t get what you need, keep your hope and step by step you will receive what you will need at the right time.