Being Prepared
Scripture Reading: Matthew 24: 30-42
Focus Verses: Matthew 24: 39, 42 “And those alive in the days of Noah did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.”
God always keeps His word. If God says something is going to happen, you better believe it will happen. God told Noah there would be a flood to cover the earth. Noah could have said to God, “but it has never rained on the earth.” Instead Noah, by faith, began to build a boat. Surprisingly enough, out of all the people on earth at that time, only eight people truly believed God would flood the earth. Many people were swept away to their destruction because of their unbelief.
God has said that He is coming back to earth one day. I think there are many people that don’t believe that event is really going to happen. Millions of people on the earth today are not prepared for that event. The result of that unbelief will be devastating. Throughout God’s Word He has given us ample warning that He is coming back, and that we are to be prepared. Let us be about the Lord’s work until He returns. I am ready and watching for His return. Are you?
Bobby Johnson
Interlocking Ministries
Friday, June 30, 2017
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Tempted to go Back
Tempted to go Back
Bible Reading: John 21:1-14
Focus verse: John 21:3-6 – “I am going out to fish, “Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We will go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning Jesus stood on the shore but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends haven’t you any fish?” “No, they answered.”
When life becomes unbearable we often get tempted to go back to our initial way of life. We try to justify why we cannot continue holding strong into the faith. Some begin to think that God did not clearly speak to them about serving Him or maybe they did not make a right choice to follow God. They think it would have been better off for them in their previous way of life. These people may end up winning others to go back with them to their past way of life. Simon Peter finds things unbearable for him after Jesus was crucified and he feels he is not safe to continue with life as a disciple and a fisher of men. He shares his new decision to go back with other disciples who also jointly agree to go back with him. He forgets that Jesus had taken them away from fishers of fish to fishers of men.
The result of this decision is very disappointing! They did not catch any fish despite an all night struggle to get some. Isn’t this what others have faced when they are tempted to go back to their initial way of living? Actually others have ended worse than before and have lived not to see the joy they had hoped for in their going back. They try fixing it again and again but end up into wastage of strength and resources. As it happened to Peter and the friends; a decision to go back will never result into any fruit. It is a decision for grief, disappointment, shame, regrets and even death. Regardless of the circumstances we must not think of going back. But Jesus is faithful and is out looking for a soul which is tempted to go back into former life so that he may bring him back. He has the power to restore and bring back those which have abandoned service for God’s Kingdom. All our life victories have been because He has been our side and unless we stay in him we cannot get any catch. John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the brunches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Makira Baptist Church – Mfangano Kenya
Bible Reading: John 21:1-14
Focus verse: John 21:3-6 – “I am going out to fish, “Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We will go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning Jesus stood on the shore but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends haven’t you any fish?” “No, they answered.”
When life becomes unbearable we often get tempted to go back to our initial way of life. We try to justify why we cannot continue holding strong into the faith. Some begin to think that God did not clearly speak to them about serving Him or maybe they did not make a right choice to follow God. They think it would have been better off for them in their previous way of life. These people may end up winning others to go back with them to their past way of life. Simon Peter finds things unbearable for him after Jesus was crucified and he feels he is not safe to continue with life as a disciple and a fisher of men. He shares his new decision to go back with other disciples who also jointly agree to go back with him. He forgets that Jesus had taken them away from fishers of fish to fishers of men.
The result of this decision is very disappointing! They did not catch any fish despite an all night struggle to get some. Isn’t this what others have faced when they are tempted to go back to their initial way of living? Actually others have ended worse than before and have lived not to see the joy they had hoped for in their going back. They try fixing it again and again but end up into wastage of strength and resources. As it happened to Peter and the friends; a decision to go back will never result into any fruit. It is a decision for grief, disappointment, shame, regrets and even death. Regardless of the circumstances we must not think of going back. But Jesus is faithful and is out looking for a soul which is tempted to go back into former life so that he may bring him back. He has the power to restore and bring back those which have abandoned service for God’s Kingdom. All our life victories have been because He has been our side and unless we stay in him we cannot get any catch. John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the brunches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Makira Baptist Church – Mfangano Kenya
Friday, June 9, 2017
Forgiveness - The Delete Key
Forgiveness - The delete key
Bible reading: Matthew 6:9-13
Focus verse: Matthew 6:12 – Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
I must admit that my typing skills aren’t all that good so I frequently use the delete key to help me write and pass accurate information to other people. It’s possible that we will never be very accurate every time we write or pass information. I try to imagine if this key was missing in a computer or phone; communication would be difficult. Accumulation of mistakes would make your work, information or paper to present to be senseless, lacking in meaning hence low or no grading. People would present information they didn’t intend to. So delete key is the key that helps your writing be on course. It is a key you can’t avoid no matter how accurate you try to be.
Our lives have so many keys but forgiveness represents the delete key. It is the button we can’t avoid clicking daily if we want to stay on course with our walk with God and be presentable to God and to the people around us as imitators of Christ. Imagine if all the unedited work full of mistakes is what you could present for awarding, what grades could we get? That’s what happens when we don’t click the delete key in our lives. We should click it each time we make mistakes to others or whenever others do mistakes to us. Unfortunately, for some people this key is either dead, rarely used or just ignored in their lives. Jesus knew the importance of this key in our lives and instructs us to click it in our daily prayers. He said each day we need to ask for forgiveness as we also have forgiven others who trespass against us. He further states that if you don’t forgive then you too will not be forgiven, Matthew 6:14-15. Paul further states that, “You yourself are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Makira Baptists Church – Mfangano Kenya
Bible reading: Matthew 6:9-13
Focus verse: Matthew 6:12 – Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
I must admit that my typing skills aren’t all that good so I frequently use the delete key to help me write and pass accurate information to other people. It’s possible that we will never be very accurate every time we write or pass information. I try to imagine if this key was missing in a computer or phone; communication would be difficult. Accumulation of mistakes would make your work, information or paper to present to be senseless, lacking in meaning hence low or no grading. People would present information they didn’t intend to. So delete key is the key that helps your writing be on course. It is a key you can’t avoid no matter how accurate you try to be.
Our lives have so many keys but forgiveness represents the delete key. It is the button we can’t avoid clicking daily if we want to stay on course with our walk with God and be presentable to God and to the people around us as imitators of Christ. Imagine if all the unedited work full of mistakes is what you could present for awarding, what grades could we get? That’s what happens when we don’t click the delete key in our lives. We should click it each time we make mistakes to others or whenever others do mistakes to us. Unfortunately, for some people this key is either dead, rarely used or just ignored in their lives. Jesus knew the importance of this key in our lives and instructs us to click it in our daily prayers. He said each day we need to ask for forgiveness as we also have forgiven others who trespass against us. He further states that if you don’t forgive then you too will not be forgiven, Matthew 6:14-15. Paul further states that, “You yourself are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Makira Baptists Church – Mfangano Kenya
Friday, June 2, 2017
Ten Time Better in Ten Days
Bible reading: Daniel 1:3-20
Focus verse: Daniel 1:18-20 “At the end of time set by the king to bring them in, the chief officials presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked to them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hannania, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.”
Testing is one of the ways in which learning is evaluated. Each day we are presented with opportunities to learn and grow in new ideas and we have the chance to better our understanding of the word of God. Daniel together with his three other friends are taken into a ten day learning experience and to be presented for testing after ten days. They refuse to defile their bodies with food and drinks that were not holy and pure before God but accept to take only what will please God. At the end of ten days the testing results show that they are ten times better than the other people.
Ten times better in ten days! Isn’t that encouraging. Not nine times, or eight times, or five times better in ten days. This means each day was an opportunity for them to grow and they did not miss any single opportunity. Imagine if believers would grow in their faith and understanding and service of God each day. The result could be a well varied difference between the world and believers. For some of us, it would be thousands of times better than the world given the number of days we have lived as God’s own children. But is that the truth or we are mixed into the world so that barely any difference is seen regardless of the number of days we have lived as God’s children. Have we grown in proportion to our life spent with God? 2 Timothy 2:15 – Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word truth. Avoid godless character, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Makira Baptist Church – Mfangano Kenya
Focus verse: Daniel 1:18-20 “At the end of time set by the king to bring them in, the chief officials presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked to them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hannania, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.”
Testing is one of the ways in which learning is evaluated. Each day we are presented with opportunities to learn and grow in new ideas and we have the chance to better our understanding of the word of God. Daniel together with his three other friends are taken into a ten day learning experience and to be presented for testing after ten days. They refuse to defile their bodies with food and drinks that were not holy and pure before God but accept to take only what will please God. At the end of ten days the testing results show that they are ten times better than the other people.
Ten times better in ten days! Isn’t that encouraging. Not nine times, or eight times, or five times better in ten days. This means each day was an opportunity for them to grow and they did not miss any single opportunity. Imagine if believers would grow in their faith and understanding and service of God each day. The result could be a well varied difference between the world and believers. For some of us, it would be thousands of times better than the world given the number of days we have lived as God’s own children. But is that the truth or we are mixed into the world so that barely any difference is seen regardless of the number of days we have lived as God’s children. Have we grown in proportion to our life spent with God? 2 Timothy 2:15 – Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word truth. Avoid godless character, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Makira Baptist Church – Mfangano Kenya
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