The Choice is Yours

 The Choice Is Yours

Scripture Reading: Joshua 24:14-28

Focus Verse: Joshua 24:15  " But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.”

In America this week we will vote to elect a new President.  The two candidates and their values are very different and for me the choice is clear who I will vote for.  What if I went to vote and I decided I wanted to vote for both candidates?  My vote would be disqualified, and my vote would not count.

There are people today that live their lives as if they vote for God and the world.  And this does not work.  You must choose.  You can’t sit on the fence trying to live for both.  Deuteronomy 30:19-20 says, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”  

Every person makes a choice.  You will either make a choice for the gods of this world and what the world has to offer,  or  you will choose to serve God Almighty the one true God in heaven.  The choice cannot be more clear.  And you must choose.  Maybe you're saying you won’t make a decision, you’re not going to choose.  That in itself is a decision to choose the world.  And that decision will leave you separated from God for all eternity.  Don’t make that decision.  The choice is yours, choose The One True God and serve Him.

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

Can Anyone Be Saved?

Can Anyone Be Saved?

 Scripture Reading: Acts 26:9-18

Focus Verse: Acts 26:9  “I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene.”

I went to a conference where our speaker shared some of his testimony on how he came to Jesus.  He mentioned how he was involved in drugs, alcohol and sexual misconduct before his salvation.  As I listened I thought how unlikely it seemed that he would come to Jesus and be saved. 

 

All of us can probably think of someone that we know who is unlikely to become a Christian. Our scripture reading today is about one of those people.  The apostle Paul was actually chasing down Jesus followers, putting Christians in jail, having them punished and voting for their death. A very unlikely person to become a Christian!  But then he had an encounter with Jesus as he was traveling on the road and that changed his life forever. Jesus appointed him to be His servant and witness so that people would turn from darkness to light.

You might say you don’t have a testimony of being saved from all kinds of rough sins like drugs, theft, and murder.  If you’re a born again Christian, it doesn't matter if you had big sins or small sins, you have a powerful testimony of how you came to Jesus.  Your testimony is not about "you", but it's about God's saving grace in your life.  There is someone out there who needs to hear your testimony of how you came to Jesus!  Who knows, but they may be the most unlikely to be saved.

 

  Lastly, I want to answer the question asked at the beginning of this devotion.  YES, anyone can be saved, but only through the grace of God through Jesus and a repentant heart toward God.

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

Holding On

 Holding On

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 13:1-4

Focus Verse: Deuteronomy 13:4  “Serve only the Lord your God and fear Him alone.  Obey His commands, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him.”
 

How can we think rightly about what our life is supposed to be for.  We really count on a lot of things around us, but some things can fail us. What are some things that you depend on in your life?  

We all depend on the sun to rise each morning.  We depend on gravity to hold us here on the earth.  Maybe you would say you depend on your job, or you depend on your money, or your government.  Do you depend on God as much as you depend on these other things?  

This world is always changing. Just like shifting sand at the beach, the waves move the sand around and it is not secure.  Nothing in this world is 100% dependable.  But God has never changed, and He never will.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  His love and mercy for us is never changing, no matter how we change.  God is my Rock and he wants you to put your anchor into the rock that can never move.  God will never let you go.  There is nothing in all of creation that can separate us from the love of Christ.  So hold on to the things that never change in this world, God and His Word.  Our focus on Him can keep us secure from getting wrecked or lost.

Bobby Johnson
Interlocking Ministries

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 the 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 instructed 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

Our Shelter In The Storm

Scripture Reading: Psalm 46

Focus Verses: Psalm 46:1-3   "God is our refuge and strength,

    always ready to help in times of trouble.
2 So we will not fear when earthquakes come
    and the mountains crumble into the sea.
3 Let the oceans roar and foam.
    Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! “

Last April, Kenya experienced widespread flooding.  Now flooding has come to America.  More specifically to my state of North Carolina.  About 250km from my home in the mountains of North Carolina hundreds and maybe thousands of homes and businesses have been swept away by flood waters.  This all happened one week ago.  There are over 250 confirmed dead and still hundreds are missing.  We are sad to see such devastation happen to our neighbors to the west. We would ask you to please pray for these people who are suffering.

Psalm 46 tells us that natural earth disasters will take place.  Even Jesus told us that in this life you will have trouble. Even if we don't know why bad things like this happen, we must trust that God knows what He is doing.  Since this tragedy happened last week I have seen how neighbors have come together to help each other.  I have driven my vehicle out to the affected area to take much needed supplies for hurting people.  Psalm 46:1 says “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble."  Some people have lost their home, their business, they even have lost family members.  Sometimes you may lose everything that you have in this world and you realize God is all that you have.  And He is willing, ready, and able to help in our time of need.  God will receive glory from every tragedy.  He can take the worst of circumstances and turn it around for His good, and our good.  Maybe you’re going through a very difficult time in your life.  As the Psalmist says “do not fear, God is our refuge and strength and ready to help.  God alone is our shelter in the storm.

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

Seeing and Witnessing

Seeing and Witnessing

Scripture reading: Matthew 28:1-8

But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.” 8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.  

 When an accident or crime takes place and the matter is taken to a court of law, a witness (one who saw it happen) would be needed to testify about it. The witness would then give facts of what he saw happen and would be asked to swear in before the court that he is not giving false information. The court would then rely on the witnesses to give a ruling in accordance with the rule of law. It is worthless to see a crime or incident and refuse to give a testimony of what you saw.    

Jesus had just risen from the tomb and the ladies who went to anoint His body were ushered into an empty tomb by the angel of God. The angel showed them the empty place where the Lord was laid, thus making the ladies be witnesses that Jesus is indeed risen. He was no longer laying dead in the tomb. The angel then instructed the ladies to go and tell (share with) the disciples that Jesus is no longer dead, He is risen! The ladies did exactly as they were told; they ran and told the disciples about the same. 

Seeing is one thing but sharing/witness about what you saw is another thing altogether. Believers are not just called to see God work in their lives or around them but must be ready to go and witness to the person about Jesus...and to the world. Not many believers are ready to witness to the world about what God has done to their lives and as a result it denies others the opportunity to hear about Jesus and come to Him. When we read God’s word or hear God’s message, we should not just keep what we heard or saw but should go out and witness to the world about the same. God allows us to see or experience his work since He wants us to be His witnesses. The women in the scripture did not just see the empty tomb and the risen Christ but went out and witnessed to the others about the same and as a result more people came to believe in Him. Are you ready to be a witness of the risen Christ to the world today? What opportunities have we had to share about Him but we have kept quiet? Did we ever put off His voice instructing us to do something for His kingdom? Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 

Eliazar Wambo Nyakwadah
Director Bethesda Faith Ministries & Pastor Makira Baptist Church

Fruitful in the midst of weeds

 Fruitful in the midst of weeds
Scripture reading: Matthew 13:24-30
Focus verse: Matthew 13:28-30 - He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” 

Weeds are very bothersome! We may love for our fields to stay without weeds. They not only compete for nutrients with our crops but they also can carry disease or can strangle our crops so that they don’t produce harvest. One funny thing with weeds is that they time your planting season and will come out as soon as your crops have begun to grow. We may use many methods to control them but still it’s so hard to take them all out completely.  
Jesus gives a parable of a man who sowed good seeds in his field, unfortunately the enemy came at night and planted tares. As the grain grew, the tares also grew with them. The servants of the man came to him and asked him to grant them permission so they could uproot all the tares but the man declined. Instead, he tells them that lest they uproot the good crops in their attempt to uproot the tares. Again, he tells them to wait until harvest time when good crops were to be distinguished from the tares. Tares would then be gathered and burnt while good crops are harvested and taken to the barn.
Tares are works of Satan and they are his efforts to make you unproductive in your life as a believer. They can be life storms that one encounters in his walk with Christ and we all must go through them. We may want to do away with them as the servants’ of the man had wanted, but God is saying He has the best time and solution for each tare. Believers should still produce a harvest in the midst of tares. Challenges will always be part of our life experience since we have an enemy who is fighting against our new life in Christ. We need to keep being the light of God in the dark world and our light needs to shine where there is darkness. God will surely sustain our fruitfulness as long as we keep relying on Him.

Eliazar Wambo Nyakwadah