CHANGED ATTITUDE, CHANGED STORY

MEMORY VERSE: What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

BIBLE READING: 1 Samuel 20-23

Naaman had everything except for one thing, good health. 2 Kings 5:1 says: ‘Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.’ One day, the young slave girl who waited on Naaman’s wife witnessed to her. ‘Would God my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy,’ she said. Mrs. Naaman related the message to her husband. On hearing, he travelled to Samaria to meet the prophet of God. When he arrived, Elisha sent his servant to tell him to dip seven times in River Jordan.

Naaman went ballistic. He was angry because the prophet did not personally attend to him. Also, he was angry because he was told to dip himself in River Jordan, a dirty river. Whilst he was ranting and raving, his servants counselled him to do what the man of God told him to do; he listened and was healed. A change in attitude can lead to a change in circumstances, to breakthrough, to a change of story, and so on. With his initial attitude, Naaman would have died a leper!

NOTE: Your attitude matters! Regardless of the promises of God for your life, a terrible attitude or character can frustrate the plans of God for your life. From time to time, we say ‘if God be for us, who can be against us.’ The answer is you and me.

QUESTION: What is your attitude towards divine instructions? Do you argue with it? What is your attitude towards the things of God? What is your attitude towards challenges? Do you easily give up or throw in the towel? Do you make negative confessions when things are not going as planned? What is your attitude towards the progress of others? Do you get angry? What is your attitude towards the undiluted word of God? What is your attitude towards the ministry God has put in your hands?

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KILL THE LITTLE LEOPARD NOW

MEMORY VERSE: Abstain from all appearance of evil, 1 Thessalonians 5:22

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Josh 23, Acts 3, Jer 12, Matt 26

A hunter went to hunt and killed a big leopard, he then discovered that the leopard had a small baby- a very little baby leopard, harmless little thing, so he took it home. When the chief (head of the village) saw the little leopard coming with him, he screamed ‘what are you bringing this little leopard to do in our village’? He said ‘oh no it is just a little harmless leopard ‘. The chief said ‘let’s kill it now’; he said ‘no no no this little thing can’t harm anybody’. So the little leopard began to grow and play with children everywhere because it is just a little leopard. This little leopard became so playful to the extent that the son of the hunter could even sit on its back and ride it around. One day (the little leopard has now become a big leopard) the son of the hunter was riding on the back of this leopard towards the village stream, the boy fell and bruised his leg on the thorn bush and blood began to flow. The leopard licked the blood and that thing in the leopard – that thing makes a leopard a leopard rose up within him at the taste of blood. The first victim was son of the hunter.

Brethren if you do not kill that little leopard in your life now, it will kill you. You may be wondering, what is that little leopard? The little leopard is that little contamination; that little anger; that little sin; that little peep at naked pictures; that little steering at woman who wear provocative clothes; that little talk of sex with your fiancé; that little lies; that little love for sleep ; that little love folding of hands and doing nothing;that little sexual jokes; that little touching or smushing or tapping of currents; that little harmless hug (those hugs that a little too long); that little telephone conversation with the opposite sex in the middle of the night; that little love for something that is not of God. If you do not kill it now, that little leopard will become a big leopard and that big leopard would kill.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 says abstain from all appearance of evil. Abstain from whatever appears has evil! Lot was a great man of God who loved a little bit of wine. He never drinks in the public, only at home. He only takes a little sip of wine once in a blue moon. After the Lord delivered him from Sodom, his corrupt daughters got him drunk and slept with him, Genesis 19:31-35. That little love for wine ruined Lot’s life forever. No one can get you drunk when you don’t drink. You only stand a chance of been drunk when you drink. David was a man after the heart of God. He would sing praises to God 7 times a day but he loved steering at women a little too long. He loved to feed his eyes just like many do today. One day he saw the wife of a man bathing and he steered a little bit too long (2 Samuel 11:5-27). Before David knew what was happening, he had already committed adultery with the wife of his soldier. Do you know David was dethroned by his son for this?

WISDOM: If you do not destroy that little harmless leopard now it will become a big leopard and that big leopard would kill.

GOD’S ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE NAKED

MEMORY VERSE: Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. Genesis 3:21

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Lev 22, Ps 28-29, Eccl 5, 2 Tim 1

BIBLE STUDIES: Genesis 3:1-21

After Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruits and their eyes were opened; they discovered that they were naked. When they heard the voice of God in the garden, they ran to hide from the presence of God. After the Lord had thoroughly addressed the issue of their disobedience, He made tunics of skin to clothe them i.e. cover their nakedness. It is true that Adam and Eve were the architects of their own misfortune. They became naked as a result of their disobedience to God. It can also be argued that they became naked because they refused to listen to the counsel of the Lord .The Lord warned them not to touch the forbidden fruit but they refused and ate of the fruit. Adam became naked as a result of following the multitude to do evil. He knew that eating the fruit was forbidden, but because his wife gave it to him, he ate it.

Because Adam and Eve disobeyed God, the glory of the Lord that was a covering unto them departed. There are one or two lessons to learn from this, the product of disobedience to God is shame. So also the product of obedience to God is glory. Proverbs 3:35 says the wise shall inherit glory but shame shall be the promotion of fools. Not only that, failure to follow godly counsel exposes us to unnecessary hardship. Adam and Eve failed to follow God’s counsel and the ground was cursed for their sake.

When you study this passage carefully, you will come to the conclusion that Adam and Eve were not only physical naked, they were also emotionally naked.The reason why they hid from God was because the mistakes of their past was made known to God. Their terrible past, their misdeeds , the errors of their past , things they did out of foolishness , their wrong decisions came to God’s knowledge. What do you when people’s terrible past comes to your knowledge? What do you do when you become aware of things people did out of foolishness before they met the Lord? What do you do when you become privy of the wrong decisions a fellow took in the past? Immediately God became privy of the past of Adam and Eve, He covered them up. He did not laugh them to scorn, He did not look down on them, He did not even call them names. If for one reason or the other you become aware of a person’s past especially in the church of God, do not segregate them. Don’t turn the stories of their past to a topic of discussion amongst your friends. If you cannot pray for them, don’t compound things by using it to preach or refer to it when addressing a gathering.

PRAYER POINT: Father , in every area of my life I have become naked as a result of disobedience to you, please forgive and cover me up.

ATTITUDE TO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS

MEMORY VERSE: Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows, Hebrew 1:9

 BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Lev 8, Ps 9, Prov 23,1 Thes 2

There are three basic attitudes to unrighteousness. Firstly, there are those who do not see anything wrong in living a life of unrighteousness. There are people who believe there is nothing wrong in telling a small lie especially to cover for a friend ,as far as no one gets hurt. There are those who do not see anything wrong in having sex before marriage especially when you know that you are going to marry the person. 1 John 5:17 says all unrighteousness is sin. There are also doctrines although not biblical that says once you give your life to Christ you automatically go to heaven whether you commit sin or not .Even if you fornicate with all the women in the church it is ok as far as you have giving your life to Christ. According to 1 Thessalonians 4:7, Salvation Is not a call to uncleanness i.e. life of impurity , but to holiness. Colossians 3:25 says but he that does wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done; and there is no respect of persons. Whether you have giving your life to Christ or not, if you die in sin you will get the reward of sinners. None of us shall spend eternity in hell In Jesus name.

Secondly , there are those who do not sin but permit sin. This include majority of us. We are now saved and sanctified. We do not consume alcohol because we know our body is the temple of the living God but we don’t mind entertaining guests at our parties or at homes with alcohol. We do not smoke cigarette because it is harmful to our health but we do not mind giving people money to buy cigarette. There are many believers who do not fornicate or commit adultery but will give the keys of their house to friends to bring women to sleep with. This group of believers does not steal but don’t mind if their colleagues steal or do dodgey deals. They do not fornicate but do not mind if their friends fornicate. Proverbs 13:20 says he who walks with the wise shall be wise but the companies of fools shall suffer disgrace. Do you know in the company of fools there are few wise ones there? The day the fools will get the reward for their foolishness, the wise amongst there will partake out of it.

Thirdly there is the last group who don’t condone sin at all. They have zero tolerance for sin in their lives. They hate sin. Do you know when you hate something you do not want to see it at all; you don’t want to be associated with it; you don’t even want to see it around you. Every time you see what you hate or hear about it, you begin to feel uncomfortable. That’s the same reaction we need to have for sin not sinners. Hebrews 1:9 says when you love righteousness and hate iniquity, God pours an oil of gladness on you.

POINTS TO PONDER: How do I see sin? Do I mind sin? Do I permit sin? In what area of my life are my permitting sin? Do I hate sin enough?

GOD’S ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE PREGNANT

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Gen 37, Mark 7, Job 3, Rom 7

 

Genesis 16:7 and the angel of the Lord her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

 

Bible studies: Genesis 16:7-14

 

Every one of us is pregnant . Some are pregnant with babies, ideas for expansions and other good things. In Genesis 16:7-14 is a story we all know. Immediately Hagar became pregnant her conduct and attitude changed towards her mistress - Sarai. Because of her disrespectful behavior, Sarai began to deal with her harshly and at a point she ran away. On her way the angel of the Lord met her and advised her to return to her mistress. She heeded to the voice of the angel and returned home.

 

There are one or two things to learn from this story. Firstly, God acknowledges and appreciates pregnant women. He pays special attention to them, and He expects us all to respect and care for them. It is a shame that in the society we live in today, people do not really appreciate them as they should and I believe there is more we can do when it comes to caring for them. There are some wicked husbands who physically abuse their pregnant wives or neglect them. There are some who will rather sit and watch a pregnant woman stand in the bus. This is bad and it should not be happening. Because of the stress Hagar was going through - a pregnant woman physically running away from her harsh mistress, God had to send an angel from heaven to her rescue. God has the same attitude towards anyone pregnant with ideas or any good thing. God loves serious minded people - people with vision and purpose. He will always go out of His way to send an angel to rescue them in trouble. Secondly, God is interested in what you are carrying. He puts measures into place to ensure that you do not miscarry what is inside you i.e. the baby, ideas, projects e.t.c. Hagar could have easily suffered miscarriage whilst running and the stress she was under would not have help matters. In other to ensure that she does not miscarry the baby, God sent an angel to guide her. God is very much interested in the safe delivery of the baby or ideas. This is why God frowns at abortion. Whether you believe it or not , abortion is the equivalent of murder. People may argue otherwise but according to Leviticus 17:11a , life of the creature is in the blood. The foetus in the womb has blood flowing through it and that is life.If you are reading this message and contemplating abortion , please refrain from it. If you have once had an abortion, please go to God for forgiveness immediately . If you are a guy who has consented to abortion with your partner in the past, please go to God for forgiveness.

 

PRAYER POINT: Father, help me not to miscarry my good plans in 2013!