WHO IS A BELIEVER?

MEMORY VERSE: Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Num 2, Ps 36, Eccl 12, Phm 1

Sometimes back I was witnessing to a brother and I asked him if he had given his life to Christ. He answered and said “I am a believer”. Out of curiosity I asked him why he thought he was a believer. He said “I am believer because i believe there is a God.” I then told him that the devil must be a believer then. He said why? I said because the devil believes that there is a God. The fact that you believe in one God don't make you a believer. He then said " i believe in heaven and hell too" ; I told him that witches and wizards believe in heaven and hell too but we all know they are not believers. He said no. Many see themselves as believers because they believe in one God. If the definition of a believer is the fellow who believes in one God then most assassins, armed robbers, adulterers and fornicators are strong believers then because most of them believe in one God anyway.

Someone may define a believer as a fellow who believes in Jesus and has accepted Him as his personal Lord and savior. Wonderful, that would mean a fellow who has accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and savior; and still robs God in tithes and offering is a believer. Would you really call a fellow who is stealing from God a believer? I don’t think God sees such a fellow as a believer. OK, what if the fellow pays his tithes but don't witness, is he a believer? Well Jesus said in Luke 11:23, he that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. Would you consider a fellow who is not witnessing as a fellow gathering with Christ? It is either you are bringing souls to Christ or you are driving them away, there is no middle point. An individual scattering what Jesus is gathering, is he fit to be called a believer?

Who then is a believer? I would use the doctor- patient analogy. You will never see a patient arguing with the doctor's diagnosis, prognosis or prescription. The patient believes in the doctor so much that he never argues with him; he carries out the doctor’s instruction to the letter. Even if the patient is exhibiting some symptoms and the doctors say don't worry, He never worries. The patient does this because he believes in the doctor. He trusts the doctor's knowledge and experience. A believer is a fellow who never argues with the instruction of God but carries it out to the letter. A patient trusts the timing of the doctor, if he is advised to take a particular pill at 2pm he does so without asking questions. So also a believer trusts in the timing of God, He believes God is never late. The patient trusts the doctor with his life because he believes that the doctor can never get it wrong. So also a believer trusts God with his destiny because he believes that God can never get it wrong.

QUESTION: Are you a believer?

SEEKING THE LORD EARLY

MEMORY VERSE: I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Proverbs 8:17

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Lev 24, Ps 31, Eccl 7, 2 Tim 3

Proverbs 8:17b says those that seek Me early shall find Me. From studying this verse, we come to the conclusion that it is possible to seek God and not find Him. Not only that , it is also possible to seek Him late. If you seek Him late, He may be gone. It is good to always get to church on time. If service start by 10am , God would have been there by 9.30am to bless His people. If you come by 11am , well God help you. The question is this, what does it mean to seek God early? When you careful study the bible, you will notice that the Lord’s Day starts in the evening and ends in the morning. This is why you see the bible saying ‘so the evening and the morning were the first day (Genesis 1:5); so the evening and the morning were the second day (Genesis 1:8) e.t.c. Seeking God early could mean seeking God in the early hours of the morning. I feel sorry for Christians who are too lazy to wake up at night to pray. As a Christian you should not be playing with night vigils at all.

Seeking the Lord early could also mean serving the Lord from a tender age. Ecclesiastes 12:1 says remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Don’t spend your youthful age chasing after women or following after men. Don’t spend your youthful age partying and clubbing. Joel 2:28 says And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. Only the youths have vision. They are strong and are able to chase after things unlike the old men who tired and weak.The youths are like battle-ax in the hands of God and with them , He brings down kingdoms of darkness.

Seeking the Lord early could also mean serving God before problem arises. There are many who only remember God when they have challenges. God is out of the question when everything is running smoothly. God is not someone who you turn to only when you have challenges, He is God and He is to be worship whether you are going through a challenge or not. Do not wait for the enemies to attack before you run to God. Do not wait to encounter challenges before you begin to fast and pray.

PRAYER POINT: Father, please as i seek you early help me to find You.

CHRIST'S ATTITUDE TO THOSE WHO LET HIM DOWN PT1

MEMORY VERSE: But I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail, and when you have returned to Me strengthen your brothers. Like 22:32

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : Lev 18, Ps 22, Eccl 1, 1 Tim 3

BIBLE STUDIES : Luke 22:55-61

It is not a good thing at all to be let down by people. It can be very painful when people you have invested time, energy, money etc let you down.Such was the case of Jesus and Peter. When Jesus met Peter, he was a failure. Peter had tried repeatedly and failed. When He met him, Peter was just an ordinary fishermen who had no future. Peter was broke, confused, tired of life, unhappy, tired physically to mention a few. Jesus saw him in the midst of all these and turned his situation around - he asked him to launch into the deep and let down his net for a catch. Peter obeyed and his long awaited breakthrough came, Luke 5:1-7. Jesus took their relationship to another level by showing Peter His glory on mount of transfiguration. He finished it off by writing his name in the book book life,Luke 10:20. Jesus did not stop there, He even went a step further to invest time and energy on Peter's extended family.He left His engagements and personally paid Peter's mother - in - law a visit when she was sick,Matthew 8:14. Jesus had a little challenge and Peter disappeared. The same Peter who the Lord had mightily invested on swore that he had not even set eyes on Jesus. Actually Jesus was few feet away when Peter denied Him the third time. 

What did Jesus do when He resurrected? He didn't swear never to greet Peter again. It would be a right thing for Jesus to immediately take his name out the book of life . Jesus did not do that , He forgave Peter. Jesus was so willing to forgive, despite the fact that He knew Peter was going to betray Him, He prayed for Him in advance.

Has anyone betrayed you? Has anyone promised to marry you or promised to be there and let you down? Has anyone taken advantage of your generosity and kindness? Brethren please let's forgive. Heaven is too precious to miss because of someone who let you down. Do you know that even before Jesus ascended to heaven he that to first eat with Peter? Eating with Peter was to proof that, He that nothing against Him and He had moved on from what happened. There is a reward for forgiveness , Peter (who was forgiven) later became one of the pillars in the church? The first sermon he preached, 3000 souls were won for Christ. The question is what if Jesus had not forgiven Peter?

PRAYER POINT :Father please help me so that unforgiveness would not rob me of your plans for my life.

JOY OF A CHRISTIAN MANIFOLD

MEMORY VERSE :My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations.James 1:2

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : Lev 17, Ps  20-21,Pr 31, 1 Tim 2.

Challenges are part and parcel el of life, be it a believer or an unbeliever . The Lord said in Isaiah 43 : 2, when you pass through waters I will be with you not if you pass through waters. Isaiah 54:17 says no weapon fashioned against you shall prosper not if a weapon is fashioned or in case a weapon is fashioned. Weapons will be fashioned but the good news is it shall not prosper. Most people dread challenges. Many pray not to even have them at all but challenges are not such a bad thing. If they are bad the bible would not say count is all joy when you face challenges , James 1:2

Why do we face challenges? One of the root causes of challenges is sin. Jeremiah 5:25 says sin withholds good things from us. According to 2 Chronicles 6: 21-36, sin causes unanswered  prayers, famine, problems e.t.c. Another reason why we face challenges is because Jesus said so. John 16:33 says but in the world you will have tribulations,but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world for you. Matthew 11:12 says from the day of John the Baptist the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violence take it by force. Another reason for challenges is that it helps us to grow in the Lord. It is fire that purifies. James 1:3 says it is the trying of our faith that produces patience. It is this patience that makes is mature in the Lord.

Another reason why we face challenges could be that the Lord wants to glorify Himself in our life publicly.When you study Daniel 3:1-30, you will see that the Lord permitted the three Hebrew boys to be cast into fire because He wanted to glorify Himself in their lives publicly. At the end, the emperor left his thrown and prostrated before these boys praising the Most High God.

 Another reason why we face challenges could be because we are a threat to the Kingdom of darkness. Many people have asked me, why is it that believers face more challenges than others. I always ask them, if you have ten chickens in your cage and one of them escapes what do you do? Their replies has always been 'I will go after it'. The same thing applies to believers, we used to be in the cage of the enemy. >From the moment we give our lives to Christ, we escape death. The enemy would not bother about his own, he knows they are his already but he will go after those that have escaped.The good news is that he can do his worse but over us he will fail. Do you know even before you face challenges, the Lord has provided a way out? Romans 8:37 says we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. This verse was written over a thousand years ago which mean that long before the challenge came, you had already been declared a victor.

PRAYER POINT : Father thank you for making me a victor, please help me never to loose my advantage in You.

GIVER OF GOLD OR THE GOLDEN CALF

   Gen 18, Matt 17, Neh 7, Acts 17

Luke 12:48 but he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

God is not just giver of gifts, according to James 1:17 He is a giver of good and perfect gifts. One of the things that give God pleasure is blessings His children. Proverbs 35:27 says let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of His servant. One of the good gifts He gives is life. 1 Timothy 6:13 records that He quickeneth all things i.e. give life to everything. Something He gives daily to all His children is His blessings. Psalm 68:19 says blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. He is the giver of strength, opportunities, chances e.t.c John 3:27 says a man receives nothing, except it be given him from heaven. The most important gift He gave over two –thousand years is salvation through death of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. John 3:16 says for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. God has been in the business of giving since He created the world.

When the children of Israel left Egypt, the Lord handed the possession of the Egyptians, their riches, their gold e.t.c to them courtesy of His generosity. That day the Lord handed the economy of the greatest nation in the world at that time to little Israel. Israel moved from been a slave to become a wealthy nation in a single day. One will expect this little nation to serve God with all their strength but what did they do? They used all the possessions to make a golden calf, Exodus 32:1-6. Out of the resources God gave to them, they made an idol and began to worship this idol. What the Israelite did back then could be compared to what many are doing today. Many have created an idol out of the resources God has giving to them. Many now miss services because of the jobs gave God gave to them. Many now miss worship or fellowship with the Lord because of the business, the marriage, the opportunities, the connections God has given to them .They worship the golden calf instead of the Giver of the gold. The result of their action was God got angry with them. The Lord’s anger is something no one should wish to see. Hebrews 10:31 says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The question is what are you serving, the golden calf or the Giver of gold. The resources He has committed into your hands, are you using them for His glory or to create an idol to replace Him with. There is no one living the Lord has not giving something to. The fact that you can talk is a gift, use it to witness for Jesus. That strength, use it to serve God in one capacity or the other. A day is coming we will all give accounts to Him. The more resources at our disposal, the more we have to give accounts for. Luke 12:48 says to whom much is given, much will be required.

PRAYER POINT: Father, please forgive me for all your resources I have wasted and as from now onward give me the grace never to waste any more of your resources again.

WHAT TYPE OF CHRISTIAN?

Ephesians 5:23 – for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of church: and he is the saviour of the body.

The world has changed to the extent that it is hard to single out a believer in a crowd. It has gotten to the point where believers are now invisible in the midst of a crowd. According to Matthew 5:14, we are the light of the world. If the light now becomes invisible in the midst of darkness then there is a problem. As big as the city of Antioch was, the disciples stood out despite the fact that they were very few in number. They stood out in the way they conducted themselves. They were men of integrity. They were open, sincere and trustworthy. They dazzled the whole city with their humility and good character.

The most important part of the human body is the head. The head is used for identification. That is why when we apply for a visa or a job, we are required to attach a passport photograph of our head not our arm, neck or leg. In Ephesians 5:23 the bible describes Christ as the head of the church. The church is not the building but the members in it. When people come to us or when they see us, the first thing they should notice is Christ not a celebrity or a circular musical artist. The question we need to ask ourselves as believers is what are we promoting- kingdom lifestyles or worldly lifestyles? When we enter a room, what do people see? Is it our achievement, wealth, degree or business success or Jesus? Many of us have bought into the thinking that Christianity is a thing of the heart, and people around do not need to know. It is impossible to live a life of holiness and people around will not notice. When everyone is having sex before marriage and you say 'no' to sex before marriage they will notice. When everyone is accepting bribes and you say 'no' they will notice. When everyone around is using offensive words and swearing and they never hear you swear or curse they will take notice of you. When they invite you to club on Friday night or disco and you politely refuse and stay at home to study your bible they will notice. Are you a Christian brother who is single and still keeps condoms in the house or wallet? Or a sister who still keeps pregnancy prevention pills. The bible has said no to sex before marriage, what is the need of condoms and pregnancy prevention pills? What are we doing with  nude pictures on our mobiles or pornographic materials ? All these materials only pollute the mind. Christians should not be found with these things. You call yourself a Christian and you have never invited anyone to church, how do you evangelize then? We all need to ask ourselves, are we really practicing Christianity as outlined in the bible?

KEY QUESTION:  When people see us, what do they see? Is it our head which is Jesus or us?