REACTING TO THE OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE

MEMORY VERSE: and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, Genesis 18:2

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Judg 18, Acts 22, Jer 32, Luke 1

BIBLE STUDIES: Genesis 18:2-8

In Genesis 18:2-16 is an account of Abraham and three divine visitors. Abraham was sitting at home one afternoon when he observed three men passing by. He approached them and invited them to turn in for a meal and they agreed. After the meal they said thank you and blessed Abraham and his family. Nine months later Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son .

God is a rewarder, Hebrew 11:6. Although He is the God of the whole universe yet He appreciates every little thing we do for Him. According to Zechariah 1:3 if we return to Him, He will return to us. When we give to Him, He will return it to us in good measures, pressed, and shaken together and running over, Luke 6:38. Matthew 19:29 says if we forsake all for His name sake, we get all back in hundred fold. All your labour in Christ is not in vain.

How we react to the opportunity to serve ( in one capacity or the other maybe to join a particular department in church, or volunteer, or give towards a particular assignment or participate in supporting mission works e.t.c.) will determine whether our service will accepted by God or not. Abraham greeted the opportunity to serve with willingness, excitement and joy. Immediately he saw the three men, the bible records that he ran to meet them and bowed himself to the ground. While the men sat down, Abraham ran around to ensure that his guests were entertained. This man was ninety - nine years old when the angels visited yet he did not allow his physical body or weakness to come in between him and his service to God. Despite there was a delay in the fulfillment of the promise of God for his life, he did not allow this to affect his service to God. Abraham saw the opportunity to serve as a favor from God not the other way round. That was why when the men were eating, he stood beside them ready to run errands. The reason why many of us do not take the things of God serious is because we think we are doing God a favor. By serving God, you are doing yourself a favor. After Abraham had served God to His satisfaction, God fulfilled the promise of twenty four years and made his joy full.

KEYWORD: The opportunity to serve is a favor from God not another burden from God.

PURITY IN SPEECH

MEMORY VERSE: but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, 1 Peter 1:15

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Judg 16, Acts 20, Jer 29, Mark 15

What is the meaning of the word pure? It has two major meaning. 1) Purity means of a single content e.g. pure wool or pure cotton. When we say a material is pure cotton, it means the only thing you will find there is cotton. When we say a material is pure wool, it means you won’t find a single trace of nylon or cotton in it. The word purity inclines singleness of purpose; singleness of mind. It means reliability. It means trustworthiness. When we say a fellow is pure, it means the fellow is trustworthy. When we say a brother is pure in speech it means you can trust whatever comes out of the brother’s mouth. When a sister who is pure in speech says yes, she means yes. There is no question of that is it to say. Pure in speech means you mean what you say and say you what mean. Matthew 5:37 says let your yes be yes, and your no be no. When a brother who is pure in speech says I am coming, you can go to sleep because you know he is going to come. When a sister who is pure in speech says I am not going to do, she is not going to do it no matter what. 

Purity also means no contamination. If we put a little bit of wool in cotton, it is no more pure wool. It has been contaminated by cotton. If we put a little silk in cotton, it is no more pure cotton; it has been contaminated by silk. Every contamination is dangerous. Imagine a big bowl of clean water is set aside for people to drink. One way or the other a nursing mother whilst cleaning her child mistakenly allows a small tiny bit of feces to fall inside the water; will you drink the water? I bet No. Why? Because the water is no longer pure, it has been contaminated by feces. Imagine the same tiny feces in a big tank of clean pure water; would you still drink the water? I bet No. Why because the water is no longer pure. Regardless of the mass of the water, just a tiny bit of feces contaminates it. A little contamination destroys purity. When we say a fellow is pure in speech, you will never hear a word that should not be uttered by a Christian from his mouth. Ephesians 4:29 says let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. Not even one by mistake. Colossians 4:6 says let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt. Ephesians 5:4 says neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving thanks. You will never hear a fellow who is pure in speech use slang phrases or idle words. You will never hear them use a simple swear word e.g., f**k, s****t, mothef******r e.t.c

1 Peter 1:15 says but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. In all your conversation, you need to be pure in speech. Anger is not excuse not be pure in speech. Luke 6:45 says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. You need a pure heart , to be pure in speech.

PRAYER POINT: Father , please purify my heart.

CONDITIONS FOR REVELATION

MEMORY VERSE: for I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him, Genesis 18:19.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Judg 15, Acts 19, Jer 28, Mark 14

BIBLE STUDY: Genesis 18:17-21

There are certain conditions that must be satisfied before the Lord reveals things to a fellow. Firstly the fear of the Lord must be deeply rooted in the heart of the fellow. According to Psalm 25:14, God shares His secret with people who fear Him. A fellow who fears God will not toy with sin at all. Proverbs 16:6 says by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. The tendency to do evil is in everyone but the fear of the Lord drives people from committing evil or participating in evil. Secondly the fellow must raise his children and household in the fear of the Lord. In 1Timothy 3:1-13, Paul told Timothy before you anoint a man to the office of a Deacon or Bishop , first of all check how he runs his household. Where his children and household spend eternity, is it a concern for him? If it is a concern for him, he will rule and raise them in the fear of the Lord. If that is not his priority don’t bother anointing him because a man who does not love his family enough to do everything in his power to get them to heaven will not love the church of God.

How you raise your children and household is directly proportional to the level of revelation you will get from God. In other words whether God will reveal things to you or not is dependent on the effort you put in to training your wards. When God was contemplating whether to tell Abraham His plans or not, He concluded by saying I know Abraham, He will command his children and household after Me. God was not obliged to reveal His plans to Abraham but He did so because He knew that Abraham took raising children up in the fear of God as priority.

The question is how did God know that Abraham was going to raise His children and household in the fear of the Lord? Well God is God and He knows all things. According to Isaiah 46:10, God makes known the end from the beginning and from the ancient times things that are not yet done. Asides this, how you train the child of others is how you will train yours. After the death of Nahor (Abraham’s brother), Abraham took Lot and raised him as a son. Abraham raised Lot up in the fear of the Lord. Despite the atrocities of Sodom, Lot managed to keep himself pure. Not only that, Lot raised his two daughters has virgins in Sodom all thanks to the training Lot received from Abraham. Thirdly, the fellow must be upright. Psalm 11:7 says for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright. To be upright is being in accord with what is right or to be honest.

POINT TO NOTE: When you raise a child in the fear of the Lord, you are preparing him to be used by God to influence nations.

DEMONSTRATING LOVE

MEMORY VERSE: And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me, John 12:32.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Judg 14, Acts 18, Jer 27, Mark 17

Jesus said and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me (John 12:32). In other words I will do everything possible to help everyone I know get to heaven or I will use everything in my power to bring people to where I am going ( heaven) or I will spend and be spent for the sole purpose of evangelism. A careful study of this verse exposes the determination of Jesus to save humanity. Not only that, it reveals the willingness of Jesus to go all the way just to make His Father (God) happy. The Most High built heaven for fellowship with His children on earth. He wants to see all His children at the end in heaven. The sum total of it all is Jesus loves us and He is prepared to go to any length to get us to heaven.

Many of us say that we love our children, family, work colleagues, business partners, neighbor e.t.c in actual sense we don’t. The only way to show that you love a fellow is by pointing him or her to Christ in other words witness about Christ to them. How can you say you love a brother, and you see him treading on the path to hell and you keep quiet or do nothing about it?

One the Day of Judgment many friends will look at their Christians friends and say you are the reason I am going to hell. They will say you knew about hell and never bothered to tell me about Christ. Many children will look at their parents with tears and say Dad or Mum; you know my lifestyle did not reflect Christ and you kept quiet. Many would look at their colleagues at work and say ‘I sat opposite you for ten years and you never bothered to introduce Christ to me’. Some colleagues will say we ate lunch together at work every day and you never talked about Jesus once. Others will say I gave you lift to work every day and you never bothered to tell me about Christ. Many husbands would look at their wives and say ‘you knew that I was heading for this place (hell) and you could not even fast for my salvation ’. Many land lords will look at their tenants with the look of so you knew about Christ and you never told me about Him. Many will say bro I sat by you in the bus from Location A to B and throughout the journey you did not even bother to tell me about salvation. A lot of family and friends will say i came to your child dedication, christening, birthday’s e.t.c and you never cared to ask if i have accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. The only way to demonstrate love is to witness. The best gift you can give anyone is Jesus. You don’t really love those children until your number one priority becomes where they spend eternity. You don’t really love that bro or sister until your number one priority becomes where he or she will spend eternity.

TO PONDER ON: How can you say you love a brother, and you do not care about his salvation?

LORD, WHAT WILT THOU HAVE ME TO DO?

MEMORY VERSE: and he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do, Acts 9:6

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Judg 14, Acts 18, Jer 27, Mark 13

BIBLE STUDIES: Acts 9:1-6

Paul (formerly Saul) persecuted the church out of Ignorance. He was a party to the group who stoned Stephen to death. Any where the name of Jesus was been mentioned, he would go there and commit them to prison for torturing. He had this passionate hatred for the gospel and he took it upon himself to stop the gospel at all cost. One day on his way to Damascus to arrest some believers, he met Jesus and everything changed. Paul had a brain wave; he realized that all this while he had been fighting his creator. Not only that, he was on a first class to ticket to hell. Upon this realization he asked Christ, ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’ In other words he was asking Christ, what can I do to make up for the times I had wasted before I met you? Not only that, he was telling Christ ‘thank you for saving me, but I am indebted to you forever. I do not care about what you can do for me , all I care about is what can I do for you to show I appreciate the salvation of my soul?’

One of the greatest speeches that revolutionized USA in the sixties was the inaugural speech of John F Kennedy in 1961. He said ‘ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do your country’. I have always shared the story of how I was taken before the judgment Seat of Christ. Before the doors were opened, I was giving an opportunity to go through my heavenly file. When I saw the contents I broke down in tears and began to ask for a second chance. I knew what I saw there and I knew what the decision was going to be. Romans 6:23 clearly states that the wages of sin is death. I knew the decision looking at my past.To cut the long story short I got a second chance. I am very grateful to and I am eternally grateful for the second chance to put things right.

Brethren, when i woke I noticed a passionate hatred for sin especially the sin of adultery and fornication inside me. Not only that I felt indebted to the One who saved my soul and gave me a second chance. I felt I owed God who delivered from the power of darkness and translated me into the kingdom of his dear son (Colossians 1:13). From that day I began to think of what I can do for the one who rescued me from hell. I am always sad when we go to share fliers for evangelism and people share more fliers than me. When it is time to clean the church, I always love to take the lion portion the work. I always love to do extra work and go extra length. When everyone wants to do 50 per cent, I try to do 80 per cent. Why? Because I want to show my savior i appreciate my salvation. Once you are really saved, you forget about what Christ can do for you and you begin to concentrate on what you can do for the One who saved your soul. You suddenly realized that you should have been on that cross, but He took your place and died on the cross of Calvary?

PRAYER POINT: Father ,please reveal to me what I can do to show I appreciate your death on the cross of Calvary.

PRAISES AND FAVOR

MEMORY VERSE: Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved (Acts 2:47).

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Judg 13, Acts 17, Jer 26, Mark 12

What is favor? Favor is simply receiving what you do not deserve. If a fellow who is not qualified for promotion gets promoted, we say such fellow has been favored. One of the ways to attract God’s favor is through praises. The world is full of complainers – people who are always reminding God of what He is yet to do in their life. Oh Lord you have not done this or that. Oh Lord you are yet to give me a life partner; you are yet to buy me a house; you are yet to buy me a car e.t.c. There are others who challenge God. Oh Lord, why was I not shortlisted for the interview? Oh Lord why am I facing these challenges? Oh Lord why am I broke e.t.c. Before you go and complain to God, ask yourself when was the last time you sat down to thank God for the gift of life, at the end of the day only the living has challenges and face difficulties. When was the last time you thanked God for the salvation of your soul? Someone died in your place, don’t you think you need to tell Him thank you daily?

Once in a while when God hears people praising Him on earth, He becomes happy. When people praise Him, He personally visits them and deal with anything that requires His attention in their life. This was the exact thing that happened when Paul and Silas were praising God in prison (Acts 16:25-34). When God heard them praising Him, He decided to personally pay them a visit. As He took the first step, the earth shook a little because of His weight. He took the second step and the earth quaked, by the time He took the third step the foundations of the prison were so shaken that the doors flung open and every one’s bands were loosed.

Acts 2:47 says praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Praises attract favor from God. The last person you would expect God to anoint and his cup would run over was David. The boy did not merit it in anyway because he was a product of adultery. No wonder he said behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me (Psalm 51:5). Bible scholars told us that he was an embarrassment to the father. The old man messed up with a woman and the product of the affair was David. So whenever the family was around they would keep David away because he represents shame. While in the forest, David began to praise God. He said it is true no one wants to see me but I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth, Psalm 34:1. The Lord decided that in that case, I will promote you. It is true that no one wants see you (David), but I will promote you so that you will be their head. He decided that it is true they have relegated you (David) to the background, but I will bring you (David) to the palace. That was how David found favor before God and became King.

ACTION POINT; Dedicate time to praise and worship God frequently.

BECOMING YOUR OWN PROPHET

MEMORY VERSE: 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 ( Joel 2:28)

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Judg 12, Acts 16, Jer 25, Mark 11

Back in Old Testament times, only those who are anointed to operate in the office of a prophet can prophesy. In those days if a nation or an individual is facing a challenge they will run to a prophet of God, once he or she prophesy everything will return to normal. When the women in the house of Abimelech could not conceive including his female servants, he went to a prophet who prayed and they all conceived (Genesis 20:1-17). When the king of Syria found out that one of his general had a disease medical science could not cure, he sent him to a prophet in Israel (2 Kings 5:1-17). Elisha told the general to go and dip himself in river Jordan seven times, that one did as he was told and he was cleansed. In Judges 4:1-22, Deborah the prophetess prophesied to Barak that the Lord had delivered Jabin( king of Canaan) into his hands. That one went to war against Jabin; the king of Canaan ran away on foot.

Once a sincere and God fearing prophet get involve in a situation, whatever the mountain is it will give way. If a prophet of God blesses a fellow, Heaven has no choice than to honor the request but if a prophet of God curses a fellow God have mercy. Back in the Old Testament times, you require a fellow anointed to operate in the office of a prophet to prophesy to you, God help you if the prophet of God is far away or is not your friend. Today you do not need a man anointed to operate in the office of a prophet to prophesy to you, you can now prophesy to yourself. 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. When you study this verse very well, it did not say your sons and daughters shall become prophets and they will prophesy. It says they shall prophesy.

The sons and daughters referred to in Joel 2:28 are me and you. Once the Holy Spirit is inside you, you can now prophesy and expect results. Numbers 14:28 says as truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears so will I do to you. Someone might ask that how come when I prophesy nothing happens. Firstly only the righteous can prophesy and expect a result. Proverbs 12:6b says the mouth of the righteous shall deliver them. Proverbs 15:29b says but He heareth the prayer of the righteous. Secondly if you do not respect your words, the heaven will not respect your words. The way you treat your words, is the way the heavens will treat your word. If you do not regard your words, heaven will not regard it. No wonder the bible says let your yes be yes and your no be no (Matthew 5:37). In other words say what you mean and mean what you say.

ACTION: Repent of all unrighteous ways of life. Begin to study your bible and do everything possible to keep your words.