“My goal is God Himself, not joy, nor peace,
Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God;
‘Tis His to lead me there, not mine, but His,
‘At any cost, dear Lord, by any road!’
(Fanny Brook, Hymns of Consecration and Faith)
A SERMON
TITLE: Kenya National Anthem – A Prayer for Kenya
TEXT: Jeremiah 29:1-14, 1 Peter 2:11-16, Kenya National Anthem
Seminar Highlights/ Objectives
The world seems to embrace entertainment and comedy more than any other time in History. It is becoming harder to gather the youth to listen to anything without a measure of entertainment. While the liberals find no harm in excess entertainment, the conservatives condemn even any slightest sense of humor. These two extremes cause unhealthy tension in the modern Church. This seminar therefore, seeks to draw the balance between the intemperance.
The session could seek to explore what the bible says in regard to entertainment, Highlight the excesses on each side while suggesting a good middle ground backed up by scripture. Dangers and negative effects of each side could be explored. Provide a biblical response to the current state of affairs especially where worship and praise tends towards sensual and somehow promoting immorality.
Luke 13:6-9 – the parable of the barren fig tree
In this account we are told about a fig tree that has been tended for three years but hasn’t borne any fruit. So the garden owner is completely done with it and asks the gardener to cut it down. But guess what, the gardener asks for more time. Yes, he asks to tend it for another year and see if it will turn around.
16 Thus says the Lord,
who makes a way in the sea,
a path in the mighty waters,
17 who brings out chariot and horse,
army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
18 Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.
19 I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:16-19)
2017 didn’t begin so bright for me but it did get brighter and brighter as the year progressed. And the promise of God doing a new thing was one that I saw fulfilled over and over throughout the year.
I started blogging. Wrote my first series on the blog. The series turned into a book. First launched on Amazon Kindle then as a hardcopy. Met some wonderful people in the process of my writing and publishing. Did a couple of TV and Radio Interviews, got my story published in a newspaper and a leading magazine. A year of very many, many firsts for me – “I am doing a new thing . . .”
During the year 2017, I also learnt alot. Learnt on the job quite literally and made my share of mistakes as well. One of the mistakes I made is aptly summarized by the image below:
Google I spent a lot of time running around like a headless chicken, trying to take all the new things in. Trying to fit in and follow what everyone who I though was successful in blogging and publishing was doing. Lot of time and energy was wasted. Lots of lessons as well learned along the way. All leading back to the path the Lord would desire that I walk in.
So at the end of the year, I took stock and prayerfully made a few decisions that I am excited about for the new year 2018.
Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.
(Proverbs 4:23)
What does it mean to guard/keep your heart?
Does it mean an external or internal exercise or is a combination of both?
Are we to build a physical or virtual fence around our hearts or are we to inject vaccines into our hearts to build internal immunity or do we build fences and ensure we are up to date on ‘heart’ vaccines as well?
And what exactly are we guarding/keep our hearts against/from?
Likewise, tell the older women to be reverent in behavior, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink; they are to teach what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be self-controlled, chaste, good managers of the household, kind, being submissive to their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited. ( Titus 2:3-5)
A couple of weeks ago my husband and I had an animated discussion concerning the various ‘issues’ that face our marriage and many marriages today. Then he quoted my Bible Teacher the one and only Pastor Jon Courson who said: and i parapharse “If older women would teach and walk with younger women as commanded in God’s Word they would drastically reduce the time pastors dedicate to counselling and in turn that time would be redirected to the teaching of God’s Word”
That conversation and statement took me to Titus 2:3-5 and I have been musing over those Words for some time now. Wondering out to myself the impact among those who call themselves Christians if we wholly fully obeyed God’s Word: and for this specific discourse, if older women obeyed God’s command to carry themselves in a respectable manner and then to teach what is good and to encourage the young women.
What impact would such obedience have on the Christian family unit?
What impact would such obedience have on the Pastorate?
What impact would such obedience have in the Body of Christ?
What impact would such obedience have in the society it occurs?
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)
The past few months have been a roller coaster ride for me. I started blogging, met and made wonderful new friends. Did my first series on the blog. Turned the series into an Ebook, then published it. And launched the book By God’s grace. It has been one ride: lots of mistakes, lots of lessons learnt.
One of those lessons that I have learnt and failed miserably at is the Grace of silence. Especially in the face of negative people, criticism and continuous setbacks. I look at Jesus the perfecter of my faith when He was being unfairly tried because of my sins and I fall down to repent and surrender. Because in all honesty, I doubt my ‘trials and tribulations’ are anything close to what my Lord suffered. So I pray, and practice the grace of silence
There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. | Proverbs 12:18
The easy route of vengeance and rashing out is one I have many a times traveled on: regrettably so.
So I pray for myself and for those like me who are tempted and fall into the temptation of self defence using the tongue. For those like me who are not able to confront the negative, jealous, critics in their lives and so they turn to family and friends for ‘debrief sessions’ which are for all intents and purposes gossips parties. And I ask that the Father would help me and help us to walk in the path of our Lord. To know, to live and to practice the grace of silence.
Prayer:
Father, you know me all too well. You know my weakness especially when it comes to my tongue. Father, would you please have mercy on me for the numerous occasions I have let you down by not practicing the grace of silence. Help me Father to bring this little member of my body, the tongue, that has been known to bring you both honor and reproach. Have mercy upon me Father. Teach me by the Holy Spirit to be silence and graciously silent while at it. In Jesus Name I pray. AMEN
Theme: Faith
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 11
Let us pray
Father, we as you children are gathered here to worship you. The time has come for us to hear your Word. Father speak to us. Teach us, rebuke us, correct us mold us into the image of Your Son Jesus Christ. Open our ears to hear you, open our eyes to see you open our hearts and sow the living seed that is your Word. In Jesus Name we pray. Amen
Introduction
If you reflect with me you can all agree with me that the current and most popular teachings about faith when stripped apart are about having faith in faith or self or the man/woman of God. However, in God’s Word that is not the case. In God’s Word faith stems from God and is about God.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Fornication and adultery are sexual sins within the church that continue to go unaddressed as the same Christians all turn in one voice (ok most Christians) to condemn the LGBT movement and its adherents. Can we first pick off, remove the log in our own eyes to help us see better the sins of unbelievers? And what exactly do we expect to be the lifestyle and code of conduct of unbelievers if not sin and sinning?
The rise of single and sexually active people in the church is worrying. I feel that it is even becoming trendy, the in-thing. Am talking about living with your boy/girlfriend before marriage and engaging in sex while at it; as well as having multiple sexual partners while married; and engaging in sex after divorce with anyone other than your living spouse.
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