Key Verse: “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40).
MESSAGE:
Today’s passage pictures Christ speaking to His disciples after He had met the needs of the multitudes who came after Him seeking for miracles. He laid down the principles and ethics of the Kingdom to His disciples who were not merely after meat and drink but after heavenly treasures.
In the preceeding chapters, Christ had shown Himself as a Friend of all, humble and meek, One who hasn’t come to condemn sinners to damnation, a present Help in times of trouble. He proved Himself worthy of emulation at all times despite persecutions and denials. This model of life was what He was expecting his disciples to follow. A true follower of Christ is to be a branch of the true Vine. His fruit is not to betray the Tree that bore him. Obedience as well as followership is to make a believer rooted in Christ against all storms of life.
If we say we are Christians, we are expected to show forth Christlikeness. True love personified by Christ is expected of us, as believers do not judge nor condemn sinners. Forgiveness and transparency is to be a lifestyle. As a good tree brings forth good fruit, so are we to be. Any believer who is born of the Spirit is supposed to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit. The components of the fruits (Galatians 5:22) are to be evident in our lives. More so, practice is the true test not mere utterances. We are to be obedient to the Master because it is what establishes the fact that we are loyal to Him. It is the only prerequisite for our ever abiding in Him as the solid Rock that anchors us through the storms of life. Christ admonishes all that would come to Him and be a part of Him to be a true branch (Luke 6:43).
Thought For The Day: It pays to be like Christ
The Bible In One Year: Acts 15-17
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
Flatimes’ Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:
Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.
If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.
Topic: When Weeping does not Work (Open Heaven 15 April 2019)
Memorise: “And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.”- Numbers 14:1
Read: 1 Samuel 30:1-6 (KJV)
1 And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;
2 And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.
3 So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives.
4 Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
5 And David’s two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
Bible in One Year: Genesis 8-10, Jeremiah 18:1-18
Open Heaven 15 April 2019 Monday MESSAGE:
Weeping is an expression of deep emotions that move one to shed tears. It is a means of expressing sorrow, sadness, disappointment, misfortune or overwhelming joy. While it is not wrong to weep after experiencing an unpleasant situation, we should realize that such emotions can sometimes block our minds from seeing the door of opportunity that the Lord opens in every situation. There are some adverse circumstances the enemy orchestrates, where the Lord would want us to take action instead of allowing ourselves to be overrun by sorrow and weeping. In such situations, weeping will not do us any good. It might even rob us of the victory that God has prepared for us. If you continue weeping before God when He expects you to act, your weeping will not move Him to act on your behalf. We see an example of this in 1 Samuel 30:3-4, which says:
“3 So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. 4 Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.”
Is it not amazing that David and his men wept until they had no more strength to weep, and yet their situation remained as hopeless as ever? Their weeping did nothing to improve their situation. Things remained stagnant until David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Only after doing this did things begin to brighten up for him and his people.
While weeping is a very good way of attracting the sympathy of others, it often presents us as weak and helpless, which we are not. We have the All-powerful God as our help and strength, and in His word, He repeatedly told people in distress to weep not (Luke 8:52). Like David, we must stop seeking sympathy and begin to apply rugged faith. If you will ever overcome adversity and achieve anything tangible in life, you need to apply faith that persistently holds on to God, believing that He can make impossibilities possible against all odds. Hold onto the assurance that there is no situation or circumstance beyond God’s control. Our miracle-working God is able to reverse every irreversible situation. He can bring hope to a person’s life irrespective of the presence of long-running problems. In John 5:1-8, we read the story of the man at the pool of Bethesda who was at the same spot for 38 years. He claimed that the reason he had not been made whole for so long was because he had no one to assist him, but by the time Jesus came on the scene, his problems ceased without the help of any man. No matter how seemingly difficult your problem is, God will terminate it today in Jesus’ Name.
Open Heaven 15 April 2019 Monday Key Point:
If you continue weeping before God when He expects you to act, your weeping will not move Him to act on your behalf.
Open Heaven 15 April 2019 Monday Hymn 3: Trust And Obey
1 When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Chorus:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
2 Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
3 Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.
4 But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.
5 Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet,
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way;
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.
Open Heaven 15 April 2019 Monday Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries. The Open Heavens devotional application is available across all mobile platforms and operating systems: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and PC. Open Heaven 15 April 2019 Monday Daily Devotional.
Flatimes Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:
Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.
If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.
Gemma, a Christian who has also presented films for the alpha course and hosted events such as Big Church Day Out and Spring Harvest, will host the ‘pirate parties’ at Christ church in Worksop, and St Luke’s church in Shireoaks on Palm Sunday.
There will be pirate-themed games, songs inspired by the TV show Swashbuckle and an evangelistic kids talk.
The Revd Luiz Lima, the vicar of Christ Church and St Luke’s told Premier that Gemma Hunt had told them she is looking forward to it: “She is coming and she is going to be leading a service of celebration and we’re going to have a service themed according to her pirate show.
“She has been outstanding, she has been so engaging and so excited about this project.”
The churches have been working in parntership with local schools to invite as many children as possible to the pirate services.
Inviting Gemma Hunt came as part of a push to engage more with families and young children and Rev Luiz explained that they hoped this would kickstart their children’s work again: “Both churches are really pushing forward in the engagement with families.
“That’s an area that, up to two years ago, we didn’t have much of a ministry with and at my arrival we prayed about it and we thought: we need to really to engage in our ministry and our evangelism with families and children.
“That started with our connections with local schools…
When 2,042 British adults were asked ‘To what extent, if at all, do you agree or disagree that Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected at Easter so that you can be forgiven for your sins?’, a quarter of those who said they were Christians said they neither agreed nor disagreed.
17% of Christians said they disagreed that Jesus died on the cross to forgive sins.
Among those categorised ‘Active Christians’ though, agreement with the doctrine rose to 82% and only 3% didn’t know.
The ComRes poll, comissioned by BBC Local radio, also asked wider questions about forgiveness to different groups, including: ‘To what extent, if at all, would you be able to forgive someone who committed any of the following?’ with the actions being murder, child abuse, sexual abuse, infidelity, verbal abuse, abuse on social media, lying, stealing, swearing, discrimination.
Among all respondents, child abuse was deemed the most unforgivable with 85% saying they would find it impossible to forgive it, followed by sexual abuse (including rape) with 79% and murder at 73%.
Swearing was the easiest to forgive, with 39% also saying it didn’t need forgiving.
In some categories ‘Active Christians’ were less likely to find something ‘impossible to forgive’ and more likely to find it ‘difficult’.
When it came to sexual abuse, 52% of Active Christians found it ‘impossible to forgive’ whereas the…
Fast Facts: Martha Road Baptist Church has a fascinating history. T.F Medlin traveled from Shreveport, LA in the 1880’s to begin an evangelistic ministry among the men and women who had settled along the route of the great cattle drives. It was among these people that a small country church was started. In 1889 with Rev T.F. Medlin as the founder and pastor, a small group of believers formed a church, which they called Fairview Baptist Church. Their meeting place was the local schoolhouse. There were twenty-four charter members and Judge Hullin was the first Sunday School Director.
In the early 1900’s the small community was officially named after Rev. Medlin’s daughter, Martha. The church’s name was then changed to the First Baptist Church of Martha. In 1905, the congregation built a frame building in which to meet. This building was located on School Street in Martha. In 1925, with great sacrifice, the congregation came together to finance the building of a brick sanctuary on Main Street in Martha.
In 1986, the church body voted to start a fund for the construction of a new building. On the urging and vision of a church Deacon named Bennie Cooper a change of building site was agreed upon and the name of the church was changed to Martha Road Baptist Church. A day of dedication and celebration marked by praise and the first official worship service in the new building was held on Sunday, October 29,…
On 14th April 2014 Boko Haram set classrooms ablaze and told the girls that the school was under attack and that they were the military protecting them.
Over 270 girls were then herded into trucks to be driven to a camp in the nearby Sambisa Forest where for years many would experience, rape, pregnancy, violence and witness the death of children.
According to the Christian Association of Nigeria, at least 165 of the kidnapped girls were Christian and belonged to the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria.
Over 40 girls escaped on the way and many of the girls who managed to escape later reported that rape was part of the captives’ daily life.
Those who did not obey the militants or refused to renounce their Christian faith were reportedly punished severely and there were suggestions that some of the Chibok girls were forced to become Boko Haram fighters and commit murders for the Islamist group.
In February 2015, the first baby was born to one of the Chibok girls.
103 girls have been released in two batches in October 2016 and May 2017.
The Christian charity Open Doors has been supporting some of the parents through prayer, food and medicine, including Yana Gana, whose daughter has not returned: “Any time I speak about Rifkatu, I feel so much pain in my heart” she said.
“When she was kidnapped, laughter ceased in my house,
England’s number eight, Vunipola, ‘liked’ fellow Christian rugby player Israel Folau’s post on Instagram (below) and then wrote a detailed response about why, after receiving three phones calls asking him to ‘unlike’ the post.
Australian player Folau posted on instagram this week a picture that read: ‘Drunks, homosexuals, adultereres, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists, idolaters – hell awaits you! Repent, only Jesus saves’.
Folau added as his caption: “Those that are living in sin will end up in hell unless you repent. Jesus Christ loves you and is giving you time to turn away from your sin and come to him.”
Refusing to unlike the post, Vunipola wrote: “There just comes a point when you insult what I grew up believing in that you just say enough is enough,
“What he’s saying isn’t that he doesn’t like or love those people. He’s saying how we live our lives needs to be closer to how God intended them to be.
“Man was made for woman to pro create. That was the goal, no? I’m not perfect. I’m at least everything on that list at least at one point in my life. It hurts to know that. But that’s why I believe there’s a God. To guide and protect us and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Since then, the Tongan-born player is to be questioned by the Rugby Football Union and was not given a warm reception by the Ashton Gate…
There are around 39,000 pubs in the UK, according to the Office of National Statistics, with more than 11,000 pubs having closed in the last decade – a fall of almost a quarter.
However, there are around 40,300 church buildings open to the public and in use, which is also higher than other key public buildings in the UK.
Eddie Tulasiewicz, from the National Churches Trust told Premier: “Pubs have been closing but churches haven’t really. There have been closures around the country, some churches have closed in smaller numbers in some parts of the country but their closure has been outweighed particularly by the rise of new denominations, evangelical churches and pentacostal churches.”
In comparison, there are around 14,300 supermarkets operated by grocery retailers, 11,500 post office branches, 7,500 bank branches and 3,600 public libraries.
“Churches are obviously places of worship but communities meet there and they don’t want to let them go” said Eddie Tulasiewicz.
He added that often people will fight to keep their local church open because of the number communtiy actitivites that are hosted there.
Nearly 1 in 5 polling stations are in church buildings and, aside from the commmon use as a venue for youth groups, older people’s clubs and nurseries and concerts, some even house post-offices, GP surgeries and farmers’ markets.
Gemma, a Christian who has also presented films for the alpha course and hosted events such as Big Church Day Out and Spring Harvest, will host the ‘pirate parties’ at Christ church in Worksop, and St Luke’s church in Shireoaks on Palm Sunday.
There will be pirate-themed games, songs inspired by the TV show Swashbuckle and an evangelistic kids talk.
The Revd Luiz Lima, the vicar of Christ Church and St Luke’s told Premier that Gemma Hunt had told them she is looking forward to it: “She is coming and she is going to be leading a service of celebration and we’re going to have a service themed according to her pirate show.
“She has been outstanding, she has been so engaging and so excited about this project.”
The churches have been working in parntership with local schools to invite as many children as possible to the pirate services.
Inviting Gemma Hunt came as part of a push to engage more with families and young children and Rev Luiz explained that they hoped this would kickstart their children’s work again: “Both churches are really pushing forward in the engagement with families.
“That’s an area that, up to two years ago, we didn’t have much of a ministry with and at my arrival we prayed about it and we thought: we need to really to engage in our ministry and our evangelism with families and children.
“That started with our connections with local schools…
We believe God is going to deliver us, but even if He does not, we are not conforming to your image of what you think we ought to be. We are going to do what God is telling us to do. You can do what you want to with your furnace. But whatever happens to us, we will have peace. — Daniel 3:17-18 (Paraphrased)
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship the golden idol that King Nebuchadnezzar constructed, and as a result were thrown into the fiery furnace (see Daniel 3). These three young men had no idea what would happen to them, but they were willing to put their lives on the line instead of disobeying God. We need people today who will take a stand for righteousness, for what is right according to God’s Word. If this does not happen, our world will be in serious trouble.
Many times, people fail to stand up for righteousness because they are afraid of what will happen when they do. Will they lose their jobs? Will they lose their friends? Will God abandon them? In situations such as these, when we do not know what the outcome or result of a situation will be, we need to trust God and press forward to do what we believe is right. Even if we are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, God’s Word says we are blessed (see Matthew 5:10). Those three Hebrew boys would’ve never experienced their incredible miracle if they weren’t willing to trust God as they stood in that fire.
The world desperately needs men and women who will trust God even in the midst of the fires of persecution and outside pressure. God can put us in better places than people could ever put us if we trust in Him and if we are people of integrity and excellence. We need people who will put everything on the line and say, “Even if I lose what I want, I will not compromise and do what I know in my heart to be wrong.” We need to fear the Lord above all else, and to trust Him at all times, in every situation, every day of our lives.
Trust in Him. Don’t be afraid to stand up for righteousness, because you know He’ll never leave you or forsake you.
Prayer Starter: Father, when the “fire” is turned up in my life, help me to stand strong and be a good representative for You. Help me to walk in integrity and do what’s right, even when it’s not popular. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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