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Choose this day whom you will serve
Song: I have decided to follow Jesus (3x) No turning back (2x) Though no come with me, still I will follow (3x) No turning back (2x) “ But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." ( Joshua 24:15 ). Refusal to willingly serve the Lord’s goodness in time is an indirect choice to willingly serve his justice in eternity. I have three messages for you: i. Jesus is alive ii. There is heaven iii. There is hell St. Peter urged us: “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:10). And St. Paul said: “As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain.” (2 Corinthians 6:1). What is your response to all the messages you’ve heard? What is your attitude towards preachers who come to you urging you to forsake your ways of sins and embrace the Lord? What are you doing with all the many opportunities the Lord has given you to repent? Or do you think you have the whole world in your hands? Do you think you still have plenty time to do what you want to do? Then you’re deceiving yourself. Unfruitfulness invites disaster. Most shocking statement from Jesus: For too long now our Lord expects you to be productive but you have remained unfruitful. You have wasted the enormous resources that he has given you and you will be cursed just as Jesus cursed the tree that he expected to bear fruit after all the rain and good fertile soul that this tree enjoyed and yet nothing came out of it. Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it. (Mark 11:14). Jesus said that no one knows the day or the hour that the trumpet will sound. "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,' and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 24:45-51). Why are you still wining and dining with the devil? Are you not supposed to pull down all strongholds? The Lord has given you weapons of faith, prayer and righteousness to expose and destroy the devil; but here you are lazing around. "A curse on him who is lax in doing the LORD's work! A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed!” (Jeremiah 48:10). We are given this life to prepare for eternity. I want to urge to consciously and conscientiously run the race to a logical end. Do not allow anything to distract you from the race. Fix your eyes on the goal and the precious prize. “ Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58). “And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.” (2 Thessalonians 3:13). Yes trials will come our way, yes we may be have to hungry at times, yes we may suffer from sicknesses and diseases, but we trust in the Lord beyond this temporary and transient world. “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Do not be deceived by those say that everything starts and ends here. It is a lie! It is the devil’s tricks to get you to his side! The flesh will perish here on earth and buried in the dust. But the spirit and the soul will return back to the God for eternal life. “Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Philippians 3:17-21). The Lord has given us life, opportunity and grace. I feel that Jesus is telling you: ‘gaze on me and find courage, my love has no season.’ One of the greatest privileges you have today is the freewill. Freedom of choice. You are free in this life to do what you like, either to serve yourself, Satan or Jesus. But in reality are you truly free? Remember freedom goes with responsibility. But you have no choice but to give an account of your life on the last day. You may be free to jump from a 20-storey building, but you are not free to choose whether to break your legs or not; or even end up your life. Choose Jesus and you choose life. Choose Satan and you choose death. Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:34-37). Do you love your present life so much so that you have decided to indulge in ungodly pleasures? Are you spending your whole life acquiring wealth? Then you will very soon lose it. Excessive possession can be a public nuisance to the possessor. 8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me; 9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you (Proverbs 30:8-9). Did I hear you say that: ‘But everyone around me is doing evil?’ ‘But even the government seems to support ungodliness?’ But even my pastor is doing evil?’ It doesn’t matter who’s doing the evil and how many people are involved, God is saying: "Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd,” (Exodus 23:2). Are you ready to repent and turn to God? And you prepared to start bearing fruits for the Lord? Then the grace and the mercy of God are there for you. God himself said: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14). It doesn’t matter whether you are ordained Pope, Cardinal, Arch Bishop, Priest, Pastor, Prophet, Evangelist, or whatever tag is given you; the question God will ask you is this: ‘Where were you, and what did you do where you were’?
God bless you. Evang. Oseh J. B. |