Rythm

MISPLACED FAITH
Where feet may fail, knee deep.

“Born in a barn, the King and savior of the world
didn’t get off to a particularly regal start”
Stephen M. Miller

Imagine God asking you this simple question “if there was any important information that you want to tell me, what will you say”. I once asked a Pastor friend the same question and his answer was very interesting, he said “I don’t know, I never thought about it, yet I think I would ask for increase”. I find it intriguing that whenever we pray we have a lot to say but when God shows up in front of you and asks you “tell me the most important thing that you want me to know”. When I was in my corner I asked myself the same question (what would I do if God was to show up in my room and say “tell me the most important thing that you want me to know”), well I responded and said “help me!”.

Isn't it amazing, we pray everyday but were unable to be open to God and say “Lord help me”. According to USG Amos “This is an extraordinary year. We need US$13 Billion if we are able to help 73 Million people. That’s an extra $8.6 Billion to raise by the end of the year. Millions of people are in desperate need. We need to support them”. The world is full of people that are in desperate need of help and among those people are you and I, yet when God shows up we are unable to say Lord help me.

There was a woman with an interesting situation, she had a problem of bleeding, I always say men will never understand her situation because only women go through bleeding (menstrual circle) and changes every month. Yet this woman has been going through her circle for many years and in those days in her community if a couple is married the husband is not allowed to have sex with the women because she is considered unclean until the bleeding stops and then life goes on but if the bleeding doesn’t stop the husband will then report to the teachers of the law and the priest and they will deem her as unclean and most probably the husband will get another wife.

So, this women was reported because she has been bleeding for many months and months turned to years so the husband reported her and she was considered unclean and started living outside the city and her life as she knew it was over. Yet one day she heard that Jesus who heals was coming to te city to help a man who had a problem himself, his daughter was dying, when she heard that Jesus Christ is around she went into the city. The woman knew that she was not supposed to touch anyone because she will affect other people and they will be considered unclean but she went in the city and when she saw a crowd around Jesus shouting and screaming Jesus’s name, people without faith but wanted something from Jesus. She came with nothing but her situation and she started pushing people out of her way but at that point people forgot that she was unclean because they all needed something from Jesus but she pushed until she fell and thought if only I could touch the piece of his clothes.

In the beginning she brought her situation to God but when she said if only I could touch the piece of his clothing she applied faith. Not only does she want healing but she wants to be close to this Jesus. When she was on the ground she pushed and pushed until she touched his clothing and stopped pushing. As the crowed moved with Jesus, Jesus after a few steps realized that power just came out and he turned around and said “who touched me”. Because of her strong belief Jesus knew that there was someone who needed him not what he has and so he gave him all that he was to the woman because she was not like other people who wanted something from Jesus.

My desperate need for help from Jesus has made me realize that it is not help that I really need but what or who I truly and really need is Jesus. If I am lonely do I really need company or do I need Jesus, if I am not married do I really need a partner or do I need Jesus, if I am poor do I really need money or do I need Jesus, if I am sick do I really need healing or do I need Jesus, if I want a car do I really want a car or do I need Jesus.
There was a man who was blind for many years who heard Jesus passing by and he shouted “Jesus son of David have mercy on him”
and Jesus went to him and asked “what is it that I can help you with”
he replied and said “all I want to be able to see” and Jesus healed him and made him see.

The man knew who Jesus is, he took Jesus and gave him his rightful place which is kingship in Israel and Judah and called him King of Kings but his request told Jesus that I know you are king but what I want is healing only. What would have happened if the man would have said “I need you”, perhaps Jesus would have said “get up open your eyes and follow me” however he wanted healing.

In my request I said “help me” and yes I really need help but sometimes healing, help, possessions, wealth and etc. Is found in Jesus all we have to do is step up in faith believing that he will provide and say “Lord I need you”.

FEET MAY FAIL

Everything revolves around understanding the will of God for ones life, if you understand Gods will for your life then you will be able to overcome all other needs and situations that you go through in Life. Gods calling for Moses was not a mistake, so many pastors say that God realized that he made a mistake and didn’t allow Moses to take his people into Canaan but it wasn’t so. God called Moses and gave him a respectable future that was respected by men for may years even today but I want us to look into when God called Moses his servant. We will be looking into Exodus 3.

Moses stood in the presence of God and God said to him “hey! Moses, take of your shoes because your standing on holy ground” God wanted Moses to understand that one day you will be worthy to step into my presence without any worry but for now let me wash you and cleans you and show you what I am going to do through you. God had a mighty long job to do because Moses was from a world where the Egyptians were the most powerful country or people in the world and so God had to convince Moses that he is more powerful than the Egyptians.

Moses stood in the presence of God and was schooled in the school of the Master about the power of God. Moses didn’t know that everything that God was about to do from now onward was to show Moses, Israelite's and other nations that he is the most powerful God and there is no other God than him. Moses stood where feet had to fail and the glory of God would be exalted.

Sometimes we find ourselves where God is more interested in showing us that he is more powerful than any situation that we face. For us to conquer and be victorious over addictions and depression we have to be stand where we am unable to stand, where we kneel down and God educates us about his power, where he will prepare us for splitting seas in our lives.

We need to comprehend one fine truth, the revalation of who Jesus is and how powerful he is comes when we kneel down and let him show us and as we progress in life we will see him travelling with us in a pillar of fire by night and a form of a cloud by day.

Finding the Will of God will help us take a knee and learn about who we are in God because in God there is no addiction, in God there is no depression but in God there is peace, love and a sound mind. Let us take our position and know who God is and what he has in store for us so that we may be able to see him splitting seas and providing food and water in your wilderness. Today you need to face your burning bush, take of your shoes and take a knee for God to exalt you.

MISPLACED FAITH

Lets look into Exodus 14. I have realized something that we seldom preach about. The faith of the Egyptians. When Moses and the children of Israel walked between the split see, walking on dry ground after God split the see believing that God will protect and shower them with blessings.

The Egyptians also believed in their God, they were not frightened when they walked through the sea pursuing the sons and daughters of God but as they were pursuing them God closed the waters. They believed so much but they believed in a wrong and dead god. So many people today they trust and have faith of their material possessions for protection, for life and for eternity but they forget that there is only one true God. All these things will lead to sin and death while God gives life. Addictions are sins because they pull us away from God and Depression is wages of sins but God came to give us life, fix your faith unto God.

Coming Home after a long day a question came to mind. Are we serving the real Jesus? In our generation we preach this Jesus that the bible does not speak about, we also teach our children about Jesus. This is the kind of Jesus we want to feel comfortable around him, the kind of Jesus who rebukes us but does not want to hurt us, the kind of Jesus who is concerned with making us rich with money and huge houses and gives us beautiful wives. The kind of Jesus who allows people to smoke at the church door and Pastors to drink alcohol.

No, No, Really I want to know. Are we serving the Jesus of the bible? And by the Jesus of the bible I am not speaking about the one who is drawn on the bible with a face that is full of pity and low self-esteem. But I am talking about the Jesus who was birthed by a virgin and was prophesied that he would come to us all, and the government will be upon his shoulder. THE SON OF GOD. The one who is victorious, not the one who is afraid that he will hurt you or afraid he will lose you if he doesn’t give you money and a big house. Do you know who you serve?

Stephan Joubert speaks about this 'Fake Jesus' and says, "Jesus was never dressed in European-style robes; He was never surrounded by baroque angels, pious saints and noble men; He didn’t have a visible halo. He never was a safe, 'sweet Jesus' figure, continuously amiable towards everyone. He did not utter sugary platitudes that fell softly and pleasantly on the ear. For people like that, we erect statues and name streets and towns after them. We certainly do not nail them to despicable wooden crosses. It would simply not suffice to murder such a person in the cruelest possible way on Golgotha outside Jerusalem" (Joubert, 2009 ,9).

It is time to face it, we are not serving the real Jesus of the bible. We are serving ourselves and we are feeding on our interests. Our needs and wants matter than anything in the world. In this way we would be serving the us Jesus, the me Jesus, the if I can have faith in myself that my faith will do, then Jesus will work for me kind of Jesus. We are busy worshiping the Jesus of ourselves that we don’t care what the real Jesus is saying. The Jesus of the bible. The church is becoming unorthodox, we are moving from true Christology or study of Jesus Christ to the most false doctrine.

Over the ages when we study Church History we notice too many people and too many Kings tried to stop Christianity from scattering amongst the nations but God still protected His people and the Word was known throughout the World. We read about man like Polycarp the man who stood as a church Father and proclaimed before his murderess that 'for many years has he been with me, why would I reject him now'. No man can stop God from completing his will for his people.

I want to encourage the Church to go back to the work of the cross. To preach Christ crucified. He that came and brought down salvation for his people that they also may live eternally in him, that they may also know the father. It is high time that we let go of the false Jesus that we preach and preach the Christ the Holy Spirit testifies about. Let us not worship the Christ of money and sexy women and sexy clothes and smoking.

Let’s Preach the Christ that says if you want to preach to the world preach to your Son whose addicted to sex, alcohol and drugs, preach to your husband who sleeps around, the Jesus that says "LET GO OF YOUR EARTHLY POSSESSIONS AND CARRY YOUR CROSS AND FOLLOW ME" BECAUSE A CROSS ON YOUR NECK WONT GET YOU INTO HEAVEN!!!
"Sometimes the Bible refers to the Son of God as "the Word of God." In Revelation 19: 13, John sees the risen Lord Jesus in heaven and says, "The name by which he is called is The Word of God." Similarly, in the beginning of John’s gospel we read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1: 1). It is clear that John is speaking of the Son of God here, because in verse 14 he says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father." These verses (and perhaps 1 John 1: 1) are the only instances where the Bible refers to God the Son as "the Word" or "the Word of God," so this usage is not common. But it does indicate that among the members of the Trinity it is especially God the Son who in his person as well as in His words has the role of communicating the character of God to us and of expressing the will of God for us", (Wayne Grudem, 2000, 34).