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| Pastor Baraka during his Sermon |
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Sermon dated; Sunday 16th. May. 2021
Time: 8:00 hrs to 10:00 hrs ( First service)
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Praise God!
Brethren, God fight battles we don’t see. The battles we are fighting are far much fewer than those we don’t see. God doesn’t sleep or even think of taking a nap. Otherwise, we wouldn’t manage anything in this world.
The message title today is referenced to the book of James 4:6
James 4:6 (RSV): ‘But he gives more grace; therefore, it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble”
If I may ask, who gives more grace? Yes, it’s God who does so. The above quoted verse teaches us a big deal of things: Humility, obedience, love, forgiveness and many more.
The book of 1 peter 5:6 says, ‘Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you’
In most cases, we have desired to be honoured and worshiped. A person acts and creates an environment of fear instead of respect. A person becomes attached to the wealth, the education level, the business, the parents, the children, the hair styles, the dressing styles, friends, that boss at workplace, a phone, certain movies on television, etc etc etc. He/she begins to value them more than God, dedicating almost all of his/her time in them. Unknowingly, he/she is worshiping those things listed.
One of the most dangerous, devastating, disastrous and frustrating things to God is PRIDE. Satan lost its place in heaven because of that! Be very careful and evaluate yourself always to find out whether there is any element of pride in you! Satan wanted to gather people so that they could worship him instead!
God wants us to lower ourselves so that he can give us his grace, like he did to Modokai.
Pharaoh, one of the characters in the bible, was extremely proud. He thought to himself that he was above everything and wanted people to worship him. Pharaoh went to the extent of siting on the throne. He wanted people to exalt him.
King Erode sent the three wise men (Magi) to go and find out the real location where Jesus was born. Casper, Melchior and Balthasar were sent with gifts of frankincense, Myrrh and gold. King Erode wanted to know the exact location so that he could kill Jesus. He could arrest people and kill. He created an extremely scary environment. People worshiped and exalted him. What happened later? God at one point sent an angle and slapped him. He couldn’t learn any lesson from the slaps. Erode died mysteriously in water.
If you humble yourself, God takes you to the next amazing level. Do you remember the story of the tax collector and the Pharisees? Yes, the tax collector was blessed because he humbled himself. God will crown you if you humble yourself.
Moses returned from the top of the mountain with the ten commandments but found the people he left had grouped themselves and seriously worshiping idols. What happened? Yes, they were destroyed!
You can easily realize if there is any element of pride in you. It is always better for you to do self-assessment. Grace comes to the humble but calamities to the proud wicked….Better assess yourself!
In psalm 51, David made a prayer requesting God to take away the heart of pride. He was in God’s heart. Sincerely, God will never ignore the heart that yearns for him!!!!!!
Whenever God is your front liner, he leads you. He can’t fail to give you opportunity. He leads you to a place of peace but never will you be lead to a destructive place! Submissiveness comes by humility. You have to declare yourself that you are of God, you surrender yourself, remind yourself that Christ is in you, take control of yourself by self-evaluation, tell God that you can’t manage by yourself and let him lead you wherever you go.
We should therefore humble ourselves as Christians. We should draw near to God. Be humble, be submissive, surrender and God takes over as he dominates your life.
Take care of your surroundings. Your surroundings communicate all sorts of things. However, we should focus on God’s kingdom. You should desire more of God’s kingdom than that of the flesh. God’s kingdom lasts forever but the later shall disappear. Everything is important but most importantly the God’s kingdom.
Whenever we confess, we are transited to the God’s government and begin to walk rightly in the sight of Christ. It’s only obedience that will yield love, forgiveness, generosity, hope, faithfulness among others.
I read some personalities in the history. Adolf Hitler was a proud leader and could cross boundaries to even other nations. Muslin was also one of the proud characters in the history. What happened to them? Yes, they all perished! Self-evaluate yourself and Humble yourself so that even in times of hardship, God comes to your rescue.
As I summarize, the following are some of the areas of self-evaluation for you to find out whether there is any element of pride in you; In your speech, how you relate with people, your walking styles, your action, the way you paraphrase someone’s statement among others. If it demands that you keep quiet, do so. Remember that what’s in the heart comes out from the mouth. By the way, people will assume that you know when you keep quiet! And yet you are just…………a burger. What matter isn’t what enters you but what comes out of you! It is therefore good to first discern the situation, think before you speak and think before you act.
It’s no secret that there are three things that will last; Hope, Love and Faith. But the most important one is LOVE. Brethren, love one another wholeheartedly. When you love one another, you will be generous to them, pray for them, guide them, etc. Before Jesus left, he commanded love for one another because he knew that this will be the answer to anything!
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“The future belongs to those who keep today’s record clean”
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Thank you & Be blessed
Pastor Baraka
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At Vineyard Church Banda, everyone gets to play
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Building a team which lasts forever
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Listen... To The TRENDING songs By Peaceful Tinah👇