THE MARRIAGE OF SALVATION

READ: COLOSSIANS 1:12-15

Sometime in the 80s, the Lord showed a brother a vision. In it, he saw an old man with all his hair gray, announcing: “I want to get married.” The brother looked at him, laughed and said: “Who will marry an old man like you?” Not long afterwards, he saw people flying to the sky in large numbers. He was wondering what was going on. So he too rose up his hands to join them but fell back on his bed and woke up. You will not miss the rapture in Jesus name.
The main purpose of creation was because God wanted to get married. Do you know that every time somebody gives his or her life to Jesus Christ, the fellow is actually saying, I have accepted Jesus Christ as my husband? Salvation like any other marriage has its contract. Whenever someone marries to Jesus Christ, there will be three basic changes: First, there will be a change of name. You used to be named after Satan, but now you are named after God because you have become a child of God. In no other religion do adherents see themselves as the children of God, hence they see us a peculiar people that we really are.
Secondly, there will be a change of accommodation. Whether you are aware or not, the day you got married to Jesus Christ, you were translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son (Colossians 1:13). You used to live with your father, the devil in the kingdom of darkness where sickness, poverty, and other evils were of daily occurrence. But the day you married Jesus, you changed accommodation and moved kingdoms. You are now seated with Jesus in the Heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).
Thirdly, there will be a change of responsibilities. Before you were married to Jesus Christ, you were free to do anything you liked. You were not expected to pay tithes, preach the Word of God, follow-up sinners, work and serve Jesus, spend and be spent for Him. But after your marriage to Him, you were placed under these responsibilities and more. In fact, from that time, His Word became law. Since then you can enjoy divine health because you are married to the Chief Physician. How are you playing your wifely role in support of your Maker and Husband?

MEMORIZE: COLOSSIANS 1:13 –Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.

ARE CUSTOMERS ALWAYS RIGHT?

READ: JAMES 2:1-5

One very important public which cuts across ethnic, geo-political, socio-cultural divides of the world is customers. Products are designed because of them. Sellers and manufacturers are in business because of buyers. If there was nobody to buy, there would be no production. There would be no marketing process. If buyers would buy once and never return, all factories and manufacturing plants would have grounded to a halt. The need for buyers to become customers is the greatest challenge of marketing.
The marketing concept has had to evolve through various stages over time. Presently, marketers have discovered that what puts them in business is not the capital they put together – land, labour, money and entrepreneurial skills, but the buyers that make repeat purchases. If buyers refuse to patronize manufacturers for just one year, organizations that will survive may be less than 10%. Having acknowledged their importance, secular business adjusted to their new philosophy. Everything now revolves around the consumers. Hence, they say, ‘The customers are always right’: but are they? The target of business is to attract buyers and satisfy them to a point where they would become loyal customers.
In the church many leaders unfortunately do not share that philosophy. Instead of the customers being treated as king, it is the pastor and ministers that are. When the buyers (first timers) come to the church to purchase some products (spiritual services) they are treated shabbily, like they don’t matter; hence they may never repeat their visit and become customers (converts). Church leaders should take a cue from the world. You are a pastor or minister because of the congregation. Without the new comers, you may never have the financial and spiritual pillars that will help your ministry. Your church should be organized in a way as to make the service attractive, inspiring, comfortable and inviting to all your new comers (rich and poor) so that they can return and God’s counsel will stand in their lives. To this end, do not let your services be too long or else they will go some place else. Treat your visitors with great respect. Right from the gate, let your ushers welcome and treat them as kings (once they come into Christ they truly become kings). Never argue with them or publicly embarrass them. Give them a good first impression and treat them like royalty. You can be sure they will become your customers.

MEMORIZE: JAMES 2:5 –Hearken, my beloved brethren, Has not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to them that love Him?

DEFYING THE BODY CODE?

READ: GENESIS 13:1-7

Romans 3:3-4 says God will always be true. He stands by His words. If you can meet His conditions, He will fulfil His part. All His commandments are meant to benefit us. God is merciful. When He saw that Abraham’s disobedience had cost him his wife, He decided to help him. In Genesis 12:17-20, He troubled Pharaoh’s house to the point that the latter gathered his magicians to find out the cause. Then it was discovered that Sarah’s presence in Pharaoh’s household was what was troubling them so restitution was made and peace was restored to Egypt’s number one family.
Did Abraham learn his lesson? Not yet. He continued with Lot and several problems followed him. If you are having physical problems such as sicknesses, check how you have been using your body. Some deaths occur not because it is time to go home or even because of the enemy’s incessant attacks but because of an abuse of heaven’s body code. Your body is fragile hence you are expected to take a rest, eat well (balanced diet) and assist it to fulfil God’s purpose for your life. If you defy the body code by abusing it with overwork, lack of rest, poor feeding, it could give way before it is time. Some Christians think it is a sin to go for medical check up. It is not. At least it will provide you with some advice so that you do not leave for heaven sooner than you should.
Similarly, if you are having problems in your business or finances, check out your level of faithfulness to God over financial matters such as – tithes, offerings, vows, and pledges. If you are struggling with sinful pleasure, check out your prayer life, Bible study life, the company you keep as well as what you regularly expose yourself to. If they are unhealthy books or magazines, cut them off. If they are bad friends, cut them off. If it is bad programmes on television, cut them off. If it is defiling sites on the internet, cut them off. Some men still retain the pictures of old girlfriends even after marriage. Some still allow such sinful partners to send love (‘lust’) text messages to their phones. You are courting trouble. Break off such extra-marital relations or else you will be in trouble before you know it.

MEMORIZE: ROMANS 3:4 –God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That you might be justified in your sayings, and might overcome when you are judged.

ROOTED LIKE RUTH?

READ: MATTHEW 13:18-19

Are you rooted and grounded in Christ? When a seed falls on the ground, the birds of the air can come and pick it up. The seeds that fell by the way side in the parable of the sower were lost to birds. How you prepare your heart to receive the Word of God will determine the type of soil it will fall on and the fate it will meet. In every church service the Word that has been empowered by the Holy Spirit to transform certain lives still falls on the way side and is lost to the birds of the air operating as distractions, discussions during the service, wandering thoughts, sorrow and heaviness; analysis of the grammatical errors in a message; sleeping and dozing, visiting the loo during the message, etc.
Until you stop those birds, you cannot possess your possessions. Besides, there are some people who weep before God over a particular sin they are committing but before the following month they will be back to their vomit. If you are in such a situation, the power of God will break you free today in Jesus name. Every yoke of besetting sin in your life is destroyed. The Lord is releasing power to live a victorious Christian life on you. God wants you to be rooted and grounded in Him. Have your roots and tentacles established in His Word.
In Ruth 1:6-18, when Naomi said she was returning home, both Ruth and Orpah vowed to return with her. But after Naomi made them see the uncertainty that awaited them, Orpah went back to her idols, but Ruth insisted on going with her. She had obviously fallen in love with her God. She was ready to lose everything – her people, friends, known community, etc., so that she could continue to fellowship with Naomi’s God. She was rooted and grounded in her love for Naomi’s God. She ended up becoming a great grand mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. It pays to be rooted in Christ. Are you? When after several years of trusting God for a particular blessing, say a child, pressures come from all sides to return to the idols you left several years ago, what do you do? If you go back to your idols, you will be history like Orpah. You will be lost. But if you hold on firmly to the Lord inspite of the pressure, by the time He performs your miracle, even those persecuting you will shout the loudest and become saved. You were born to win not to quit from the right path!

MEMORIZE: COLOSSIANS 2:7 –Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

WHAT SOLOMON LEARNT FROM DAVID

READ: ECCLESIASTES 2:1-11

“And spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: My father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise with scorpions” (1 Kings 12:14).
One of the greatest tragedies in the land of Israel happened when king Solomon ruled over the land. He was the wisest of men but because he departed from God, his reign that should have brought great fortunes to his people brought great yokes upon them. They virtually became slaves and servants in their own land at a time the nation was having her greatest financial and material windfall. Solomon had several great things to learn from his father. But those that had the greatest impact on him were the vices or weaknesses.
The evil seed of oppression David sowed into the family of Uriah, several years later found expression in Solomon. He did not only oppress a family, he oppressed a nation. He was so happy to have the whole nation serve him whereas he was king so that he can serve his people. He made so much wealth. In fact, 1 kings 10:27 says silver was heaped in Jerusalem like stones, and the best of wood, cedars, became very common like ordinary wood. But was the wealth shared round? No. It was for public display, but meant for his pocket alone, while the nation lived in poverty.
A look at today’s reading talks of the selfishness and self-centredness of king Solomon. He turned the nation’s treasury into his personal account and at time, he did not know what to do with money. David saw Uriah’s wife and did everything possible to marry her. Now Solomon says he became so obsessed with the spirit of materialism that he became helplessly enslaved to it. Verse 10 says: “And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them…” He beat his father’s polygamous record by having 1000 wives and concubines. You can be sure that several of his wives were product of several ‘Uriahs’ that lost their wives to his madness. When he died, the nation assembled to ask for the yokes he put on them to be broken. What are your children learning from you? If you have a weakness and fail to expose and deal with it, do not be surprised to see your children grow in that weakness beyond your dreams. King David will be sad to hear that his son Solomon had 1000 wives and did all he did. But his son only took a cue from him. What cue is your child taking from you?

MEMORIZE: ECCLESIASTES 2:11 –Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.