CHOSEN TO BE WITH HIM

MEMORY VERSE: And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach.Mark 3:14

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Galatians 4-6

It is a good thing to serve in the vineyard of God. Firstly, anyone who wants to be great in the kingdom of God must serve. Matthew 20:26 says, “But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.” The word ‘minister’ literally means ‘servant’. Those who ‘only’ want to come to church to listen to sermon and go back home are indirectly saying to God, “I don’t want to be great in Your kingdom”. Asides this, there are a lot of benefits in serving in the vineyard of God. For example, God renews the strength of those who serve so they can mount up with wings as eagles in their careers, family, and things that pertain to them. Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” To ‘wait’ means to serve as waiter i.e. wait tables. In addition, God honors those who serve in His vineyard. John 12:26 says, “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.” When you serve in the vineyard of God you are honoring Jesus, and the Lord will honour you in return. Also, God has a special love for those who serve in His vineyard. There are two basic types of love. There is the general love. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave.....” Then, there is the special love. Proverbs 8:17 says, “i love those who love Me...” Those He loves specially are referred to as conquerors. Romans 8:37 says, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” One way to express our love to God is by serving in His vineyard. Whilst others are too busy to clean the church, too big to be an usher or too important to work in the media department, you create time out of no time to serve Him and watch Him make you a conqueror.

Without a shadow of doubt, God loves those who serve Him and serve in His vineyard. If you are serving in the vineyard of God, i can assure you of one thing and that is God loves you specially. However, the number one reason why God saved our souls, washed us in the blood of Jesus, sanctified us, etc is not to serve. The number one reason why He chose us is to be with Him. Mark 3:14 says, “And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach.” You are I were chosen to be with Him first , not to preach, evangelize, sing in the choir, do crusades, write Christian articles, sow a big seed, work in the media department, counsel people, work as a charity worker, etc. All these are good and God appreciates them, but that is not the number one reason why He chose us. Our Lord is more interested in what we are becoming in Him than what we are doing for Him. He is more interested in winning our whole hearts than in our wining the world for Him. Many of us are busy with His work that we no longer have time to be with Him. God is not impressed by this. You can be an usher, prayer warrior, choir, and sanctuary keeper at the same time, if you are not spending time communing with Him ( praying and fasting, reading His word), it means you have a misplaced priority.

ACTION: Ask the Lord to forgive you for not spending as much time as you ought to with Him. Create time out of your busy daily schedule to spend time with Him especially to pray and read the bible.

twitter@BroOluwatoki

Bro Samuel | Reaching the world for Jesus.

CHOSEN TO BE WITH HIM

MEMORY VERSE: And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach. Mark 3:14

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Galatians 4-6

It is a good thing to serve in the vineyard of God. Firstly, anyone that wants to be great in the kingdom of God must serve. Matthew 20:26 says, “But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.” The word ‘minister’ literally means ‘servant’. Those who ‘only’ want to come to church to listen to sermon and go back home are indirectly saying to God, “I don’t want to be great in Your kingdom”. Asides this, there are a lot of benefits in serving in the vineyard of God. For example, God renews the strength of those who serve so they can mount up with wings as eagles in their careers, family, and things that pertain to them. Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” To ‘wait’ means to serve as waiter i.e. wait tables. In addition, God honors those who serve in His vineyard. John 12:26 says, “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.” When you serve in the vineyard of God you are honouring Jesus, and the Lord will honour you in return. Also, God has a special love for those who serve in His vineyard. There are two basic types of love. There is the general love. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave.....” Then, there is the special love. Proverbs 8:17 says, “i love those who love Me...” Those He loves specially are referred to as conquerors. Romans 8:37 says, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” One way to express our love to God is by serving in His vineyard. Whilst others are too busy to clean the church, too big to be an usher or too important to work in the media department, you create time out of no time to serve Him and watch Him make you a conqueror.

Without a shadow of doubt, God loves those who serve Him and serve in His vineyard. If you are serving in the vineyard of God, i can assure you of one thing and that is God loves you specially. However, the number one reason why God saved our souls, washed us in the blood of Jesus, sanctified us, etc is not to serve. The number one reason why He chose us is to be with Him. Mark 3:14 says, “And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach.” You are I were chosen to be with Him first , not to preach, evangelize, sing in the choir, do crusades, write Christian articles, sow a big seed, work in the media department, counsel people, work as a charity worker, etc. All these are good and God appreciates them, but that is not the number one reason why He chose us. Our Lord is more interested in what we are becoming in Him than what we are doing for Him. He is more interested in winning our whole hearts than in our wining the world for Him. Many of us are busy with His work that we no longer have time to be with Him. God is not impressed by this. You can be an usher, prayer warrior, choir, and sanctuary keeper at the same time, if you are not spending time communing with Him ( praying and fasting, reading His word), it means you have a misplaced priority.

ACTION: Ask the Lord to forgive you for not spending as much time as you ought to with Him. Create time out of your busy daily schedule to always spend time with Him especially to pray and read the bible.

twitter@BroOluwatoki

Bro Samuel | Reaching the world for Jesus.

THE CALLED AND THE CHOSEN

MEMORY VERSE: For many are called, but few are chosen, Matthew 22:14

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Num 32, Ps 77, Isa 24, 1 Jn 2

Matthew 22:14 says for many are called, but few are chosen. Who does the calling? Jesus Christ. Who is He calling? Everyone. What is the purpose of the call? The purpose of the call is to invite you to a dinner with the Almighty. Revelation 3:20 says behold I stand at the door , and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. Why do you need to dine with the Almighty? Well in the presence of God is fullness of joy and at His right hand are pleasures for evermore, Psalm 16:11. Those that have received the invite to come and dine with Him are THE CALLED.
I have always wondered why God will call so many and chose only a few. The number one reason why He chooses a few is because He is God and He decides who He wants to dine with. The number two reason why few are chosen is because there are certain criteria that must be met before an individual is chosen to dine with the Almighty. Sadly not many are ready to meet these criteria; the few that meet these criteria are those He chooses to dine with.

To dine with the Almighty you must be a true child of God. There is a big difference between professing to be a child of God and been a child of God. Romans 8:14 says as many as are led by the Spirit of God; they are the sons of God. A child of God is led by the Spirit of God because He is born of the Spirit (of God). The Holy Spirit will not lead anyone to disobey the word of God. The Holy Spirit will never lead you to dress in a sensual way. He will rather lead you to dress in decent and appropriate clothing not in clothes that attract attention (especially from the opposite sex). The Holy Spirit will never lead you to call blue, black or call A, B. He will always lead you in a path of righteousness. The children of God are THE CHOSEN. The following are true of THE CHOSEN: (A) they love God, 1 John 5:1. To love God means to keep His commandments, John 14:15; (B) secondly they love their neighbors, 1 John 4:7 i.e. they live in love; (C) their affection is towards the things of God not things of the world,1 John 5:4 and (D) they live a life of holiness,1John 3:9.

PRAYER POINT: Father please baptize me with Holy Spirit and Fire.