Author Archives: God's Favourite House
Fear
‘But as you have seen and heard, this man Paul has persuaded many people that handmade gods aren’t really gods at all. And he’s done this not only here in Ephesus but throughout the entire province!’ Acts 19:26
Please read Acts 19. Demetrius, a silversmith had a large business manufacturing silver shrines of the Greek goddess Artemis. He kept many craftsmen busy. When he saw that since Paul came into town everyone was now following this Jesus he became afraid because that meant he will loose a lot of business. So he gathered his fellow craftsmen together and they decided to stir up commotion out of fear of loosing business. The truth is that in most Read the rest of this entry
Do Not Apologize!
‘The people in the camp were jealous of Moses and envious of Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest. Because of this, the earth opened up; it swallowed Dathan and buried Abiram and the other rebels’ Ps.106:16-17
Jesus says, ‘blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” Matt.5:10-12 [NIV]. Are you going through intense persecution because of your Read the rest of this entry
Envy
‘The high priest and his officials, who were Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail’ Acts 5:17-18.
Over the next few days we will be discussing three major reasons why we face persecution as Christians. Let this better prepare you and help you endure. The first reason why you will face persecution is envy both from religious people and the world. People are going to be envious of you because you have chosen to walk with Jesus. If nobody is envious of you then something is wrong. In this case of the disciples, the religious people could not stomach their Read the rest of this entry
Get Used To It!
‘But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats’ 1 Pet.3:14
Craig Groeschel says, “the easiest way to forget what God thinks about you is to be obsessed with what people think about you”. You go to church but your entire focus is on who is saying what about you or how the worship session and sermon have been crafted specially to ridicule you. It’s not about you so get over yourself! Stop being worried about being criticized as a Christian because as you up your commitment to God you will attract criticism to Read the rest of this entry
His Dislikes vs His Delights
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ Matt.5:10 [NIV]
God allows us to go through persecutions in different forms and shapes so that it can bring about what He is working in us. For some of us the gospel that was preached to us was that once Jesus is in your life everything will be perfect. I used to say that also. But God’s Word guarantees that ‘…everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted’ 2 Tim.3:12. The reality is that you will still face trials when you give your life to Read the rest of this entry
Costly Reward
‘In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted’ 2 Tim.3:12.
With the beatitudes, Jesus strikes down two major monsters in our Christian walk. The first monster Jesus struck down is the monster that says you can be saved without being changed. Jesus is saying the power to save you can and will change you. The second monster that Jesus struck down is the monster that ties materialism to blessedness. Jesus never said blessed are they that own mansions in the choicest parts of town for they shall be Read the rest of this entry
Ready Or Not?
‘About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water… So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water towards Jesus’ Matt.14:25 &29
A number of people struggle with the notion of rapture. To some the whole idea sounds funny and their concern is, ‘is the Bible speaking figuratively?’ If you say that rapture sounds funny, then what would you say about the virgin that conceived? What would you say about the red sea parting and the children of Israel walking on dry land? Or water coming out of a rock in the wilderness? How about resurrection or perhaps the turning of water into wine? If Read the rest of this entry
Relationships
‘Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?’ 2 Cor.6:14
Does loving God mean giving up or cutting off friends who are of other religious beliefs regardless of how long the friendships have lasted? This is a struggle for a lot of people especially because of the strength of their emotional ties to these friends. They want to know what happens to those ties when they give their lives to Jesus.
Male Or Female
‘For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit’ 1 Cor.12:13
A number of people today, male and female, alike do not believe that women should be allowed to speak in church or be ordained into leadership positions or allowed to become lead pastors. As far as they are concerned scripture states that it is a shame for women to speak in church [1 Cor.14:34-36]. Again when Jesus chose his twelve disciples none of them was a woman so why are women now being allowed to step out of line? There are three schools of thought – Read the rest of this entry
Why?
‘Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come’ Isa.57:1.
A lot of us are consistently weighed down by the thought ‘why do bad things happen to good people?’ Particularly when a lot of intercession has gone into averting the bad thing, for instance the death of a loved one. For starters I would say you need to read Psalm 73, it will help you understand why bad things happen to good people sometimes. Secondly, there are some things we will never get answers to on this side of eternity. Some situations we will never Read the rest of this entry
