Hope and Restoration Time Volume 2 Issue 3

COME JUST AS YOU ARE

Today it is one of those when one is really humbled by what God is able to do. Things that we take for granted and yet have stopped many from embracing the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am particularly grateful today when thinking of the change- small as it may seem- in one of our brethren’s life. The first time I invited him to join us for a church service, he had a beer in his hand and it was still full. He told me straight “Mamoruti I can’t leave this bottle like this because by the time church ends it would no longer be drinkable”.

The week that followed (he is only able to attend fortnightly due to work commitments), I found him seated in a shack not far from the church, again with his beer but almost halfway. When he saw me he said, “don’t worry Mamoruti by the time church starts, it will be finished. I am coming today”. 

A few more occasions his target was just to ensure that his bottle is finished before church starts. However, as God is the One who changes people, the last two occasions that he has been to church, he came very sober. Instead of finishing the bottle, he came early to ensure chairs are packed and cleaned. He gave a testimony which really moved me. He said “I love this Jesus, I know I have accepted Him, and I am fully aware that I am not yet where I am supposed to be in my walk with Him, but all I know is that everyday my life is changing and one day I will be fully transformed”

What a wonderful God we serve! When He said come just as you are, He knew His Gospel is able to change lives. We celebrate God and are grateful that we can witness these miracles in our time.

JESUS HEALS A MAN SICK FOR 38 YEARS AND ONE BORN BLIND-

In John 5:1-10 Jesus went to the Pool of Bethesda. There were several pools there with many sick people waiting for healing. They all waited for an Angel to stir the water and when the water is stirred, whoever goes into the water first received their healing. It was a survival of the fastest. You had to be fast and first.

This was an untenable situation for this man, he had no capacity to be first and fast. For more than 38 years he tried his luck and no one felt pity for him to give him a chance. Christ had to come and impart healing to this man.

When Christ saw him, the Bible records that Christ could see the man had been sick for a long time, his facial expression showed a long sickness. It probably showed a lack of hope, he never saw himself leaving the pool side whole. He couldn’t imagine a point where everyone around him would be slower than him.

Christ moved into the scene and Jesus asked him “ Do you want to be well?” the man must have been perplexed at the question: It’s like Christ was saying after all these years you want to tell me that you couldn’t possibly jump in quickly? Are you really serious about the healing? Of course I do, but I don’t have the means to go first, the strong and fast go in quicker and therefore I’m still like this after all these years.

Those with a higher priority are able to have appointments before me, I’m always bumped to the back of the queue. Those with better medical aid options get enrolled for their healing operations than me. I want to be well but unfortunately I have no means, there’s no one to help me, I don’t have the right connections to get the jobs, always someone with better connections and qualifications gets in first and takes the job from right under my nose.

I’m almost giving up all hope of ever working, someone more qualified than me always comes. I’m desperate but there’s nothing I can do, Sir if there’s something you can do for me to appropriate my healing I’m ready. I’m ready to accept my healing if you will give it to me whatever it takes and whatever it costs. It might be the Sabbath but if you say I must pick up my mat, I will do it.

Christ says to him “Stand up. Pick up your mat and walk.” The man responded. When Christ speaks, nature responds, when He spoke to the storm it became quiet, He created nature and therefore nature knows and understands His voice. He is Lord and master over it. He speaks to disease and it responds to Him, He is Lord and Master over all. Everything that is created obeys Him, everything that has a name responds to Him He has a name above all others.

Jesus is here to change your situation, He wants to turn your circumstances around, He wants to bring the healing to your life that you so much desire. The answer to your prayer is here today, Christ has come that you may have life. You might have lost all hope before, but in Christ that hope can be restored and realised. Christ is your connection to your healing, progress and salvation He’s the one you need for your circumstances to change for the better once and for all.

 

Stand up, pick up your mat and walk in Jesus’ name. Stand up and go and take that job that you desire, stand up and go and access the healing that has eluded you and cost you so much in life, your life savings and all. Jesus is here just for you, to announce that you are healed, you don’t have to have the connections and strengths of others. He loves you and came to the pool just because of your pain. No matter what you’ve done in the past to cause you the pain that you are suffering He says” Stand up, pick up your mat and walk.”

We learn in John 5:14 when Christ comes into contact with the man he had healed the reason for his long sickness. Christ says to him: ‘See you are well now. Stop sinning so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” Somehow this man’s sickness (whatever it was) was a result of his sin, still this didn’t preclude him from being a beneficiary/ candidate of Christ’s mercy. Christ healed him inspite of the cause. This suggests that there are conditions (even sicknesses) that are a result of sin.

I believe it is because of this incident that a few chapters after this in John 9:1-3 when the disciples saw a man born blind they were buffled, they had an internal dialogue which they later verbalised to the Lord. They said Lord, a few days ago you said to the man who was sick for a long time at the Bethesda Pool that He must stop sinning else the sickness will be severe, now we are confused- this man we see before us was born blind, could it be that his parents sinned, or was it him who sinned. Christ said to them: This particular man was born blind so that God’s power could be shown in Him.” There are those who are the way they are so that God’s power could be demonstrated, whatever the cause of your situation without exception you are a candidate for God’s touch and healing.

Christ spit on the ground, made some mud and put it on the man’s eyes and told him “ Go and wash yourself in the pool of Siloam and the man came back seeing.” This emphasises the importance of taking instructions from God and obeying His word, when you obey God you will reap the benefits/ fruits of His word.

Many people make sure they take and follow instructions of people, professionals (doctors and others) and even inyangas to the letter but when God asks them to do something, they disobey or are filled with unbelief. They cannot follow simple instructions from God no matter how simple and straight forward they are. Professionals can give them the most complex set of instructions, inyangas can give them the most awkward rules and instructions they will follow, just look and live, follow Christ and live.

 

 

Welcome function for up and coming Missionaries

OM hosted a function to welcome new missionary trainees. The service was held at the OM farm in Boschkop on sunday the 22nd of February 2015. Our own Bro Cedric Maunatlala was one of the 37 new missionaries who have signed up for this 5 month programme. It was a great moment to witness mainly young from 6 continents getting together with the aim of preparing themsleves to advance the kingdom of God through active service in Missions.

We look forward to tapping into the expertise of Bro Cedric and working with him as he journeys to impact the world with the Word of God.

Hope and Restoration Time Volume 2 Issue 2

Ai after Jericho

Joshua 8: 1- 8
When God told the Israelites about the Promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey, He did not go into finer details explaining the nitty gritties of how they are going to take over the land and what they are going to encounter along the way.

The first three cities they had to conquer, gives us a glimpse into the three broad scenarios one encounters when embarking on a spiritual assignment.

The first city they had to deal with was Jericho, a very fortified city which they overcame mainly through Worship and paying close attention to instruction as well as fully obeying the instructions. Despite the city being heavily fortified, they seem to take it over without much effort. The other catching aspect about Jericho is the saving of the prostitute that hid the servants of God. There were other people in the land, but she alone was spared because, despite her trade, she hid the servants of God.

After the great success of Jericho, they were faced with Ai. In comparison with Jericho, Ai was much smaller and easy to overcome. Instead of seeking direction from the Lord as to how to take over Ai, they just go and plunge on it and even recommend that only few soldiers are needed and most of the soldiers should remain behind. To their dismay and surprise, more than thirty of their soldiers were killed in Ai. It is after this that they went to enquire from the Lord with fasting and prayer and it became apparent that they have foreign idols in their midst. Despite the fact that, Achan was the one who harbored these idols, but God addresses them corporately that there are foreign gods among them. It is only after Achan confessed and he as consequently killed and buried under a heap of stones that the Israelites managed to conquer over the land and people of Ai. We need to always remember that what one of us does in secret or in the open, affects all of us. There is an individual responsibility as well as corporate responsibility. We need to be our brother's keeper and also caution each other of our secret sin that put all of us in danger as it was with Achan, his hiding of foreign gods, cost Israel more than thirty precious life of fit and able soldiers.

The last one is the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites deceived Joshua into having a treaty with them. Having heard of the great things the Israelites were doing and how God was working among them, the Gibeonites pretended as if they come from very far and asked to enter into a covenant with the Israelites. They displayed torn shoes and rotten food and said they have been travelling for a long time. Ignorant of the fact that this was the next nation they were to overcome, Joshua entered into a covenant with the Gibeonites, a covenant that stretched for a long time even king Saul and David (2 Samuel 21) is recorded that he had to deal with the problem of Gibeonites living among the Israelites, Saul tried to exterminate them but the Lord fought for them. We should be very careful who we enter into covenant with and also always enquire of the Lord when we go on a spiritual assignment. Let not the glory and success of yesterday, predetermine your approach and therefore serve as an enemy of your future success. God always has fresh Grace for each assignment He gives us, let us always enquire of Him and seek His guidance.

Hope and Restoration Time Volume 2 Issue 1