SERMON ONE:
THEME: THE EVER-PRESENT GOD
SCRIPTURE: JONAH 1:1-3
BY: ELDER KANJELA ANDREW
In our theme scripture, God reached out to Jonah and gave him an assignment of warning the people of Nineveh against their evil-doing. However, Jonah never wanted to partner with God for this mission so he decided to run away from the presence of the Lord. He got in a ship which was going to Tarshish but along the sea, God sent a great storm which almost destroyed the ship until Jonah got thrown into the sea and was swallowed by a very big fish. After spending three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, he prayed to the Omni-present God and his prayer was heard.
You see – in time of need, God is always present and so Jonah’s prayer was answered and the fish was commanded to spit Jonah on dry ground. After that encounter with the Creator of heaven and earth, Jonah anakololoka and went to Nineveh and preached such a pricking message that even made the king of that land to humble himself to a level of repenting in sack-clothes!!
Our God is the maker of the universe – He is everywhere and His eyes always roam to and from on the earth to save, deliver, empower and strengthen those who are committed to Him and are interested in partnering with Him in fulfilling His divine purpose – 2 Chronicles 16:9
When you turn to God and become a vessel to Him, He will never forsake you. When the enemy strikes, God will be there to save and deliver you because He is faithful. Every time you are in trouble like Jonah was, just call upon Him and He will answer you. God is always available, even in your situation right now – he is there and he is not leaving you alone.
- He was with Daniel in the den of lions and because He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the lions in the den could not touch Daniel – don’t worry about your enemies’ evil plots, God can even kill for you if you are steadfast in serving HIM like Daniel was.
- He was with Shardrick, Misheck and Abednego in the furnace of fire and because God is the consuming fire, the fire could not consume these saints – please worship God when you are passing through challenges of many kinds, God is preparing your elevation and His glory over your life will appear soon.
- He was with Paul and Silas when they were cast in prison but when these two began to pray and worship, the prison was torn apart by an earthquake all because of God’s mighty presence. You see, the God that we serve has a name and his name is Jesus. The other time Jesus said that where two or three are gathered in His name, there He will be in their midst.
The name of Jesus is a very powerful and highly dependable name that has been given to us. The challenges, problems and issues of life such as sickness, unemployment, stagnation, marital issues and the likes – these all dissolve in His presence. Every time we choose to go to church, cell gatherings and prayer meetings, we are actually choosing to get into the presence of God where solutions to our problems are made available. Every time we give excuses and don’t come to church services, we are running away from the presence of God like Jonah did and we are actually delaying our salvation, deliverance and healing. We should love to be in the presence of God because in Jesus, all things hold together – Colossians 1:16-17, Phi 2:8, Acts 4:12 and Mark 16:15.
SERMON TWO:
THEME: CULTIVATING THE PRESENCE OF GOD
Theme Scripture: Genesis 2:7 & 15, Luke 3:21
In life, the greatest treasure you can have is the presence of God. You can have money, have power, build mansions and even have all the riches of this world but if you don’t have God, all you have amounts to ashes. This is why the first thing that God gave to Adam according to the theme scripture of Genesis, was His presence which is the Garden of Eden.
And before Jesus began His ministry here on earth, He did what was necessary to cultivate the presence of God. He never wanted to get into ministry without God. Jesus humbled himself by submitting to John who babtised Him and after fulfilling all righteousness, lo and behold – the heavens opened and the presence of God rested upon Him!!
You see – in order for you and me to be useful and relevant in the kingdom of God and our ministry here on earth, we need to carry the presence of God. Why? Because according to John 1:4, God is life and without the presence of life, we are dead and cannot carryout the divine purposes of God. We cannot heal the sick, deliver the bound and save the lost like Jesus did because we don’t have the light and the salt in us has lost its taste – basically put, we are useless without God in our lives!!
This is why anything we do that does not involve God never stands. You start a business and within a short time it dries up. Have you ever wondered why members of a particular family suffer from a particlar disease or why every year someone has to die in the family? In most cases, this is due to the absence of God in one’s life, family or business.
For whatever you are doing to stand, God must be involved otherwise your labour will be in vain if it is not God who is building – Psalms 127:1
How to cultivate and attract the presence of God:
1. Walk by faith – Hebrews 11:1 & 6 (It is impossible to please God without faith.)
2. Love to read, listen and meditate upon the word of God – John 1:1
3. Put the word of God into action – do what the word says:
– Pray without ceasing (prayer is a proclamation of how much you need God in your life)
– Exercise humility and obedience (God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble)
– Love your enemies and do good to them
– Don’t give up the habit of gathering together (Hebrews 10:25)
Brethren, the presence of God is very paramount in regards to our Christian walk because in the presence of God, there is fullness of joy. Yokes and chains are broken, the power to overcome temptation is at its best and everything simply comes into divine alighnment in the presence of God.
You see, we have been called to occupy until Christ comes. This means that we should be on top of things as heads and not tails, the first and not the last, lending to many and borrowing from none. This is our position in Christ Jesus and it takes the presence of God to bring this into fruition because it is not by power or earthly intelligence but by the Spirit of God.
If we really want the Great I AM to manifest mightly in our lives like He did for the saints of old, then we should be men and women of faith that love the word of God and put it into action. Above all, we need to hunger for righteousness because blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. May you receive grace to cultivate and attract the presence of the Ancient of Days in your life.
PEACE BE WITH YOU – ELDER KANJELA ANDREW