Sunday, September 8, 2024.
Apostle Billey.
Ephesians 5.8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light ! 9 for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.
It doesn’t say, we are the light but we are light. There’s a difference.
You can only be light or darkness. You can’t be in the middle.
As we know, there are 3 places: heaven, earth and hell.
The things that are not worthy of God, the Christian must drop absolutely to inherit the Kingdom of God.
Everyone needs to be able to position themselves and know where to apply their efforts each day, and define their priorities clearly. Choosing to be totally with Jesus.
The Christian life is pure and total. You can’t mix it with the life of the world.
Jesus said that whoever wants to follow him must renounce himself, must abandon the sinful nature that comes from the world. And it’s easy when you receive the Word.
The Lord will never justify the sinner. God will never change his Word.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13.8.
The Christians who have gone before us have pursued justice, some have even been persecuted, but have remained faithful.
In the same way, we must commit ourselves totally and not compromise our life with God.
At home, in the family, at work, with friends, at church: we remain Christians, we must keep God’s language, continue to walk in the truth in all circumstances.
This must be clear to us.
Going to heaven is up to you, because it’s up to you to make the decision to walk with God.
Jeremiah 23
23 Am I a God near at hand, says the Lord, And not a God afar off?
24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth ? says the Lord.
God is in heaven, but also on earth. He fills heaven and earth.
What is God’s role on earth? It’s for those who have given their lives to the Lord.
God’s Spirit is present on earth, convicting pagans of their sin and judgment so that they can give their lives to the Lord Jesus.
And He teaches Christians the truth, how to live the life of heaven on earth.
Heaven is already being lived on earth. For when we are born of God, God’s nature begins to develop in us: love of God and love of neighbor.
We used to love nightclubs, now we love the things of God.
We used to love worldly music, but today it’s music for worshiping God. Or we’ve given up on the evil movies we used to watch.
In the past, some people consulted fetishes, voodoo, some worshipped idols, the dead; now they have repented and no longer do all these things.
Beloved, know that hell is hell because God is not present there.
Which means that the day God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit leave this earth, it will be as bad as hell.
Because man is created in the image of God and lives through Him, even if he doesn’t know it.
Man cannot live by himself, even the pagan; it is God who allows him to exist, to continue to live out of love.
The day God decides to leave the earth: the trees will begin to dry up, the waters will disappear, everything will become dry, there will be no more air, no more oxygen, no more moon, no more sun…
For all these things are maintained by the Lord.
The day Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden was the unhappiest, saddest day of their lives. The decision they made was fatal for them, and they were expelled from the Garden of Eden.
So it’s on earth that we look for God.
1 Chronicles 22.19
Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God. Therefore arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy articles of God into the house that is to be built for the name of the Lord.
We must seek God on earth, more than we seek money. Every day, we have to look for Him.
And whoever seeks him, God will let him find him.
Jeremiah 29.13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
How do we look for God? God is Spirit, we don’t see him physically.
The Father has no body, the Holy Spirit has no body. Jesus took on a body to come to earth as the Lamb of God to be slain. But now that he is in heaven, he is also uniquely Spirit.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
God is the first to seek us out, bringing us his Word.
And we seek him by listening attentively to his Word.
Then we must accept Him and develop a relationship with Him.
How can I accept Him? God has no body, so it’s His Word we must accept.
What I have heard from God who created me, I must let that Word penetrate me.
I take this Word and I keep it within me without forgetting it.
And this Word which is in me, hears, listens, believes, sees in me, acts in me…
This Word in me is God and what it tells me to do is what I do. So I communicate with Him.
We are God’s temple. He revealed it to us, so I have to change the way I see myself: I’m no longer alone, God is with me.
I position myself to see him and communicate with him in spirit. Spirit to spirit.
When I’m alone, I can talk to him because I can see him.
That’s how I look for Him. And our relationship will be genuine.
For example:
I speak to him without doubt, saying: Lord, You are wonderful.
I submit this day to you, I can do nothing without you, you are my strength… Yesterday was complicated because I ignored your presence, I had forgotten you were there.
But today help me not to forget your presence.
Lord, I have an appointment, be with me. I know you’ll be there, thank you Lord.
We don’t forget to thank him for what he does for us, for the food given, for the daily protection…We don’t wait to escape an accident to thank the Lord.
We ask for the grace to read the Word assiduously and regularly. That’s how we’ll see things change; the Word will be understandable.
And we must also ask the Lord, to help us practice His Word.
This is how we seek Him and develop our relationship with the Lord.
Or by saying to him, Lord, deliver me from this sin in my life, for I want to please you, help me in my prayer life, deliver me from these spiritual chains…
So you seek his holiness, his love, his preferences, his priorities, his heart, his desires. All that is in Him, you seek to have that.
That’s what seeking Him is all about. And God will let himself be found.
God is patient, which is why the Lord continues to forgive pagans even when they insult him all day long. God isn’t weak, but he loves him and doesn’t want him to go to hell, so is patient with him.
This means that whenever a Christian sins and sees nothing happen, it’s just God’s patience.
It’s not because He doesn’t say or do anything that He doesn’t exist; but that’s His patience.
God’s patience is a grace, the manifestation of his mercy.
It’s a favor to allow us to change.
The Lord knows all; He sees all.
Job 34
21 For His eyes are on the ways of man, And He sees all his steps.
22 There is no darkness nor shadow of death Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
23 For He need not further consider a man, That he should go before God in judgment.
When we go before God, we are already before God before we come before Him.
Yet some people think they are before God only when they come to church.
No, there are different stages.
There are stages when you’re with Him without talking to Him.
There are others where we are with Him and pray, sing…
But all these steps are taken before God. And even when the pagan sins, he sins before God.
Ps 139.2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.
Even our thoughts are known, so we can’t hide anything from him.
That’s why it’s good to strip ourselves entirely before Him, of everything that’s dirty in us.
That means you’ve decided to look for it.
Exposing one’s sins before God is a great blessing for those on earth.
This is called repentance. Repentance is not possible in hell.
We must love God. We shouldn’t love him just because he gave us a car. He gives us more than the car, the equipment.
When we look at him, we sing to him, we abandon ourselves to him, for he has given us everything.
God owes us nothing; he has given us everything.
Brothers, let’s run the race with God. Let’s love God, let’s walk with Him. Let’s leave the bad and take the good. If it’s difficult, let’s ask Him for help. Ask and you shall receive.
On earth, we can also praise, adore and love Him.
God is praised in heaven too, but on earth when the Christian resists the darkness and worships God, that’s what God wants.
IN THE NAME OF JESUS, Let Us Pray… →
Lord Jesus, help me to seek you more than before.
Help me to be faithful to you.
Lord, you know my weaknesses, help me to be strong and glorify your name.
I want to have a real relationship with you.
Lord Jesus, HELP ME to love you deeply
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.