the watcher

John 4:49-51 The official pleaded, “Lord, please come now before my little boy dies.” Then Jesus told him, “Go back home. Your son will live!” And the man believed what Jesus said and started home. While the man was on his way, some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well. When we pray concerning a matter, the Lord's response comes with an instruction. The instruction could be as simple as ". . .Go home your son is healed . . .",  as we see with the official in our opening text. As he obeyed his miracle took place: John 4:51-53 While the man was on his way, some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well. He asked them when the boy had begun to get better, and they replied, “Yesterday afternoon at one o’clock his fever suddenly disappeared!” Then the father realized that that was the very time Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” And he and his entire household believed in Jesus. The difficult part of prayer is

Psalm 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: The whole of Psalm 103 is worth reading this morning: We must remember that it is God . . . * who heals your diseases * who protects you * who provides for you * has the power that cannot be contested * sacrificed His Son for us * calls us back when we were lost * forgives our sins For in God: * our families are blessed * our work prospers * we are above principalities and powers * we are gods * we are healed. Some say it is easy to praise God when all is well. I won't really say so, some dwell on enjoying the blessings, they forget to give thanks. Others forget to give thanks when they face new challenges. They forget all the times God has been good to them! We could get so preoccupied with the issue and forget who has been good to us. Lamentations 3:22 Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. If we remember His goodness then we should trust that He who did it for u

1Thessalonians 5:18  "in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." No better prayer than giving thanks, when you give thanks for what He has done be sure that He will do more. How glorious it will be if all believers where "Thanks-givers", our lives will definitely be faultless. Evil vices like envy and hate will not be found in our midst. Prayer should not be asking, asking and asking like the relationship with a boss. With God all things is already done. We just align to what is done. Even when you feel so anxious about a thing, the bible says we should in prayer bring that request to God, but with thanksgiving. Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; Before anything else give thanks to God for giving you life and for giving His Son "Yeshua, Jesus the Christ" in whom He has allowed all things to dwell.  Colossians 2

John 4:42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.” The desire to have God in our lives is what brings about the emptiness that humans feel in general, and when He is not there we find other things to fill our void, to keep us going, a place where we can place our faith, something to hope on. This is the basis of religion. Religion is a satisfaction for that void or deprevation. Some fight the reality of human's emptiness by trying to convince themselves that God is not real. Others find someone, someplace, or something they can call God. All is the quest to fill that void. The children of Israel were supposed to be the lucky nation, the Heavenly Father chose them as His people, the bigger plan was that they should be the channel through which the Messiah was to bring salvation to the whole world. (It could be anyone else, however it was Abraham

John 4:31-32,34 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something.” But Jesus replied, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about.” Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. The same way our body craves for food when we have been out of food for a while, this should be the same way our Spirit craves to do the Master's work while we are here on earth. For if we are of God we must also be about His business, and His business is about doing good. Acts 10:38 And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Every believer has a part to play in the whole kingdom business, thus they are careful not to be entangled in the things of the world that will take them away from their purpose and ministry. The good one craves to do good while the evil one craves to do

3 John 1:2 Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit. Glory to God, let us take out time this morning to remind ourselves that we have healing. Malachi 4:2 But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. The desire of God for us is that we should be in good health. The earth consist of things which could make our natural body weak and fall to sickness. Some ailments were from birth, some developed from activities done after birth, some as a result of bad life style, some as a result of eating the wrong things and recently from the activities of man in improving technologies, wars and also industrialisation. From the beginning of time God had been in the business of healing. The fall of man as recorded in Genesis 3 made man liable to sicknesses and diseases. But God had always shown His power to heal. His mercy was reveled fr

John 4:26 Then Jesus told her, “i am the Messiah!” Yesterday we talked about tuning in, if you are going to move with the frequency of the Heavenly Father, you have to be tuned in and only in Christ can that be, through His Spirit, for it is by our Spirit we communicate with God. We will see Christ confirm that. Let us do the secular a bit. Listen if you are going to have that breakthrough, make that impact or do that exploit, you have to tune out of all that is taking your mind to the losing side, you have to tune in to the victorious channel, the conqueror channel and move into that frequency of winning, because the whole world may look impossible, but if you tune to the right frequency you will see the victory. All doesn't have to be clear at the onset, it was not for all those who conquered and made it to the top of their careers, and achievements but they kept on keeping good principles, taking the right risks, being patient, knowing when to move, when to pause and watch and w

John 4:11-15 “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?” Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.” The major reason for stagnation is not being in tune with the elevation. Look at the conversation between Christ and the Samaritan woman, Christ was talking about the divine, she remained in the flesh. Christ was talking about living water she remained with the well water, she just couldn't get it till Christ brought her to her situation of

John 4:10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” So many opportunities have people missed because they held unto mundane things, such as tribe, race, religion, what people say, immediate looks etc. They miss the opportunity to bless or be blessed. In regions such as mine you hear prayer points, like "let my destiny helper locate me". Though when I hear this prayer point I always ask, "why can't you be someone else's destiny helper?" So whether we are to bless one or we are to be blessed by another, wrong placement of people could make us miss the opportunity. Thus I love the way Paul wrote it: 2 Corinthians 5:16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! Don't immediately judge a book by its cover, that is, go beyond your outside sig

John 3:35-36 The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands. And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.” The hope of man lies in His creator, however man plays a role in believing and the obedience of believing which is faith, results in man's salvation. This is where many miss it, they have not understood who the Son is, thus they try to separate Him from the Heavenly Father so they end up not getting fulfilled. Everything lies in the hands of the Son, Christ Jesus including judgement, thus our business is to know Him and walk in obedience. What happens when we come to Christ? 2 Corinthians 5:17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! This is the life the believer lives, void of the errors and filth of the past, delivered from unbelief and fruitlessness, to enjoy faith and fr

John 3:27-29 John replied, “No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.’ It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. Do we know when it is time to leave a place, a position or a project, or even a person's life? These decision comes difficult to many because they neither understood their assignment, the timeline or the purpose.  John the Baptist understood clearly that he was not the Messiah: John 3:28 You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.’ He was to do the announcement for a season then leave the scene for the Messiah to do His work: There are parts we play in people's lives, in people's business, in that community, that position etc. The problem comes when we do

Psalms 24:1 The earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. We are talking of the Heavenly Father who knows all and has all things in His control. We as humans have our desires, plans, goals and expectations. Our duty is to  bring them to God in prayer. Even when we have prayed, sometimes, things don't happen the same way we expect it to, we then forget all and focus on the exact thing we desired. Asking why it went that way. We must understand that   w hen God looks at it, He looks far beyond our limited view, He has in mind the future and the details we are not privileged to have. That is why Paul wrote: Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, We can be sure that God has our best interest at heart. Isaiah 55:9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. Psalms

John 3:3,5,7 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ A man was curious about the events that were happening in his time, he was not a novice he was a scholar, a religious leader, a pharisee. He knew what the prophets had said about the Messiah and God's salvation plan. He couldn't help himself, he wanted to hear from the "horse's mouth", yet he had to be cautious because of his colleagues, they must not see that he had joined the believers. So he went to see him at night. John 3:1-2 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” Thi

John 2:24-25 But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people. No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart. How would it be if everyone's thought were visible on their faces as they moved about each day. For many carry a smile on their face but it is a bitter face they carry in their hearts. Many claim to be loyal and faithful till they are tested with money, then they give all up and betray another. Many hide under religion, to display their beastiality, animosity and devilish tendencies, for what gives you the right to kill or destroy a being like yourself. What if the other arises and destroys you too, giving another excuse which could still be religion? No one has monopoly over recklessness. What of those who speak so much of how the government ought to be this or that, and how they want to fight to make things better for the people and make the leadership accountable. These same people get opportunity to sit in s

John 2:16-17,21 Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.” But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. John the disciple records that Christ went with his disciples to attend the Passover at Jerusalem. If you read through the gospels we see that Christ was particular about the Passover. The reason is not far fetched, we know from scriptures (old testament) that God instructed the Israelites to keep the Passover year after year. The Passover was the rememberance of the time when God delivered Israel from the slavery at Egypt. The Passover was the angel of death visiting Egypt and that every door marked with the blood was passed over, and no death came there. Thus the one major element of the Passover was the lamb ( the young animal to be sacrificed) Exodus 12:3,12-14

John 2:4 “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” We know that there is time for everything and a season for every event, the wise man emphasized this: Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. Most times you look out for things and you hear the consolation phrase "your time would soon come", "wait for your turn", etc. Truly, we ought to understand the timing of things and know that God works this way to, however remember that He is God. On your journey to the fulfilment, He yet shows up again and again in what you may think are small things, to let you know that He is there. Joseph was heading to great leadership position in the world setting, however, he had his exploit as a servant in the strange land, his master made him lord over all his household (at that tender age), even when he was accused falsely and sent to prison, the Lord showed up again, he had to be the leader of

ARE YOU WAITING? John 1:43,45,47,49 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come, follow me.” Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.” As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.” Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!” Yesterday we asked a question, "Are you ready?", today we ask another question, "Are you waiting?" For when you look at the first disciples of Christ, you observe something in particular (reading through John 1:35-51). These men had been discussing about the Messiah, they had been searching or waiting for Him. John 1:45 Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Truly the Me

John 1:40-41 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus. Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”). Every timeline from the time of creation, had an event, it is called times and seasons. Each of these times come with special events. The God factor is what always makes it significant. From scriptures, these events anchored around Israel - the Jews, while others fell into another category. The reason being God's salvation plan was to come through them: John 4:22 You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. It was not as if other tribes in the world were not relevant, but that Israel had the access as the chosen nation. Did they make good use of it? . . . So the season in our text was the season of the revelation of Christ, His ministry on earth was to begin The announcer was John

John 1:38-39 Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them.They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come and see,” he said. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day. From childhood many have heard about the Lord Jesus, the things He did, His person as the Father and His work as the redeemer. How many have really followed Him? Let me quickly say this which I have said before. When you talk of man (human being) you are just one out of trillions. Many have come before you, many are here now with you and many may come after you. So the question is, what makes you special? Listen, when God created man at the beginning, it was like one man, one person but in him was all people, so when He said "  . . . multiply and fill the earth . . .", it was still one man, - wait let me explain.  One man sinned, it became the

John 1:32-34 Then John testified, “I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him. I didn’t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the Chosen One of God.” Yesterday we looked at the topic "Do you know who you are?". We saw the fulfilment of purpose for someone like John the Baptist in fulfilling his purpose as the fore-runner of Christ. Thus we asked ourselves what our purpose was, and if we were fulfilling it. We see John announcing the Messiah, this was to be his greatest achievement though if we read through we see him trying to reach out to other things so much that he even sent to ask Christ if he was the one. (We will look at that some other time) This morning we want to see the power of knowing.  John explained that he did not know who Christ was b

John 1:22-23 “Then who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?” John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah:  “I am a voice shouting in the wilderness,  ‘Clear the way for the Lord’s coming!’” Who are you? An important question we all may have asked ourselves at one time or the other. The question is so important because it will explain what we have been doing, what we are are doing and what we are going to do. I always teach that the best gift a parent, guardian, leader or mentor can give to those under their care is to help them discover their calling and gifts, it is the greatest turn around of their lives. There is nothing like knowing what you are doing. Jeremiah 1:5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.  Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” John 18:37b Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. The moment a man becomes born again, thei

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Being of the Heavenly Father is a great privilege. He makes even the worst situations become a testimony. Be they ills from others or your own mistakes, He can turn all into good for you. Psalms 30:11-12 You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever! This is why you never go away from His presence, no matter what it is, even if you think you have fallen. Fall into Him, let Him lift you up like a child. Some have left faith, because of too much philosophy or that they expected something and did not receive it or they felt the couldn't meet up. NO Jesus gave us parables to let us know that He will yet take us back. I love this song by Jeremy Camp "I wi