The match has been played and we won!

This is The Dynamic Ambassadors coming your way again with another dynamic inspiration bulletin from the Word  meant to encourage you, stretch your thinking, challenge your faith, accelerate your growth, and not only stir up the talent and gift of God in you, but also to maximize your potential. Meditate on it and watch it put more meaning in your life.

The match has been played and we won!

John 16:33 ‘These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’

     

    During the 1990 world cup in June, we were writing our public exams (GCE A Level) the same day Cameroon was playing the opening match with Argentina who at that time where cup holder of the world cup. In Cameroon, the match was to be played at 3:00pm and be replayed on another TV station at 10:00pm on the same day that we were taking our first paper for the exams.  I am a Cameroonian and I know that Cameroonians love football so much that it is possible that students could leave the exams just to go watch the match. So because of that, the school authority lied to us that the match will be played only at 10: 00pm. And we believed them because the whole campus was fenced, nobody knew the truth.

  The match was played at 3:00pm and at the last few minute Cameroon scored and won the match, but none of the students knew since we were in a boarding school. At 10:00pm, the students all gathered at the school auditorium to watch the match not knowing that it was a replay. The truth is that the Argentina was pressing so hard that many times they made attempts to score Cameroon. And any time that happened, we will be so worried, wake up, move around the room, will panic with the fear that Argentina will wine Cameroon. For more than forty five minutes, we were in tension, sweating and panicking. One of my classmates Ojong Daniel almost collapses when the Argentina team came so close as if to score. But it all changed when someone came to school to see a friend and met us at the auditorium watching the match, when he was told that we are watching for the first time he shouted “the match has been played, and we won!” everybody after hearing how it was played and how we won, relaxed and from that time, watch the match with the knowledge that we are the winners. How will you go through live knowing that you are a winner already? But that is the truth about you!

  I have narrated this with such great details because nobody may know what you are going through, but I also want to announce to you this week that no matter what you are going through right now, the financial challenges, the health situation, the family dysfunction, and the tough times you are currently battling with, I want to announce to you that that “the match has been played, and guess what? We won” have you ever worried about something so much only to turn back a year or so latter to see that there was no need to worry at all?   This is what Jesus said “in the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’ John 16:33 that sounds to me like a won match. The match was played two thousand years ago and we won. He went to hell so that we can go to heaven, He became poor so that we can become rich, He was despised so that we can be honored, He was rejected so that we can be accepted, and He died so that we can live. He was stricken so we could be healed, He suffered so we could enjoy. He is saying “I know problems are coming, I know the bills you have to pay, I know the struggles in your life, but relax, I played the match and guess what? We won’. Child of God, please relax, don’t let problems kill you before your time. From the story above, Ojong Daniel almost died during the match because he did not know that the match has been played. John says in 1 John 4;4 ‘you are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.’ He is saying you have won because what you carry inside of you is greater than what is fighting you from outside.

     Paul says Rom 8:31 ‘if God be for us, who can be against us?’ if God is on our side, no body, no problem, no circumstance can be against us, I want you to know that God is on our side but as Martin Luther said, ‘it is also important for us to be on God’s side’ and that is our theme this time. But my assignment this week is to tell somebody to stop panicking but let every sickness know, poverty know, marital problems, bareness know, as well as witches and wizards to know that ‘the match has been played and we won!’

Don’t be a sign post (sign board)

1 Cor 9:27 “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified”.  NKJV

During the last Christmas, I decided to spend it with my mum in the village, and I decided to go with all my nephews and nieces around. As with got to a few kilometers near the village, there was a large bill board with the name of our village and the direction on it. My four years old nephew asked what it was and I said it was a sign post and he asked what a sign post is, I told him it is a sign board placed at a particular place to show us where we are going, the direction and how many kilometers we still have to get there. And in this case I told him we still have three kilometers to get to the village. He then asked me if this sign post has been to the village before and I said no, he laughed and said, pointing at the sign post “how can you stand here directing people to a village you have never been there’ he then turned to me and said, ‘uncle, I will never like to be a sign board, I will always like to go to places not stand at one point and direct people to where I have not been’

The three kilometers journey from that point to the village kept me thinking about my own life. To be honest with you, most often, it is not the part of the bible I don’t understand that worries me, it is the part that I understand and I don’t  do it that worries me. The part that I teach, and preach and cannot do exactly that way, that worries me, I know you are not like that, thank God for you. but Paul said something that I keep reminding myself every day and we should remind ourselves of that always and ask God to give us that grace as he said in I Corinthians 9:27 ‘I am staying alert and in top position, I am not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing it out myself’ The message Bible.

Does this remind you of something? The sign post (sign board), it spends its entire life directing people where to go but you will never see it there.

God forbids that we spend our lives teaching people the right thing and not doing it, directing people towards heaven and moving towards hell. Telling people what to do and not doing it. Of what use is it to look for information and not use it? Studying volumes of books and not finding time to put it into practice? Of what use is it going through the bible every year yet not doing what it says? For the bible says be ye doers of the word, not just hearers, not just readers, not just talkers of the word, but doers of the word.

Let us take some time this week and ask God to give us that grace, not just to direct people where to go but to carry people along and go there ourselves with them. 

Do you understand what I am going through?

Do you understand what I am going through?

 

1 Thessalonians 5:18 “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

  When I read scriptures like this I wonder if Paul was leaving in this world or if he understands what we go through.

   When we were about to have our second boy, my wife was in serious labor pains, and each time I will hold her hand with care and comfort and I will say ‘honey it will be alright, I understand’ I just kept saying ‘honey I understand what you are going through’ she looked at me and said ‘I hate it when you keep saying you understand’ I asked her why and she said ‘because you don’t understand, you cannot, because you have never been pregnant’ ‘tell me something else don’t tell me you understand’ she concluded, a bit harsh but truth, it made me understand that you will never understand the pinch of the shoe until you are in the shoes.

     You will never know what somebody is going through until you go through that thing, even at that; some people go through similar things at different levels. I may not know what you are going through but I know someone who knows what you are going through and His name is God, and I know some people who were going through something and their names where Paul and Silas. I will give you their formula and get out of your way this week.

Act 16:25 “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.  Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed.” NKJV

  Midnight is a position where the morning meets the night, and literary it is the darkest moments of the dark or of night. Sometimes you go through situations in life and it comes to point where you start thinking ‘this is too much for me to bear, enough is enough,’ but the truth is that the further the problem goes the nearer it gets to its solution. The Bible says weeping may endure in the night but joy comes in the morning. I want you to know that whatever situation you are going through, your morning is coming.

     The bible says Paul (the same Paul who said we should give thanks in every thing)  and Silas after being beaten where thrown into jail with their hands tied to the pillar; they were beaten until blood was coming out. But instead of concentrating on their wounds and what was happening to them, the Bible says they were praising God and singing hymes can you imagine? The messages bible says in verse 26 ‘….the other prisoners couldn’t believe their ears’. You know why? Because when the sun is shining, everyone can sing, when thinks are good everybody can shout praise God! But when you are in the Philippians jail inner prison with your hands tied to a pillar, it takes something to praise God in that condition, some of us will wet out pants seven times an hour.

   Paul and Silas did not look at their wounds or the conditions they were in, they focused on God not with complains but with songs of praise to God and that is the greatest formula. At the midnight of your problem at a point where you think it is too much, at a point when the devil has put you and thinks you cannot come out use Paul and silas’s formula, they praised God in the midst of trouble. They did not deny that the problem was there, they did not deny the facts of the problem but they did not act by feelings, they focused on God. And listen to the three things that happened after that 1) suddenly there was an earth quake and the foundation of the prison was shaken, anything that has bound you down I pray that as you praise God today it will not only be broken but it will be shaken and destroyed from the foundation, the roots (spiritual realm) in Jesus name. 2) Immediately the doors were opened, I pray that any door that you have been waiting to open in your life, as you praise God in your condition today those doors will begin to fling open in Jesus name? 3) Every ones chains were loose, as you praise God, he will not only lose your chains for you to do what you could not do, but He will lose the chains of everyone around you.

    My assignment this week is to say what Paul said to the Philippians Church Phil 4:4 ‘Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice!’ and I will say even in the midnight of your problem, rejoice.

Did you know that during a test, the teacher is always silent?

Gen 22:1 ‘Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!"  And he said, "Here I am."’ NKJV

 

  Growing up, one of my greatest shocks occurred in primary one when our class teacher came in one day and announced a test, gave it to us straight away and  during all the writing time he did not say a word no matter how much we wanted him to help us. Disappointed, I came home to ask my mom and this is what she said “ I want you to know  son, that during a test, the teacher is always silent”  this statement stock deep in my brain and since then, I have never expected a teacher to help me when I am taking a test or exams.

   We had test and exams in school but life itself is a school and sometimes we go through an excruciating test, nothing seems to be working, that it looks like the whole world is against you, that you think your life is a mess. That you think everything is at a standstill, that you begin to consider death over life because you think that there is nothing to live for. And above all these, it seems as if God is completely silent. That could mean that you are going through a test, and let me give you some characteristics of a test.

1)    During a test, the teacher is always silent,

   God tested Abraham in Genesis 22:1-19. To give his only son as a burnt offering to Him at the land of Moriah in a mountain which He (God) shall show him (Abraham) but from the time he left that morning till when he took off his knife to sacrifice the child, the Bible did not say where God spoke again to Abraham, he had to use his spiritual antenna to locate where the mountain was. I don’t know about you but there are times in my life that I will wake up and say ‘God did I hear you well? What is going on? In fact where are you oh God?’ and He will just be silent. When God is silent, it does not mean that He has abandoned us, but He allows us to go through the test for a reason and He wants us to use the material He gave us during the lessons to answer the test. Halleluiah!

2)    A just teacher, will never give a test out of the thought syllabuses

  I don’t know what kind of test, trial or temptation you are going through right now, but the Bible says He will never allow us to go through what we cannot bear (1corithian 10:13). When you are saying “God where are you, what can I do here?” He is saying “remember what I thought you in class” God is a just teacher and he will never give us a test or allow a temptation that we cannot handle.

3)    After every test, there is a promotion

      Job said “…after he must have tested me I shall come out as Gold’ Job 23:10. And he did, his latter end was greater than his beginning. Abraham got a promotion after his test on his son Isaac (Gen. 22:15-18). David got his promotion after he passed the test over Goliath. Those who go to school know that there is no promotion without a test and if you really want a promotion to the next level of your life, then accept the test and go through it. When God wants to promote a person, He looks for a Goliath and sends to him.

    But in all these, one of the most redemptive and relieving thing about God’s test is that when God sets a test, he allows you to use your book in the test room, that means you can open your book, His test is always  an open book test. Halleluiah! And guess what? All the answers are in the book (Bible). God is the best examiner, he gives a test and then the answer is right there, look at this; Deut 30:19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;”     permit me put the question in black then the answer in red. Amazing isn’t? Setting an exam of multiple choice and telling you which answer to choose, only God can do that!

    I don’t know about you, but I have decided to stay in the class room (stay focused) and take my test irrespective of what is happening because I need a promotion.

The messenger must become the message!

Matt 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Some years ago in the city of Athens in Greece I did something that made me ashamed whenever I think about it. I was the assistant Pastor of Christ Apostolic Church Athens, and after preaching a very vibrant message in church one Sunday, I met a black man on the street the next Wednesday and this is what happened. When this man met me, he started talking to me in Igbo (one of Nigerians dialects). I stopped him immediately and for some reasons I started raining canal talks on him, I asked if any black man he sees in the street must be a Nigerian, or must I be an Igbo, ‘how dare you meet me and just start talking rubbish,’ I said, ‘just because you think that Igbos own the world.’ and with anger, I told him to think twice before speaking to people any how on the street. As I was about to leave, he said this “Pastor, I was in your church last Sunday and I heard your wonderful sermon, but I thought you are a Nigerian because we hardly have other blacks from other country who preach like you did. So when I saw you hear now I thought you could be of help to me because I am new in town and I need someone to direct me on how to legalize my document.” He said a lot of other things but nothing hit me so hard as these words “Pastor I was in your church last Sunday and I heard your wonderful sermon.” I really felt bad, though I helped him latter on but till today when I think of that incident I feel bad.

As a Christian, the only Bible some people will ever read is your life; people who cannot read the bible are reading your life. It is one thing to hear it, read it, say it, preach it but it is another thing to do it and become it. Until you become the message that you are carrying, it cannot go through for a break through in people’s lives. Sometimes, unbelievers will look at the life of one believer and they will say ‘I wish I was like that person’ and they will look at another believer and they will say ‘if being a believer will end me up like that person, I better die an unbeliever.’ That is why author Bob Gass said this “the strongest argument for Christianity is Christians and the strongest argument against Christianity is Christians’ actions speak louder than words.

The Bible says in our opening scripture that we are the light of the world. The Amplified Bible puts it this way in Math 5:16 “let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father who is in Heaven” The purpose of light is to shine; light sends away darkness and light make shadows to disappear all by shinning. So it will not fulfill its purpose if it is not shinning. We understand that you have light or that you are light, but it is the shinning of the light that makes it light, no doubt Jesus said; you cannot light your lamp and put it under the basket. The message here is this; it is the light in the lamp that makes the lamp a lamp. So do any thing to let your light shine.

One great man of God Francis Asisi once asked one of his co-pastors to go out with him for evangelism. When they went out to the city center, they greeted a few people, had a few conversations with them and then returned home. When they came back home, the co-pastor said ‘I thought you said we are going out to evangelize, but we didn’t evangelize’ and Assisi Replied, ‘our action in the city center preached the Gospel.’ Sometimes, we don’t have to open our mouth to say something, sometimes we don’t have to quote scripture to people because people are looking for more scripture doers than scripture quoters. May be that is why I did not quote any other scripture here but just to remind you that the missionary must become the mission and the messenger must become the message. The world is looking at you who say you are a Christian.

Until next week, this has been your humble servant and partner, Columbus A.F. reminding you that “…He came that you may have life and have it more abundantly.” John 10:10. You are blessed for life.

If you have been blessed please forward it to as many as you can,