sermon 15.
FOLLOW GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS WITHOUT DEVIATING
A Sermon Preached on Sunday 4th June, 2017.
“Whoever despises instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command will be rewarded”─ Prov. 13:13.
A
story was told about one sick girl in a hospital. Oxygen was put in her both nose and mouth to enable her breath. A young man visited her in the hospital and found her in her sick bed with the oxygen through which she breathed. The man sat on the same bed without knowing that he placed his right foot on the oxygen pipe supplying air to the girl. The girl brought out her pen and a piece of paper and wrote: “You are keeping your right foot on the oxygen supplying me air. Could you please remove your leg from there?”
The girl gave the man this instruction but the man put the written note in the pocket of his shirt, and kept on talking with the girl until the girl died because, the man had snubbed to read the instruction given to him.
Brethren, what the story teaches us is we should try as much as possible to read whatever instructions written to us. We should not delay or deviate from it. The poor girl died because the young man did not read the written note she gave him. Today, we should as Christians know that God’s instructions are very important to adhere to. Anyone who fails to follow his instructions, trouble will destroy him but he that obeys his instructions will succeed in life. This is what the book of Proverbs 13:13 means.
From the book of Exodus 16:4, we see that after the Israelites had complained to Moses that they didn’t have anything to eat, God said to Moses that he’s going to rain down food from heaven for him and the people could go out and pick as much food as they needed that day. God did not say they must pick for that day and for tomorrow. He only wanted to test them if they could follow his instructions. We see in verses 17 and 18 that there are some Israelites that did not follow God’s advice. Some gathered a lot, while some gathered only a little as God instructed. Those who gathered only a little had enough. It seems that those that gathered a lot are greedy. Perhaps they wanted to accumulate the food both for that day and for the following days. They were people who complained for food, and now God had provided it for them, they gathered a lot, perhaps to store it in their house so that they would not lack. Since they could not listen to the instructions of God, they did not have leftover. This is their folly. When someone does not have leftover food, I wonder what he will eat next. Hunger will torture him and he will say─ “Had I known I would have listened to my God.”
I don’t know why people do not work based on the instructions given. As Christians, do not work or act beyond or below the stipulated instructions. It is a sin to work beyond the stipulated instructions God gives. The Israelites acted beyond the instructions God gave to them by gathering a lot of food and had no leftover. There are people when they go for any occasion, they will try to gather enough food and bring it to their houses while others will go in hunger. And we see that in most cases, those of them who pack food from such occasions always remain in need. Do not abuse your Christian identity by begging for food. Any occasion you attend, if no one gives you food, do not beg for it, the food you are looking for is in your house. God did not create you to be a beggar but he has created you to help others. Also, the Israelites were instructed not to keep any of the food until morning but some of them did not listen and so kept some of it until morning. The food was full of maggots and had a terrible smell. This disobedient to instruction angered Moses. God brought the food as daily bread but the people didn’t listen to instructions. They kept some thinking that there would be no food tomorrow. In fact, they didn’t trust the power of God’s providence. They did not believe that God could supply them food on the daily basis. Unless we trust on the daily providence of God, we can never have enough.
FOLLOW GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS WITHOUT DEVIATING
A Sermon Preached on Sunday 4th June, 2017.
“Whoever despises instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command will be rewarded”─ Prov. 13:13.
A
story was told about one sick girl in a hospital. Oxygen was put in her both nose and mouth to enable her breath. A young man visited her in the hospital and found her in her sick bed with the oxygen through which she breathed. The man sat on the same bed without knowing that he placed his right foot on the oxygen pipe supplying air to the girl. The girl brought out her pen and a piece of paper and wrote: “You are keeping your right foot on the oxygen supplying me air. Could you please remove your leg from there?”
The girl gave the man this instruction but the man put the written note in the pocket of his shirt, and kept on talking with the girl until the girl died because, the man had snubbed to read the instruction given to him.
Brethren, what the story teaches us is we should try as much as possible to read whatever instructions written to us. We should not delay or deviate from it. The poor girl died because the young man did not read the written note she gave him. Today, we should as Christians know that God’s instructions are very important to adhere to. Anyone who fails to follow his instructions, trouble will destroy him but he that obeys his instructions will succeed in life. This is what the book of Proverbs 13:13 means.
From the book of Exodus 16:4, we see that after the Israelites had complained to Moses that they didn’t have anything to eat, God said to Moses that he’s going to rain down food from heaven for him and the people could go out and pick as much food as they needed that day. God did not say they must pick for that day and for tomorrow. He only wanted to test them if they could follow his instructions. We see in verses 17 and 18 that there are some Israelites that did not follow God’s advice. Some gathered a lot, while some gathered only a little as God instructed. Those who gathered only a little had enough. It seems that those that gathered a lot are greedy. Perhaps they wanted to accumulate the food both for that day and for the following days. They were people who complained for food, and now God had provided it for them, they gathered a lot, perhaps to store it in their house so that they would not lack. Since they could not listen to the instructions of God, they did not have leftover. This is their folly. When someone does not have leftover food, I wonder what he will eat next. Hunger will torture him and he will say─ “Had I known I would have listened to my God.”
I don’t know why people do not work based on the instructions given. As Christians, do not work or act beyond or below the stipulated instructions. It is a sin to work beyond the stipulated instructions God gives. The Israelites acted beyond the instructions God gave to them by gathering a lot of food and had no leftover. There are people when they go for any occasion, they will try to gather enough food and bring it to their houses while others will go in hunger. And we see that in most cases, those of them who pack food from such occasions always remain in need. Do not abuse your Christian identity by begging for food. Any occasion you attend, if no one gives you food, do not beg for it, the food you are looking for is in your house. God did not create you to be a beggar but he has created you to help others. Also, the Israelites were instructed not to keep any of the food until morning but some of them did not listen and so kept some of it until morning. The food was full of maggots and had a terrible smell. This disobedient to instruction angered Moses. God brought the food as daily bread but the people didn’t listen to instructions. They kept some thinking that there would be no food tomorrow. In fact, they didn’t trust the power of God’s providence. They did not believe that God could supply them food on the daily basis. Unless we trust on the daily providence of God, we can never have enough.
Furthermore, the Israelites were instructed to gather the food twice as much as usual on the sixth day. This was to keep them from going out on the seventh day─ the Sabbath day to pick up food. We see that there are people that failed to abide in this instruction and went out on the Sabbath day in search of food and they found no food ─ Exo. 16:27-29. Also some people go out early in the Sunday morning looking for what to work to get money or food. Such people don’t go to church when they don’t have food. I want to tell you, whichever day is your own Sabbath never you joke with it, no one achieves anything when he fails to honor God on the day of worship.
In the book of first Kings 13, we see also that failure to abide in the instructions of God attracts death. A prophet that was instructed to go to Bethel to declare the word of God without eating anything, he disobeyed to follow the instructions of a man and he was slayed by a lion on his way back to Judah. We don’t need another prophet to tell us another thing from what God had already spoken to us. When God speaks to you, let no man deceive you with false prophesies. As a prophet, there are certain things you ought to do. Any place you go and food or money is presented to you, if your spirit tells you not to receive or eat anything there, you better mind yourself. Do not eat or receive what your mind does not welcome. The Law of Moses instructed us to worship only God, have no other gods beside him, and respect our parents so that our days will be long. But what is happening today? Children are no longer giving respect to their parents and elders, and we hear series of untimely deaths here and there. I tell you, if respect will be giving to our parents and elders, the Word of God will never be in vain. We’ll grow old and see our great grand-children. And this will be your portion. Many years have added unto you as you begin to abide in the instructions of God. May God reward you for listening to his instructions.
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