Higher Life Christian Centre

Matthew 6:33 (HCSB)
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

Many people come to God for different reasons. Financial problems, relationship break down, problems with raising their kids, or demonic oppression. In fact, there is an endless list of need oriented reasons why people give their lives to Christ, which makes them sometimes miss the actual essence of the Christian faith -the salvation of their souls.

Unfortunately, many of us never move beyond this point. Which is very sad. God the Father, wants us to seek Him the giver and not the gift. So, I would like to encourage you today, why not do what Jesus said. Seek the kingdom of God and His way of doing things (His Righteousness) and all these things that we worry about will be added to us. The only thing He asks is that we put Him first and not ourselves.

Have a great day and remain strong in the Lord.

newsletter-may-2009.pdf

God has given specific instructions to us regarding the importance of keeping and teaching His laws i.e. practicing them ourselves and then passing them on to the next generation (Deut 6:4-9). You may be saying to yourself that these instructions are not relevant to us today. They were given to the nation of Israel a long time ago. I can assure you that “the Word of God abides forever” (1 Peter 1:23), and is therefore relevant to us today. The bible clearly states in 1Corinthians 10:11, that these examples are there to instruct us and that we should learn from them in order to avoid making the same mistakes.

We are going to look at the consequences of failing to adhere to these instructions in scripture, and how this affected the Old Testament saints nationally and individually. We will start this series with a study of the book of Judges (Judges 2:7-15).

As we read through these verses we can see that the precepts and laws of God were not passed onto the next generation as instructed by God in Deut chapter 6. Consequently, they had no reference point, no direction and so, they did whatever they thought was right in their own eyes.

Dear parent, grandparent, uncle, aunt, guardian, teacher, youth worker, etc, or whatever your role may be in which you have influence in the life of a child, or youth.
I implore you not to fail them by neglecting the charge given to you by God, because the consequence (as we can see with Israel) could be disastrous.

God has placed certain responsibilities within the Home, Church, and State. In our society however, our state i.e. schools, institutions etc, has failed to pass on true Christian values to our children and as a result (like Israel) they have no reference point and no direction.

It is therefore left to us in the homes, whatever your role may be to teach them these values, and instruct them in the ways of the Lord before it’s too late for them to change (Proverbs 22:6). If we fail to teach them, they will simply copy and adopt the values around them and its source will not be from God. Rather, it will be influences they pick up from their schools, the media and their peer group.

You may have been brought up with very strict Christian values i.e. respect for parents, elders etc (Ephesians 6:1-3), but as the next generation comes along these values are mostly abandoned and dubbed as old fashion or out of tune with the times.

I want to assure you dear brothers and sisters that God is depending on each of us to be faithful to that which He has entrusted to us. Like the parable of the Talents, we will have to give an account of what we have done with the children He has committed to our trust.

newsletter-april-2009.pdf

I hope that these series of articles will encourage our young people as we continue to look at the life of another young person who God used mightily to accomplish His purpose. It is hoped also that this story will inspire and challenge our young people to know that God can use them also to accomplish great things for His kingdom.

Our featured subject for this piece is King Josiah, whose story is found in (2 Chronicles 34). Josiah was only eight years old when he became king of Judah.
He ascended the throne following the death of his father (king Amon) who was killed by his servants (2 Chronicles 33:24-25). In spite of such traumatic circumstances young Josiah chose to trust in God. The bible tells us “in the eighth year of his reign while he was still young (sixteen years old), he began to seek the God of his father David” (2 Chronicles 34:3). In other words he wanted to know what his purpose was, and to carry it out.

All young people are called by God for a purpose, no one is here by chance, God has a plan for your life, and like Josiah He wants you to fulfil it. I would therefore challenge you to seek the Lord diligently and He will reveal it to you. Sometimes it is easy to blame family background or role models etc as reasons for not fulfilling our purpose, but as we can see that did not deter this young man.

Josiah came from a background where his Grandfather and Father (Manasseh &Amon) “did evil in the sight of God” by leading the people of God into idolatry (2 Chronicles 33:1-9, 21-23). In spite of all that he chose not to go down that path, instead he decided to return the nation to the true worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As a result he removed all symbols of idol worship in the land, purged the land, restored true worship throughout the entire nation thus turning the hearts of the people back to serving the God of Israel.

The bible says that “all his days they did not depart from following the Lord God of their fathers” (2 Chronicles 34:33b). I would like therefore to challenge, and encourage you the reader of this article not to be put off by your age, but like young Josiah choose to make a difference.

May God continue to bless and prosper you in your walk with Him.

It is not news to most of us today that we are in the mist of the one of the worst economic crisis of our time. For some of us, this is the first time the full impact of a recession has really hit home. The 90’s down turn did not mean a thing to me because I was young and did not have any responsibilities.

For married couples, I just want to say this is not the time to turn on each other and start playing the blame game. I know that sometimes in a marriage relationship one person could be the big spender while the other might be trying to rein him or her in.

Well with the economy going belly up, job losses becoming the current trend, with fear and despair on the streets, it might be time to do one thing. You may ask me, what preacher?

It might be time for you to review your marriage vows. It might be time to get the old video or dvd out, get some pop corn and remember what you signed up for. It might be time to solidify your love for each other. You said till death do us part, in sickness and in health.

I am not trying to put a guilt trip on you, or trying to take a swipe at those who have been through a divorce. But the truth is money is one of the major sources of conflict in a marriage. It has also tragically been the end of many unions.

I have a few recommendations for you and I guess you already know most of them.

Repent: If you have bought into materialism, it is time to get before God and repent. Yes, money is important, but a man’s life is not based on the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15). We have to strike a balance. Many of us have been greedy during the boom and some of us hate to admit it. Facing up to the truth is the first step to change.

Stand together: Since you are married there is no point in tearing each other up. Jesus said a house divided against itself will not stand (Matt 12:25). This is not rocket science. Don’t let your flesh get the better of you. Sometimes people say the devil is attacking marriages. That may be true, but there is something we fail to address, we let our flesh run amok in our relationships and give the enemy too much to work with (Eph 4:27).

Restructure your finances: If you have been spending more than you have, it might be time to start getting rid of some of your liabilities. There might be some unnecessary expenses to throw overboard to keep your ship afloat during this crisis (Prov 27:12 MSG). While listening to a teaching series on stewardship, the preacher gave a quote he heard, that simply sums up our capitalist society. “A boom is when we spend money we don’t have; a recession is when we stop spending money we don’t have.”

Forget the Joneses: I have learnt a valuable lesson, and believe me it has taken me very long to implement this. Who cares what the Joneses think? When you create a liability for yourself to impress them, remember they are not going to stay awake with you to pay your bills. Please do not hold on to stuff you should throw away, just to impress a few. Be your own person! I don’t think Jesus would have amounted to much if he spent his time thinking about what the Pharisees and the Priests thought about him. Living your life at the mercy of the opinions of others is a crazy way to live (Prov 29:25 MSG).

Support One another: If a spouse looses their job, they need your support. This is the time to encourage one another. The words you use are very important, and can go a long way to affect your crises positively or negatively (Prov 18:21). Don’t put them down! Support each other. This is what the marriage covenant is about. It is suppose to bring security not chaos.

Knowing that you have got each others back in the crises will go a long way to bring you through it. Remain strong in the Lord!

What Drives You?newsletter-march-2009.pdf

This audio message was recorded at Father’s Heart Centre, Birmingham in February 2008. I strongly believe it will be a blessing to you.

As Christians we are all required to renew our minds, but in this seminar we applied it primarily to some of the challenges of single life. Some parts of it contain mature subject matter, so parental discretion is advised.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB)

This audio message was recorded at Father’s Heart Centre, Birmingham in February 2008. I strongly believe it will be a blessing to you.

As Christians we are all required to renew our minds, but in this seminar we applied it primarily to some of the challenges of single life. Some parts of it contain mature subject matter, so parental discretion is advised.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (18.3MB)

Anywhere you have human beings, offences are not far away. None of us are perfect. That’s why our Heavenly Father built forgiveness into the system. We are the forgiven, who give out forgiveness to others.

Forgiveness means freedom, not just for the offender, but also the victim of the offence. It frees you from the power of the weaknesses of others. Let us decide to walk in forgiveness today. God can settle the books better than you or I can.

I hope this podcast is a blessing to you. We will be discussing forgiveness, what it is, what it is not, and how to forgive. Remain Strong in the Lord!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (13.3MB)