THE HUMOUR IN US

WATCH OUT^^^^^NANA IS BACK AGAIN WITH WONDERFUL STUFF; FULLY LOADED AND POWER PACKED; STAY IN TOUCH!!!

26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,

27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.

28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.

29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.

30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?

31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?

32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.

33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.

34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

If I touch his clothes, I will be healed. This is a proof of faith; that is the level of faith of the woman is high. Therefore a sick person can only be healed if he / she have a strong faith or depends on the level of his/her faith. If a Pastor pray for a sick person to be healed and the person has no faith; it won’t work.

Why do we ensure regular medical check-ups? This is because we want to ensure that we are safe. So in spiritual realms; we need strong faith to be safe in spirit. Let’s consider these areas of faith:

1. Our Prayer Life: The first level of checking our faith in spirit is our prayer life. We talk to God and hear from Him through prayers. You can miss your breakfast but for your devotion, do not miss. There are two main means of devotion; a lone with God devotion and family with God devotion. Therefore learn to devote with God not minding your wife or husband or children for they will not be there to defend you when the Day of Judgment comes. Let us look at Jesus. Even he the controller of all things had time alone with himself and God. Most often we make our choices before praying to God about them. Read Matthew 6:12-13…before Jesus could choose the twelve disciples; he spent a whole night with God in Prayer. We should make priority to seek from God before we decide in our life because we may make wrong choices. According to Daniel 6:1-17, the people knew that they would not find any fault on Daniel except his prayer life; that he disturbs with his prayer. Daniel prayed three times a day. People may tempt you according to your faith level. Let our life style of prayer be like that of Daniel or the master Jesus Christ.

2. In Times Of Trouble & Trials:  Do we pray or go to our friends outside Christ during time of and hardship? Esther 4:1-17. When we pass through troubles and trials, where do we go? The world or to Jesus (word of God)? If we make our life a prayer life; we would pray before the troubles began.

3. What Type Of Prayer Do We Pray: Matthew 6:7-8. Let us have a valid prayer life – May your kingdom come, let your work be rooted and grow – Matthew 6:12-15. I Timothy 2:1-4, we pray for men in Authority. If we do so it will work for our own good. Pray that men in authority should be guided by God because they can tell all churches to shut down their services or may cause inconveniences in our life. II Corinthians 12:1-11, tells us the work of the Holy Spirit. According to I Corinthians 15:1-8, we are to pray for ministers of the gospel to tell the truth and nothing else to deceive us lose the kingdom.

4. The Work Of God: The moment we began to absent ourselves from the presence and work of the Lord signifies that our faith in Christ is going down. We are not in the presence because of somebody, neither are we worshipping God for somebody, but to serve and listen to God therefore do not rely on what someone has done to you in the presence of God. We can learn from the Book of Acts 8:1...that the Christians did not stop or kept quite in spreading the Gospel.

Let us be challenged to fire our faith in Christ because it is faith only that does all things. Jesus once said to his disciples “if you have faith, you would command these mountains to move into the sea and they will obey. May the God of Faith increase your faith and build your confidence and trust in Him, making you love and have interest in serving Him well till the end of the world in Jesus’ name, AMEN!!!

A sermon delivered by Rev. Frank Ato Odoom the Head Pastor of Christian Growth Church International with main text taken from the Gospel according to Saint Luke 9:10 which reads…For the son of man came to seek and to save what was lost.

Supported text includes Luke 18:31-34 and Luke 19:1-10.

According to Luke 19:1-10, Zaccheus was a short wealthy Tax Collector. Jesus saved this man. There is only one way to salvation? Acknowledge and Accept Jesus as your Lord and Personal Saviour.

On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus explained His mission and promises to the people on the earth (i.e. testimonies about his birth, mission on earth, death and resurrection). The twelve apostles could not understand why Jesus has to die. The Lord Jesus had patience and took His time to teach them this. Many of us do not use patience in telling the truth therefore the becomes lies.

Do not allow yourself to be duped by what people say because whatever you do; they will criticize and talk about it.

Jesus had to pass through Jericho. This city had turned down because the people had heard of Jesus coming. They were filled with Joy and wanted to see him. On the way, Jesus met a short, tax collector who was very wealthy. He was called Zaccheus. This man was determined to see Jesus in anyway; being very short, he could not but climbed a tree. Jesus lifting his head up saw Zaccheus and him: “Zaccheus come down. Today I will stay in your house”.

It is not all ways that you have to pass. There were many ways to Jerusalem but Jesus decided to pass through Jericho because it is a holy city. It is not any place that the Lord will pass blessing people but holy and righteous places.

Zaccheus confessed to Jesus; Jesus accepted, loved and saved him.

Jane Vann Wrote These Four Things Found In Methodist Hymn Book No. 338 Which I Would Like You To Consider And Follow In Winning Souls For God

1. Snatch lost souls with pity. Feel pity for them no matter how they are.
2. Build with them earnestly to come to the Lord. Talk with them gently with mercy not with command and condemnation.
3. Touch them by lovely hand and wake them up by kindness. Show kindness; genuine kindness with love in approaching the Lord.
4. Patiently win the sinner and tell him/her how and why Jesus came to die for him/her. The act of love and kindness Jesus showed to Zaccheus led him to confess and was saved.

May the good Lord bless you, give you love and patient heart to save the lost in Jesus name, AMEN!!!

CONVERSATION JESUS HAD WITH PEOPLE RELATING TO

THE SCRIPTURE AND THE IMPACT ON OUR LIFE

Main text taken from the Gospel according to Saint Mark 10:17 – 22. Click the link to read it: http://firefighters.org/kjv/bible/index.cfm?Chapter=10&Book=41

Supported texts include Exodus 20:12-17 and Romans 1:21-23

The Bible did not mention the name of the man; it only referred to him as rich young man. This man really loved his money and possession. Now he wanted to get eternal life too. On condition to the eternal life; the man had to sell all his possession, giving some to the poor; meanwhile the man love his riches too much and therefore could not fulfill the condition to obtain the eternal life.

Jesus told the man to sell all that he had and give some to the poor aside the commandment he had followed since his childhood. The man loving his riches could not do this but left Jesus and thus lose his life.

According to Luke 5:8, Jesus also had encounter with Peter. Peter told Jesus to go away from him because he (Peter) was a sinful man. Jesus said to him; do not fear, you will no more catch fish again; you will from today catch men (that is; no more fishermen but fisher of men). Peter acknowledged to be a sinner and was therefore converted before Jesus approached him and thus got his eternal life. Remember Jesus came so that we may repent and have eternal life.

In John 3:3, Nicodemus also had conversation with Jesus. Jesus told him unless a man becomes born again, he will not see the Kingdom of God or eternal life. He also came seeking something from Jesus; eternal life.

Also in John 8:7-8, wanting to trap Jesus, they confronted Him with the woman who had committed adultery, asking what should be done to the woman? Jesus asked them if any of them standing has never ever committed any sin he or she should stone the woman to death! No one was able to do so. Now Jesus told the woman to go and sin no more.

Compare these to your life; what you have done, what you are doing and what you have planned to do, have a positive change of mind to claim also your eternal life to the Kingdom of God and the Lord will bless you. May the Good Lord add His Blessing to this in Jesus; AMEN!!!

KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS

Living a Christian life is like running a race, we have the witnesses of Chapter eleven watching us run the race, we must put away anything that will slow us down and keep us from winning, infact sin is what slows us and causes us to fail our race. If we want to win we must look at the finish line and endure the pain until we finish. Jesus is at the finish line.

2. Jesus is our greatest example and witness, how did Jesus finish His race? After having gone through much pain and even dieing on the cross, He knew what victory would be like.

a. Beloved, remember that without pain there is no gain.

b. Please note; No one can promise that way to eternal life will be easy.

c. So we must keep our eyes on Jesus, He is both the beginning and the finisher of our faith.

3. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Have faith in God and be obedience to Him no matter what you are going through right now look unto Jesus, and you will live. FAITH is important in this end times. Trust Him that He will see you through 2006 safely.

4. In our first lesson Genesis 6:13 – 22, when God spoke to Noah, he obeyed vs. 22: This shows that he respected God. Noah and his family had their lives saved because they obeyed God water is what separated the ones who obeyed from those who disobeyed.

5. Here we see what is MOST IMPORTANT for Christians. It is not keeping the Law of Moses. It is to have FAITH in GOD. First we must ask ourselves a) What is faith, we are told is like a title-deed. This means that when we have the title-deed we are sure that the property we own is ours when we have the faith that God wants, we can be sure that what He has for us is ours. Faith is knowing what you believe and why you believe it, Real Faith is to know what God’s promises are and to begin to acting upon them. Keep your eyes on Jesus and have faith in God that it will be well for your change is coming. The opposites of faith are Fear and Death – Romans. 8:24 – 25

6. 2006 if you want to win as a runner you must not look to other contestants but must ever keep his eyes fixed on Jesus.

Whatever you are looking for; keep your faith and eyes on Jesus and wait for Him.

When you read Genesis 6:22…Noah did everything the Lord told him. If you will do exactly what the Lord commands you, you would be blessed.

Do not also lose hope; fix your eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith – Heb. 13:3.

Ever sinner was against Jesus to be crucified but Jesus did not lose hope nor gave up; He endured and was exalted. This is an example and a lesson for you to follow, do so and the almighty God would everlastingly bless and prosper you in Jesus name; AMEN!!!

HAPPY VALENTINE!!!

GOD’S PROMISES ARE RECEIVED THROUGH FAITH

The main text of this sermon was taken from the Gospel according to Romans 4:20,

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

Supported by Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 15:5-6 and Romans 4:18-23.

What you have to do this year is to continue to pray, have strong faith and a waiting heart for God, for in His time He makes everything beautiful and perfect.

It may keep long, but whether it keep long or too long, it will come to pass, the Lord always fulfills His promises.

According to Genesis 12:1-3, God told Abram to follow His ways and He will make him father of all Nation, Bless him and multiply his descendants to the number of the stars in the sky. Remember the promises of the Lord to Abraham, it took about 100 Years, he waited and kept pressing and believing God, and finally the Lord blessed and fulfilled His promises.

God didn’t only bless Abraham, He made him father of faith and many Nations.

God may had told you something or promised you many years ago, it will come true. Those who are two minded always fail to receive the promises of the Lord because they think of God and worldly consultation at the same time.

Hope in the Lord, practice the promises to be received and God will do it, give Glory to God. God’s promises are received through faith; have a strong faith because faith is not seen but hoped for.

May the Lord bless and strengthen your faith in Jesus’ name, AMEN!!!

THE PRAYER OF HANNAH

Short exaltation from Rev. Frank Ato Odoom the Head Pastor of Christian Growth Church International on the New Year Day, the First Sunday of the Year 2006.

Main text of message was taken from the Book of I Samuel 1:21-28 which says….

And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and his vow.

22 But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there abide for ever.

23 And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have weaned him; only the LORD establish his word. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him.

24 And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the LORD in Shiloh: and the child was young.

25 And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli.

26 And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD.

27 For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:

28 Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.

Hannah did not give up.

She continued in prayer. In the Lord’s time, He gave her Samuel.

Hannah offered Samuel to the Lord as her humble sacrifice fro given her Samuel.

Trust in the Lord, love Him, Commit your life to Him, pray very serious without ceasing and God will bless you, because YEAR 2006 IS A DIVINVE FULFILMENT, AMEN!!!