Maranatha Grace Church

Brothers and Sisters,

Only God can change the heart of a person, and when that person is willing to cooperate with God.  God found a humble young man in Saul, and he changed that humble young man into a powerful king. "⁹ As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. ¹⁰ When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying. ¹¹ When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”  (1 Samuel 10). 

Please 1 Samuel 7 - 11. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

The Philistines recognized the futility of resisting God. They humbled themselves by offering a guilt offering to the Lord, and the Lord healed their lands.

In time of great difficulties repentance is the sensible act, because sooner or later every person will need to humble themselves before God  ^" Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When Israel’s god dealt harshly with them, did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way? (1 Samuel 6:6)

Please read 1 Samuel 4 - 6. And Listen. 

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters, 

Our test of faith will always be a test of believing the word of God and acting on it. 

³⁰ “Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. (1 Samuel 2)

Please read 1 Samuel 1 - 3. And Listen. 

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

We are living in very difficult situation. The world is getting into panic by thew news of the pandemic,  but those who love God and trust in him can rest assured that God is in control of every situation of their lives as we read in Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who  have been called according to his purpose."

Ruth had a very bad experience in the country of Moab, but God turned every thing around for his glory. 

¹⁶ Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. ¹⁷ The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

The Genealogy of David

¹⁸ This, then, is the family line of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron, ¹⁹ Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, ²⁰ Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,​​​​​​​ ²¹ Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, ​​​​​​​²² Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David. (Ruth 4)

Please read Ruth 2 - 4. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Let us pray for the leaders of the world so they can make wise decisions to address the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. 

²⁵ In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. (Judges 21)

Please read Judges 20 - Ruth 1. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sister,

I was so shocked on reading verse 30 of Judges of 18 that I consulted close to ten Bible Commentaries to see if indeed the idolater priest that the verse mentioned was indeed the grandson of Moses. "There the Danites set up for themselves the idol, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land. ³¹ They continued to use the idol Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.(NIV translation)"  "Then the children of Dan set up for themselves the carved image; and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land." (NKJV translation)

Most of the Commentaries opine that the translation with the name Manasseh came about because the Jewish scribes by respect for Moses added one letter to the name to change it from Moses to Manasseh who was  a wicked king in the future of Israel. It is indeed great sadness when the subsequent generations of a man of God fall into idolatry. 

Please read Judges 17 - 19. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

How close can one gets  to a sinful situation without been affected by it? Samson made a big mistake of playing around with sin, and it cost him his life. 

¹⁵ Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” ¹⁶ With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.

¹⁷ So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. ¹⁹ After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.^[h] And his strength left him.

²⁰ Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”

He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. (Judges 16)

Please read Judges 14 - 16. And Listen

Brothers and Sisters,

The story of Jephthah in Judges 11 is a strong warning that people should be extra careful about the words they speak. Jephthah made a harsh vow to offer a human sacrifice to the Lord, a practice of the other nations  who worshiped false gods in that time; such practices the Lord explicitly forbade (Deuteronomy 12:30-31).

People who are not careful with their words, people who often tell jokes will suffer the consequences of their idle world. Jesus told his disciples, "³⁶ But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. ³⁷ For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12::36-37)

Please read Judges 11 - 13. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Please read Judges 3 - 10. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

The people of God cannot live in accommodation with the world. It has never worked, and it will never work. The Israelites decided to live side by side with the Canaanites, and in the end they forsook the Lord to serve the gods of the Canaanites. Beware of compromises with the world!

⁷ But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. ²⁸ When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely. ²⁹ Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them. ³⁰ Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, so these Canaanites lived among them, but Zebulun did subject them to forced labor. ³¹ Nor did Asher drive out those living in Akko or Sidon or Ahlab or Akzib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob. ³² The Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land because they did not drive them out. ³³ Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them. (Judges 2)

Please read Joshua 24 - Judges 2. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

After a long time had passed and the Lord had given Israel rest from all their enemies around them, Joshua, by then a very old man, ² summoned all Israel—their elders, leaders, judges and officials—and said to them: “I am very old." (Joshua 23)

When Moses was about to die, he requested from God a leader to lead his people.  God listened to Moses' request, he gave the people Joshua, a leader to continue Moses' work. "¹⁸ So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership, and lay your hand on him. ¹⁹ Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. ²⁰ Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him." (Numbers 27)

We are puzzled by the fact that Joshua did not request a successor to continue his work. 

Please read Joshua 21 -23. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

³ So Joshua said to the Israelites: “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you? (Joshua 18) 

Has the Lord given you some very valuable things that you never take possession of? As humans we can adapt to any situation;  and, if we are not careful, we can live mediocre lives way below the abundant life that Christ had come into the world to provide us. We must act boldly to take possession of our inheritance given to us by God. 

Please read Joshua 18 - 20. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters, 

¹³ In accordance with the Lord’s command to him, Joshua gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh a portion in Judah—Kiriath Arba, that is, Hebron. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.) ¹⁴ From Hebron Caleb drove out the three Anakites—Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai, the sons of Anak. ¹⁵ From there he marched against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher). ¹⁶ And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.” ¹⁷ Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage.

¹⁸ One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?”

¹⁹ She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs. (Joshua 15)

Please read Joshua 15 - 17. And Listen.

May the Lord richy bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

God is a faithful God, he always keeps his promises. All we need is to believe the promises of God,  so we can possess our inheritance.

Please read Joshua 12 -14. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Please read Joshua 10 - 11. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!