Be Different To Make A Difference
TOPIC: BE DIFFERENT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Read: Matthew 5:13-16
MEMORISE: Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean (Job 14:4).
EXPOSITION
Making a difference in this age is akin to making a choice to be different from others. To be different is to be totally unlike others, not ordinary or common. It is to be unusual. According to our memory scripture, you cannot give what you do not have. It is what you are internally that you display externally.
As a Christian, your work, business, position or office is not really yours. It is a platform to influence your immediate environment with the Kingdom lifestyles. You are where you are by grace of God, in order to be a good representative of God in this perverse generation (Acts 2:40). You cannot change your community or country for better, if you cannot see things differently from the way other see it . you begin to make a difference in this generation when you bring about a significant change in, or effect on a situation, in larger society. God puts you where you are specifically to promote and expand His own Kingdom here on earth.
We are supposed to be world changers where we live, work and play true Kingdom principles and characters like love, peace, faithfulness, tolerance, integrity and lot more. Are you living a life that will make a difference in the life of others? Can people in the society see you as an extension of God among them? Living this kind of life is not about preaching to others (1 Tim. 6:6). It is about living a life that preaches the gospel. Living a life that makes difference is all about living God’s way of life daily. All true Christian should be shinning lights in a very dark world “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). You can ask God for help each day for you to be godly example in all you do or say. May God grant you capacity to make difference in your own generation.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Lord, use me as an agent of positive change in the society.
2. I ask for capacity, Lord, to use my work, position or office as a platform to promote the Kingdom of God.
3. Pray for our youths in tertiary institutions to live lives that make difference.
QUESTION OF THE DAY:
THOUGHT OF THE DAY:
• I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. - 1 Corinthians 4:14
• Those who are carrying elephants home on their heads, need not use their toes to dig up crickets on the way.
• Back up your request for mercy with works of mercy or else it may elude you.
• Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honour and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!
• If the glory is to return, it must return God's way.
Read: Matthew 5:13-16
MEMORISE: Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean (Job 14:4).
EXPOSITION
Making a difference in this age is akin to making a choice to be different from others. To be different is to be totally unlike others, not ordinary or common. It is to be unusual. According to our memory scripture, you cannot give what you do not have. It is what you are internally that you display externally.
As a Christian, your work, business, position or office is not really yours. It is a platform to influence your immediate environment with the Kingdom lifestyles. You are where you are by grace of God, in order to be a good representative of God in this perverse generation (Acts 2:40). You cannot change your community or country for better, if you cannot see things differently from the way other see it . you begin to make a difference in this generation when you bring about a significant change in, or effect on a situation, in larger society. God puts you where you are specifically to promote and expand His own Kingdom here on earth.
We are supposed to be world changers where we live, work and play true Kingdom principles and characters like love, peace, faithfulness, tolerance, integrity and lot more. Are you living a life that will make a difference in the life of others? Can people in the society see you as an extension of God among them? Living this kind of life is not about preaching to others (1 Tim. 6:6). It is about living a life that preaches the gospel. Living a life that makes difference is all about living God’s way of life daily. All true Christian should be shinning lights in a very dark world “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). You can ask God for help each day for you to be godly example in all you do or say. May God grant you capacity to make difference in your own generation.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Lord, use me as an agent of positive change in the society.
2. I ask for capacity, Lord, to use my work, position or office as a platform to promote the Kingdom of God.
3. Pray for our youths in tertiary institutions to live lives that make difference.
QUESTION OF THE DAY:
What is the seal of the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is referred to as the “deposit,” “seal,” and “earnest” in the hearts of Christians (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30). The Holy Spirit is God’s seal on His people, His claim on us as His very own. The Greek word translated “earnest” in these passages is arrhabōn which means “a pledge,” that is, part of the purchase money or property given in advance as security for the rest. The gift of the Spirit to believers is a down payment on our heavenly inheritance, which Christ has promised us and secured for us at the cross. It is because the Spirit has sealed us that we are assured of our salvation. No one can break the seal of God.
The Holy Spirit is given to believers as a “first installment” to assure us that our full inheritance as children of God will be delivered. The Holy Spirit is given to us to confirm to us that we belong to God who grants to us His Spirit as a gift, just as grace and faith are gifts (Ephesians 2:8-9). Through the gift of the Spirit, God renews and sanctifies us. He produces in our hearts those feelings, hopes, and desires which are evidence that we are accepted by God, that we are regarded as His adopted children, that our hope is genuine, and that our redemption and salvation are sure in the same way that a seal guarantees a will or an agreement. God grants to us His Holy Spirit as the certain pledge that we are His forever and shall be saved in the last day. The proof of the Spirit’s presence is His operations on the heart which produce repentance, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), conformity to God’s commands and will, a passion for prayer and praise, and love for His people. These things are the evidences that the Holy Spirit has renewed the heart and that the Christian is sealed for the day of redemption.
So it is through the Holy Spirit and His teachings and guiding power that we are sealed and confirmed until the day of redemption, complete and free from the corruption of sin and the grave. Because we have the seal of the Spirit in our hearts, we can live joyfully, confident of our sure place in a future that holds unimaginable glories.
The Holy Spirit is given to believers as a “first installment” to assure us that our full inheritance as children of God will be delivered. The Holy Spirit is given to us to confirm to us that we belong to God who grants to us His Spirit as a gift, just as grace and faith are gifts (Ephesians 2:8-9). Through the gift of the Spirit, God renews and sanctifies us. He produces in our hearts those feelings, hopes, and desires which are evidence that we are accepted by God, that we are regarded as His adopted children, that our hope is genuine, and that our redemption and salvation are sure in the same way that a seal guarantees a will or an agreement. God grants to us His Holy Spirit as the certain pledge that we are His forever and shall be saved in the last day. The proof of the Spirit’s presence is His operations on the heart which produce repentance, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), conformity to God’s commands and will, a passion for prayer and praise, and love for His people. These things are the evidences that the Holy Spirit has renewed the heart and that the Christian is sealed for the day of redemption.
So it is through the Holy Spirit and His teachings and guiding power that we are sealed and confirmed until the day of redemption, complete and free from the corruption of sin and the grave. Because we have the seal of the Spirit in our hearts, we can live joyfully, confident of our sure place in a future that holds unimaginable glories.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY:
• I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. - 1 Corinthians 4:14
• Those who are carrying elephants home on their heads, need not use their toes to dig up crickets on the way.
• Back up your request for mercy with works of mercy or else it may elude you.
• Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honour and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!
• If the glory is to return, it must return God's way.
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