For a just man falls seven times and rise up again.......

by: Reverend Warren Simon

To be righteous means to be in right standing with God It also includes to be blamesless (Job 1:1), Daniel was living a life unto God, however the people tried to get him to fall but he remained faithful You cannot be in right standing with God and you're not in a right standing with people Part of being righteous is having a good relationship with those around you

Being righteous doesn't mean that your life will be a bed of roses, take for example Job, he went through the worst trial in his life A righteous man will fall seven times, Job lost all his children, yet the wicked man had all of his children When a righteous man falls it's a fulfillment of scriptures, the Bible said in James 1:2 - "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers' temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience ” When you fall God is setting you up to go higher heights because we are more than conquerors - Romans 8:37.

God is with us even when we are down, His word said in Psalm 23 (A PSALM OF DAVID) - that though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me Although we fall, He raises us up When the wicked fall that is it, Job lost all his children,

SERMON: Proverbs 24:16 yet he blessed God by saying" the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord..." Job 1:21

The devil was probably strategizing his next move for Job, When God made a boast about Job, we ought to ask ourselves, are we living a life that can cause God to boast on us? God don't give us more than we can bear, when the situation is over, we will become stronger, wiser and our faith will be increase.

When things are not going good with us, we ought to be saying " Bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me, Bless His Holy name "Psalm 103:1. He is the God of transformation; He can transform a bad situation into something good. In the poem "FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND" the writer noticed that during the lowest and saddest time in their life there was only one set of however, God assured that when there was one set of footprints is when He carried us, He is a friend that sticks closer than a brotherProverbs 18:24.

A messenger of Satan was assigned to buffet Paul, it means that you will be under attack, true gold is tested by fire. The bible says that the step of a good man is ordered by the LordPsalm 37:23-24. There are some people when they need favors, they pray and fast and go to church on a regular basis, however when their needs have been met there is no more regular church going anymore. Little did they know that they just drop their defence

In Matthew 12:43-45 - It shows us that when an evil Spirit leaves it goes looking for a place to rest and doesn't find any, it returns with 7 more spirts more wicked than himself to torment the person it was once cast out before

This is because the individual has dropped their defense and it's about 8 spirits that has just entered. They may keep a low profile inside of the person so that they will not be cast out again, they are strategic. Do not be dismayed, God has given us the strength to rise up, one day we will look back and say "If it had not been for the Lord who has been on our side "

Launch out into the deep and let your nets for a draught......

by: Reverend Warren Simon SERMON: Luke 5:1-8

SMALL FAITH - "If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small " - (Prov 24:10) In the book of Jeremiah 12:5 (KJV) God ask Jeremiah " If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses?

1 Timothy 6:12 - (FIGHTING FAITH) - Faith is good, but as a Believer in Christ you would have to fight, fight to to maintain and fight to overcome. The Bible says "Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God " (Rom 10:17), by reading the word of God you must allow it to speak to you. SPOKEN WORD - After hearing the word, it's time to put it into action Peter said, " Master we toiled whole night and have caught nothing," Jesus told them to "launch out, " right where the disciples where the answer was located In the book of Matthew 7:7 it reads, " Ask and it will be given unto you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you...." Sometimes our answers are right there but we ought to dig deep, at times we may need to change our prayer and reading pattern

According to Jesus word, Peter launched out by faith, after the experience with Jesus, Peter left his trade to follow to follow the one who spoke the word. DELAYED ANSWER - God waited till Abraham was 75 years old to go to a place where God will show him. The Bible says to Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, i say, on the LORD.

(Psalm 27:14)

One day a storm will come, and our foundation will be tested. It is then we will know how strong we are An example of this is Abraham and King Abimelech, this story narrates of Abraham emigrating to the southern region of Gerar, Abraham states that Sarah, his wife, is really his sister, leading Abimelech to try to take Sarah as a wife; however, God intervened before Abimelech touched Sarah

Another example is Joseph, his brothers betrayed him and sold him into slavery. It wasn't until years later when his dream came true when his brothers bow down to him. Sometimes in life people will hurt you but who God bless no man curse.

Delayed blessings can come according to your faith, but when God raise you, you will be able to stand on mountains; For we walk by faith and not by sight

conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”

On the last Sunday in the month of July, the youths of Mt Zion IBMU Church decided to step forward to take charge of the service. As we take a look in the book of 1 Samuel 17: 42Goliath didn't take David seriously as he was a young boy standing before a champion The little tyke and youngster David slayed the giant Goliath. It shows that no matter the size or strength, it’s possible to tackle even the most intimidating of foes

We want to encourage the young people to do not be afraid of what others may think about you, do what is right and let God take care of the rest

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE YOUTH SUNDAY

by:

SERMON:

PERSISTENCE WHEN IT GETS TOUGH In 1 Thess 5;17 it say to "Prayer without ceasing) this applies for when things starts to become tough (Philippians 3:13-14, Hebrews 12:2), 1 Chronicles 16:11)

Persistence is the ability to keep going when things get tough, it's to never give up on your goals regardless of how difficult they may seem.

In the book of Luke 18:1-8 Jesus is teaching a parable as it highlights the importance of persistence in prayer and in life, the widow never gives up An example of this is in Mark 5:26-27 the woman with the issue of blood, although it was difficult for her to go through the crowd to reach Jesus to touch him; she never gave up as she had FAITH that she can be healed

In Matthew 7:7 it shows us the intensity of ASKING, SEEKING AND KNOCKING. Asking is the first level as it is presenting a request to God (Philippians 4:6)

Seeking - it is another level in where our prayers are not answered immediately but you don't give up (Jeremiah 29:13)

Knocking - this is a deeper level; it is prayer that is persistent when answers are no longer coming. (Luke 11: 5-13), the knocking is the most intense level of the spiritual warfare in prayer

In the book of Daniel 10:10-13, we see how persistent Daniel was when answers were not coming to him, he never breaks his fasting It was not until Gabriel came and said that the first day Daniel humbles himself before God, he was sent. The problem was that the prince of the Kingdom of Persia withstood him (Gabriel) for 21 days, there is war in the atmosphere for it says that our fight is not with flesh and blood but Principalities ( Eph 6:12).

Another example is Jacob in the book of Genesis 32:24-30 in where Jacob wrestled with God; and although it was the breaking of dawn he told the man that he will not let him go not until he blessed him Some of the lessons we can learn from Jacob is - WE NEED FORGIVENESS and it only comes by the mercy of God. God Honours perseverance especially in our seeking him (Gen 32:25-26) Our identity is in Christ (Gen 32:27-28, 1 Cor 5:17) God wants us to know him intimately (Gen 32:29)

Closeness to God requires Humility (Gen32:31)

An example of a man who was persistent despite the cost was Paul in the New Testament.

No one had a better conversion story, he used to intensely persecute the Christians and after his conversion he had such a zeal for God that he faced many trials and persecution

In 2 Cor 11:23-33, he was, imprisoned repeatedly flogged Exposed to death again and again received 39 lashed 5 times Beaten with rods 3 times got pelt with stones shipwrecked 3 times.

Although these things happened to Paul he was persistent when it comes to the will of God and so to we must follow, there's an old time song that used to sing," I am pressed but not cursed, persecuted not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.

Things may get tough but let us never give up, let us endure to the end

TODAY'S REMINDER

Psalm 121 : 1-2

I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.