Posts Tagged ‘devotion’

RR Commander’s Fellowship 2017

February 12, 2017
Address to Leaders
God has laid a sense of expectation in my heart, of great things to happen. There are so many great things to happen in RR ministry this year.
What does this greatness look like? It comes in the form of souls saved, lives changed, kids wanting to advance on their own, kids achieving medals, and not just once a year or what, but every meeting.
For this to happen we need good, solid, spirit-filled leaders.
Leaders are the backbone of this ministry. Each one of you plays an important part. Not me or Cmdr Eddy alone, all of us are important.
We cannot see a fruitful ministry happen if we have weak or tired leaders. Royal Rangers is a discipling and mentoring ministry. That means we allow disciples to be apart of our lives; and we share the work of the Lord in our lives with them and impart to them fruit that grows from our lives. How are we to do this if we ourselves have nothing to offer but our tiredness and our overcoming problems? All of us need to stay strong in the Lord.
Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord.
Don’t take circumstances as a sign of God’s favour or calling to serve. If anything at all, I have a dozen things I can complain about my life right now but I decide in my heart that I am a leader, I am a servant, i am anointed, I am ready to serve.
I draw from today’s Sunday message about promises… God has promised strength when we wait on Him. Sometimes we cannot receive because our hands are full of something else. When the Bible talks about receiving, it is often in the context of claiming or redeeming. Like redeeming points for rewards, except that God wants to take our weakness and brokenness in exchange for life and strength.
In closing, I go back to my first statement about great things to happen. For great things to happen in the ministry, this is how the prayer of Royal Ranger leader needs to looks like: “Lord I may be weak, give me strength to serve the kids, Lord I don’t have much, but use what I have to touch the kids.”
Isaiah 40:28-31
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” ~ NKJV

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Caves In The Bible

December 16, 2016

Shared during the Discovery Rangers 2016 camp, campfire night.

Bible Caves = not good endings

Wherever caves were mentioned in the Bible it was not associated with something good. Often it had something to do with hiding from God, or the enemy or associated with death.

Caves were usually a place where they buried the important people. Like Abraham and Sarah, and Lazarus and Jesus. It was associated with immoral activities like the one where Lot’s daughters got him drunk in order to get him to have sexual relations with him. Then there’s the association with hiding, like David hiding from King Saul, the 5 kings, the children of Israel in Judges 6.

Our caves = not good starts

We ourselves have caves in our own lives which are also not good.

We have caves in us where we hide secret sins. Or sometimes where we hide dreams and hopes and affections that have “died” in us. Or where we try to bury hurt from the past. Like the Bible caves, these are not good for us.

Let’s “ex-cave-ate” our cave (excavate for those who didn’t get it)

In order to get rid of our caves, we first need to inspect the cave that Jesus was in. Why is this important? We need to understand that Jesus conquered the cave that He was set in; He is alive! Jesus was also laid in the cave but like the people who went to see, they saw he was not there and that he had risen.

In John 20, Mary Magdalene saw that the stone had been rolled away, then informed 2 disciples and they ran to see the cave, the Bible says the other disciple (most likely James) reached the cave saw the linen cloths but did not go in. Peter went all the way in and say that the cloth that wrapped Jesus’ head was folded neatly. Then the other disciple went in and saw and the Bible says he saw and also believed.

First altar call: you don’t understand that Jesus is alive. You may be like Mary, you only observe from far that the stone is rolled away, or like James, you just see from outside but you didn’t enter. You need to be like Peter, go and see for yourself that Jesus is no longer in the cave. You only hear about it but have ever believed, or you even always go to church but have never realised for sure, that Jesus is risen.

Let’s EVAC-uate

Secondly, in getting rid of our caves, believe that I’m stating the obvious but, we need to actually come out of our own cave. Like Lazarus, Jesus is calling us to come out of the cave, and be alive. Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good, He came to make dead people live.

Cave spelt backwards is EVAC, a short expression for evacuate. That is evacuating from our caves of secret sins and past hurts. EVAC to the light that is calling us out and to be free and be alive.

2nd altar call: How many of you have secret sins or past hurts hidden in your heart cave? If so,

  1. Understand that God sees those things in your heart, Where can I go from Your Spirit… Even if I make my bed in the depths… Psalm 139:7-8
  2. EVAC those things from your heart by turning to the light, to Jesus who is calling you.
  3. Fill it with God’s Word, psalms 119:11, Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. God’s Word is light in our cave.

Let’s pray.

Bible text from: John 20:1-9, NKJV:

“Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.”
‭‭John‬ ‭20:1-9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

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Devotion about rope fraying

October 9, 2013

This devotion was shared with the Royal Rangers Discovery kids 2 weeks ago.


[ image of rope ]
Life is like rope.


[ image of fray ]
[ image of whip and splice ]
When in our own hands, the rope frays and when we don’t do anything about the fray, it frays to the point it cannot be used at all.
(Insert verse that says we cannot be used if not cleansed)
(Use a three core rope to demonstrate fraying)
(Can also reference the verse about 3-core rope not easily broken)

Jesus offers us solution. He “whips” us to prevent fraying but He also “braids” or “splices” us to fix our frays.
(can be demonstrated while explaining to make devotion more interesting, use the rope from 2,3,4)

In real life, Jesus provides a solution for our maladies. His Word not only helps us to get right (correcting), but to stay right (training).


All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16 & 17 NIV)

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Children & Water Baptism

June 20, 2013

* This post was a devotion I shared at my Royal Ranger outpost to encourage children to follow in water baptism. Feel free to use it in your own devotions.

Putting on your Christian uniform



A policeman, a fireman, a soldier, a doctor, a McDonalds worker!

I’m sure you all have seen them and can you tell me what they have in common?

Yes, all of these people have special clothes. They all wear uniforms on their jobs.

Now let’s take the policeman as an example. Does the policeman’s uniform make him a policeman?

No of course it doesn’t… The policeman wears a uniform because they are a policeman. A fireman wears a uniform because he is recognised as a fireman. Likewise, you are a Royal Ranger that’s why you wear your uniform.


It’s the same way with water baptism. Water baptism doesn’t make you a Christian, but you are baptised because you are a Christian. Baptism is like wearing your Christian uniform.

Prayer

You ought to wear your uniform so that people around you can recognise who you are, a Christian. In the Bible, Jesus also “wore” water baptism and it made His Father well pleased. If you are ready to be committed to God and be recognised as a Christian, you should tell your parents about water baptism and talk to your commander or pastor to help you. Let’s pray together.

Notes

  • Baptism is a public statement.
  • It doesn’t save you, but is shows you have been saved.
  • It usually signifies that you belong to a church, a community of committed Christians.

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