Forward Moments Part 1 - Rev Elija Mulavu

www.cremministry.org

Transcript

Scripture Readings And Opening Prayer

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Your peace and the Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. And then our second reading comes from the book of Acts of the Apostles, chapter 28, verse 10. The Bible says, They also honored us in many ways. And when we departed, when we departed, they provided such things as were necessary. Let's pray. Everlasting Father, we thank you for the opportunity to share your word. We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity, Lord, to also speak. I want to thank you, my Lord, for your word. I thank you for the invitation. I thank you for what you intend to do in our hearts today. We bless your holy name and exhort you. We ask of your Holy Spirit to minister the grace, healing, encouragement, challenge us and help us as you direct us through your word. We bless you and we honor you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Last Friday, by God's grace, and I want to take this opportunity to appreciate the cream leadership and of course the fraternity that I've always been uh glad to have the privilege to speak to you from the beginning of the year. And I thank God for that

Theme: Extraordinary Service Through Forward Moments

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opportunity. May God bless you. Uh last uh Friday, by God's grace, we were able to introduce uh the subject of uh having uh forward moments in our lives. We spoke about uh the moments that we have as we move forward in doing and accomplishing the purposes of God in our lives. And I thank God that uh this year the theme is uh extraordinary service. And so as we embark on performing or serving God extraordinarily, I want to believe God uh one of the things that we need to do is to commit ourselves to having um uh forward moments in our lives. Of course, we spoke uh the forward moments as the time of uh spiritual progress where we move past entrances and uh we purpose to follow God's direction in his purpose and promises. And of course, uh when we talk about uh forward moments, we're talking about taking action uh to move on, of course, by faith and in obedience to God's word and direction. Of course, we know we have obstacles, we have challenges. I remember last time we were able to speak about what it looks like when we talk about uh moving forward or having forward moments in our lives. How does it look like? But because of time today, I want us to go through the Bible and look into um several examples that help us understand how the essence of having uh forward moments in our lives. And so I want us to begin with uh uh Abraham. The Bible talks about him as a man of uh great uh uh forward moments in his life. Because from the beginning, from chapter 12 of uh the book of Genesis, the Bible talks about uh the beginning of his journey, where God speaks and tells him to leave his place to a place, of course, to a land that he will be able to show him. And by faith, uh uh Abraham was able to obey God and take the step to move towards uh the place that God told him. Though he had not given him the real picture of uh what was supposed to be done, but he believed God and he moved. And the Bible talks about uh the experience that he had, even as uh he began to move forward towards uh the promise that God has given and the purpose that God wanted him to accomplish. So we see several other things that uh he was able to encounter

Abraham’s Faith Steps And Intercession

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as he took the step of faith to move on. Because when we talk about uh uh forward uh moments, we are talking about progressive steps that we take by faith, and of course, uh we're taking them in obedience. It is not just emotional, it's not just excitement, but we are taking them by faith and of course in obedience to God's direction and his word. So Abraham moved. In chapter 13, we see him as separating uh himself from Lord. It was not an easy experience, but they had to separate, and we see him building an altar which signified his acceptance to God's promises and uh his will in his life. Then in chapter 18, we see another experience that uh um Abraham had. We he had a visitation of uh, of course, we know according to the scriptures, they talk about uh the angels who visited him, but of course, we also know one of them was the Lord. He stepped forward immediately after he saw them, and the Bible talks about him inviting them. That was a step of faith. Inviting them, actually preparing a meal for them, and then they were um uh they caught they they sat down to wait for him to prepare the food together with his wife. And after having the meal, we remember he had a promise. The step he took, the forward moment that he had at that particular moment, actually gave birth to the prophetic word for Isaac. And you remember immediately after the prophetic word, uh, which was given specifically uh to Sarah, that a time as that, next time, next year, he will be having a baby. But immediately after, you remember Abraham offered to escort them, and then they disclosed to him what was supposed to uh happen in Sodom and Gomorrah. And we remember, and that is where Lord was. We remember Abraham taking another forward moment to intercede because prayer is one of our forward moments when we take time to pray. Sometimes we don't have to pray about our own issues, but we are praying for the ministry, we are praying for uh other issues, we are praying for the people that we are ministering, and prayer is one of uh the most important forward moments that we need to take this year. If we are going to experience the extraordinary service that we're going to offer to the people that we're going to be ministering to in the course of this year, brethren, we have to be to take the forward moment of prayer. And not only prayer, but we're talking talking about concerted prayer. And this is the prayer, of course, he never gave up on the issue of numbers. He went up to uh, you remember he started from 50, went to uh five, and we remember him uh uh interceding for a son, um um Lord. And so we need to understand Abraham was a man of forward moments. And I believe in 2026, the Lord will give us forward moments because every significant thing that happened in the Bible, we have a man or a woman who took time to um spend his time either in prayer or giving or doing something about that particular thing, which was a forward moment for him. And so, in essence, Abraham's uh forward moments was uh grant gives us a reflection of his spiritual journey, which marked his obedience to God, his trust and active engagement with God's promises. And so I want to challenge each one of us in this uh year 2026. Let's be ready to move on, let's be ready to have forward movements in our lives that will we we will always be talking about things that have happened, but behind those things, there was a person, there was um Elijah, there was a Kamuta, there was uh James, there was somebody who took time to pray, who took time to sacrifice, who took time uh to do something, uh uh which of course prompted uh that particular thing to happen. And so uh let's trust God that God will help us this year. We will have forward moments in our lives. Let's focus on Joshua, of course. We we have seen, we have read from uh the book of Exodus about uh Moses and the children of Israel. At this particular moment, you remember they have moved from um uh Egypt and uh they they have been directed to a particular way, which was towards Red Sea. Remember at that moment, uh Pharaoh has changed his mind and they have pursued the children of Israel. So they were in between. There was confusion, there was a lot of fear, there was a lot of panic, and the children of Israel were wondering, why did you bring us here to die? At that moment, uh Moses was under a lot of pressure. If you can imagine the pressure that he was in. But the Bible says at that particular time, God talked, I mean, he spoke to uh to Moses and he told him that he will take responsibility. The only thing that they need to is to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And this is what the Bible says that uh um he said that he will fight for them. He will, the only thing that they need to do is to uh go forward. And so I want to challenge us that the only thing that we need to do in the year 2026, that before we see the salvation of the Lord, before we see the interventions of the Lord, we need to have our personal forward moments, our family forward moments, our corporate as a ministry scream, or rather, wherever we are in our churches, we need to have uh our forward moments. Things that we commit to do. We take a step of faith in obedience to God and do something about that particular thing. Now we see Joshua taking over from Moses, and also he had uh his own challenges, he was all scared about the situation, and God speaks to him, he assures him that he will

Moses At The Red Sea: Go Forward

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be with him, and we see the number of things that he was able to accomplish. And one of them was the crossing of Jordan, which was not easy. At that particular moment, the Bible says it was full to capacity. But God speaks to them, he gives him instruction about how they are going to go about it. That the priest was supposed to carry the ark of the covenant, then they were supposed to step on the waters, and that was uh faith action, and that was the forward step for that particular thing. Those they stepped on the waters and immediately after they stepped on it, the Bible says the waters popped, allowing the Israelites to cross over um on a dry land. And uh, that was a great miracle that God granted them. But before it happened, there is somebody, the priest took a forward moment of stepping into the water. And so I'm I'm believing God uh in the course of this year, brethren, we are going to take actions. Sometimes you may have to do it alone, sometimes we have to convince a few people to do it together with them, but we have to take a step of faith. We have to take a forward moment in that particular time and do something about it. The priest, I know, I know they were scared, but the Bible says while they were carrying the Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders, the Bible says they took the step of faith and they stepped on the water. And what happened? The Bible says the Jolden River water stopped and they were able to cross over. And so let's be ready to take a forward um moment in our lives and we will be able to accomplish great things. The extraordinary things that we are talking about will be able to happen. Talk about conquering Jericho in Joshua chapter chapter six. That was another thing that they were supposed to go around uh the walls of Jericho, I mean of Jericho for six days on a daily basis. I know sometimes it is not easy. And then on the last day, which was the seventh day, they were supposed to do it seven times, blowing trumpets, shouting, and the Bible says the action of faith, that uh which was their forward moment that they um accomplished at that particular moment, caused the walls of uh Jericho to collapse. And so I decree in our lives this year, let's be ready to take a forward step, um, which will become our moment, our forward moment uh in our lives, in order to be able to see extraordinary doings of God in our lives and in the lives of other people. Then in chapter um, chapter chapter 10 and chapter uh 11, we also see the the northern campaigns, um the moving forward um in the military actions that they did. And we see God intervening in this situation that the son was able to stand still to help and to give them time to defeat their enemies. So in chapter uh, of course, seven and eight, they were also able to uh deal with a particular issue. Because when we take forward moments, it is not only in prayer, but sometimes we take forward moments to deal with issues in our lives. Sometimes we have sin, we have um disobedience, and you remember this time in chapter 7 and 8, they had uh a sin that had caused them to fail, to conquer

Joshua’s Jordan, Jericho, And Purging Sin

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the city of I. And the Bible says they had to deal with it before God came in to help them. And so I want to um declare to us, even in dealing with issues, sometimes the Bible talks about sins that entangle us, easily entangle us. So we also need to deal with them because sometimes we struggle with issues. We don't need to ignore them, we don't need to just uh um get used to um some of these uh negative situations in our lives, but we have to deal with them. We have speak about our issues and uh ask, confess, repent, turn away from those issues in order to be able to accomplish great things in our lives. So we see Joshua. What do we see? One of the things that we see see in the life of uh Joshua and the children of Israel was uh they walked by faith. They it was not by sight, but they took actions of faith. They stepped into the river, they marched around the city before God showed them the full uh victory. They took uh forward moments which were actions of faith. And so the next thing that we see was the issue of obedience. They were ready to obey God, and the next thing was purity and holiness. They were able to purge the sin that had come into their lives, and then the last thing that we see is they were able to take God's initiative, they were able to obey God in particular issues that they were struggling with. So, brethren, let's believe God for this year. I trust that we will be able to have forward moments in our lives, and as we come to the end of the year, we will be remembering of things that we did. Forward moments of prayer, forward moments of outreach, forward moments of fasting, forward moments of doing the will of God in our lives. And uh I'm trusting uh that God will be able to help us now. The other person that I want us to focus on before we go to our Lord Jesus Christ, because he was also another um um one who took forward moments in his life and ministry. But let's focus on Paul. Um, you remember we we read from the book of Philippians where Paul says, I I count those things that I have passed, and I'm taking a step of faith. He in in Acts of the Apostles, uh, chapter 9, we see his calling, and uh in his calling, in chapter 9 of verse 15, the Bible says that uh the the law spoke to him that but the law said to him, Go, this is Ananiaseth, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, uh kings, and the children of Israel. So for verse 16, for I will show him how many things that he must suffer for my name's sake. Now, I want that was a destiny. That was a destiny of uh Paul in his life. He was supposed to reach out to the Gentiles, he was supposed to reach out to the children of Israel, and that he did. He was also supposed to reach to kings, and he was also supposed to suffer for the name of the Lord. And uh, if you can read through the book of Acts, he went through all those things. Actually, at one time the Bible says he was torn to death, but God brought him back to life. He talks about the sufferings that he went through, and that was part of the fulfillment of what God has spoken to him. Now, this is what I want us to agree on the life of Paul that he was able to, but in the midst of these challenges and the sufferings that he went through, he did not stop moving forward, he did not stop taking the forward steps and moments in his life. We're talking about situations like in in chapter. Chapter 28, you remember they had the shipwreck, and uh they they they they they found themselves in uh uh uh an island called uh Marta. You remember what they encountered, you remember the issue of the snake, which um when the people saw him it on his hand, I mean they knew his life is done, he has already been beaten, and uh nothing happened. You they honored him. But one thing that amazes me that in the midst of the challenges that he had, he was still ready to go to Rome according to the instruction, according to what he was supposed to do, in order to be able to meet Caesar. He had already met Agrippa, and now he was supposed to meet Caesar according to the word of the Lord. Reference, let me say this. We have a destiny. Each one of us has a destiny in our lives, and one of the things that will enable us to accomplish our destinies, it is the act of faith when we move on, we move forward, when we have forward moments in our lives of actions of faith, believing and in obedience to God. So Paul knew that he had to go to Rome, and uh, we read from verse 10, which is very encouraging. The Bible says, uh, the people of martyr. You remember uh he had visited uh this man by the name Pablas and he healed his daddy, and uh many people brought their sick people and he prayed for them. Actually, the Bible says for three days he was able to minister to them, he was able to pray for the people who are healed. But the verse, verse 10, the Bible says that they also honored us in many ways, and when we departed, they provided such things as were necessary. Look at what God uh can do. You know, these people had lost everything they had, they had lost even their baggages, i mean their cargo, because they had uh lost even the the ship and everything. But after this time, the Bible says they were to sail again towards Rome. The Bible says because of um Paul, the Bible says the people of this island honored them. And uh, when they departed, they provided them the things that were necessary. I want to speak uh prophetically uh to each and every one of us uh concerning this year 2026. May the Lord provide everything that is necessary for our lives as individuals, for our families, for our kids, for businesses, for those who are doing business, for those who are working, may God grant you convenience of time and everything. Those who have projects,

Paul’s Calling, Suffering, And Malta Provision

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I declare sufficiency of funds for whatever you're doing and you want to accomplish in 2026. As you take uh your steps of faith and believe and trust God, brethren, I want to prophesy to us that God will provide, provided we take our step of faith to move on. God will provide all that we need as a ministry. We have appointments, we have uh missions that we are going to accomplish in 2026. Let me speak as a prophet that God will provide everything that we need that is necessary for the comfort of the ministry, for the excellency of the ministry, and for the extraordinary aspect of the ministry that God will provide. Actually, the Bible says they provided such things that were necessary for their moving forward. And so, as we purpose to move on, for the sake of our forward moments in 2026, the Lord will provide brethren. Is it money that you need? May God provide it to you. Is it healing that you need? Some of us are struggling with chronic diseases. I declare healing in your life right now, in the mighty name of Jesus. May God heal you, may you uh have health uh to help you move on and accomplish the extraordinary service for the glory of God. Let's go to uh Jesus as a wind up because I know um it's quite exciting. This one of the things that I see in the life of uh Jesus Christ was he was committed to moving forward. Let me just quote, I mean, Pick from chapter four, Luke chapter four. The Bible talks about his experience uh with uh John the Baptist. We see from that particular moment, that particular time, um actually um um John Baptist was hesitant, but he insisted that the for the sake of fulfilling the law, let's do it. And of course, John the Baptist accepted. Immediately after the Bible says the heavens opened. And the second thing that happened, the Holy Spirit came upon him, and then a voice came from above this is my beloved son, with whom I'm well pleased. So I want you to see that situation. Immediately, the Bible says he was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. Now, I want you to understand we talked about our forward moments as the progressive steps that we take by faith in obedience to God, um, in order to fulfill the purposes and enjoy the fullness of the promises that he has given us. So I want you to see the situation that uh that um that um Jesus was in in chapter four of uh the book of uh Luke. The Bible says he's filled with the Holy Spirit, and I'm I know some of us will say that is enough, but it was not enough. He was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, and the Bible says there he spent 40 days and 40 nights. What was he doing? Of course, we know he was praying, he was having a good time with with uh with the Lord, and that was his forward moment, that was a time because fasting is one of the forward moments that we need to take in our lives. Sometimes, I mean, we know that uh the Lord Himself said, these ones do not go other than by fasting, by prayer and fasting. So there are there are things, there are levels that we need to go by fasting. And so that is a forward moment. It was a forward moment for him. He obeyed and he went into the wilderness. That is where he was tempted by the enemy. After the temptations, the Bible talks about the situation that he was. I think it should be around verse 14. The Bible says he returned in the power of the Holy Spirit. He went filled with the Holy Spirit. He ascended, he went into the wilderness, filled with the Holy Spirit. But the Bible says he came back from the wilderness, filled, of course, um, under the power, in the power of the Holy Spirit. He was um under the influence, under the power, the anointing of the Holy Ghost was upon him. And the Bible says he came back to um to Galilee. That is that is actually the Bible says he came back to Galilee. What what what happened? The Bible says he went into a synagogue, and then he went again to Nazareth, where he was born. According to his uh, I mean, uh he was used to doing this, he went to um to the temple again, where the Bible says in verse 18 of uh the book of uh Luke, chapter 4, verse 18, that is where he reads a scripture. Verse 14 says he went to um, of course, 14 says he went uh in the power of the Holy Spirit to Galilee, and the news went. The Bible says he went, um um taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. That was another forward moment. The the first forward moment was going into the baptism, then he is filled with the Holy Spirit, led into the wilderness, another forward moment, and then he comes back from the wilderness in the power of the Holy Spirit. He goes to Galilee, which is another forward moment, and then he goes to Nazareth uh according to verse uh uh 16, and because it was a Sabbath, he goes to the synagogue. That is when they gave him the book to read, and then he reads uh the scripture where he says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel that now he is talking about his personal, personal forward moments in his life. This is what I am supposed to be doing. I'm supposed to be preaching the gospel to the poor. I am sent to heal the broken-hearted, I will be

Jesus’ Pattern: Baptism, Wilderness, Mission

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proclaiming liberty to the captives, I'll be recovering the sides of uh the blind, I'll be setting at liberty those who are oppressed. That was um his forward moments. Another forward moment that he was supposed to have is to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And the Bible talks about after he spoke about those, the men were aggravated. I mean, they felt bad about it, and they decided to throw him out. Uh, that is what the Bible talks about. Uh um, according to um verse 28, they were filled with wrath and they decided to throw him out of the city. But the Lord, the Bible says that he passed through in the midst of them and he went his way. Verse 31 it says, he did not stop. And I want to hurry us, I want to encourage us, brethren, we are not going to stop, we are not going to stagnate, we are going to be constantly moving forward, constantly doing our forward moments. In prayer, of course, in sharing the gospel, in doing the work of the ministry, in loving, being compassionate to others, helping the poor, um, fasting, doing what we are supposed to do, of course, walking in holiness and purity, those are forward moments. The Bible says one that he went to Kapernaum, the city of Galilee, and uh and was teaching them, though he did not stop. Even after they rejected him at uh Nazareth, he did not, he did not stop doing what he was doing. In verse 33, he says that in the synagogue was a man who had a spirit unclean demon, and uh he cried out of, of course, he was able to deliver him. What am I saying, brethren? I'm saying that um we this is our year of extraordinary service. And what is it, what are we supposed to do? What is expected of us is that we are supposed to have forward moments, two words, and how are we going to do it? Of course, in obedience to God's word. God gives instruction. One of the things that our brother Kamuta has said that we are going to have um very important announcements, and that is how God speaks. Sometimes we wait for him to speak, hey, buona anasema. No, when we we give an announcement, that is the Lord speaking, giving you instructions on how and the things that you are supposed to do. And that is how we had ear to the announcements, to the instruction. Number two, we we we're going to uh to trust God, we're going to do it by faith. We don't have to see the results, but we're believing that we are going to accomplish the mission. Our brother has spoken about expansion. Let's trust God that our territories will be expanded, that we will be able to make a personal spiritual progress in our own lives. We are going to grow in our own lives, we are going to fulfill the promises, we're going to enjoy our destinies even as we move forward. And so, as I wind up, I want to challenge each one of us today by with a lot of love that brethren, let's be provoked today to desire to have forward moments. And like, what are we going to supposed to be asking ourselves? Like at the end of the day, you're supposed to ask yourself, what was my forward moment today? What did I do? That I is new, that I did by faith, that it was in obedience to God. What did I do today? What is it that I did that was a specific thing that I did in order to be able to accomplish the plans and the purpose of God in our lives? God has blessed us wherever we are, like our brother said, some of us are working, some of us are professionals, some of us are ministers, uh like myself, some of us are business people are in the marketplace. I trust God that He will be able to help us to have forward moments in our lives. Things that we will be able to say. Uh, because like we saw in the life of Abraham, um, building altars was one of the forward moments for that matter. Wherever he went, the first thing he did before he blessed his tents was to build an altar for God. He was a giver. He was he prayed for Lord, he interceded for him. That was a forward moment. And I want to pray that God in 2026, he will give us opportunities as forward moments in our lives that we ought to. Like I remember one uh something uh this morning when I woke up in the morning, the Lord prompted me to do something. And I can tell you, I did reluctantly, and I can tell you it it had a lot of impact to the person that I did it to him. So I want you, I want you to understand that God in 2026, he will open doors for us. Some of us, he will open doors of ministries, opportunity, ministry opportunities, some of us are ministry opportunities at your workplace. I pray that we will be able to move on, that constantly we will be on the forward moments. We will take, utilize every forward moment that God grants us in our lives. So may God help you, may God um um strengthen us through the Holy Spirit to lead us, to guide us in what we are supposed to do. In the sermons that we are supposed to preach this year, that is a forward moment for you. Given an opportunity to share the word, that is a forward moment. When you pray, tell God you promised when we began the year that you will give us a forward moment. This is a forward moment for me, and I will make use of it, I will do it, um, what you intend for me to accomplish. So God bless you. I want to pray for each one of us today. As I wind up, I want to believe that uh forward moments are coming our way. Don't be lazy, don't um give up, don't just ignore those opportunities. There's something behind every opportunity. We have seen what what happened in

Practical Calls To Action For 2026

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the lives of uh the Israelites when they obeyed God to go around Jericho, there was something that happened. Then the priest stepped into the waters, and the Bible says the water stood and they were able to stopped and they were able to pass through. May God help us this morning as we take a stop of faith to give because that is our forward moment, to pray for somebody, to get involved in the ministry. I know it is not in vain, and we will be able to see, and at the end of 2026, we will be able to see really that this was an extraordinary year of um of this year of extraordinary service. So as we take up story of faith, the Lord will be able to help you, uh, encourage us, strengthen us, help us, and equip us with the necessary um resources. You remember in uh Acts of the Apostles 28, uh, you know, when Paul was setting up for the journey, the Bible says they honored them and they supplied everything they needed. May God do it to you in Jesus' name. Heavenly Father, we thank you. I bless you for this word that you have granted me to share with our brethren. I know we have a year ahead, we have activities, we have many things that we have to do as a ministry. I pray that every ministry opportunity will be a forward moment for every one of us. And as we do so, we know that we will be able to accomplish the purposes that you have called us to do as individuals and even as a ministry. I pray for the leadership of Krem this year 2026. The Lord, you will grant them wisdom and uh revelation. And as they lead and direct Jehovah, you will be able to help them. I bless each and every member. And I know there are maybe some of them who are going through a difficult time. I pray the Lord you will intervene and heal and make it a lot of people.