Living in the now

Rhema is an innovative, practically applied Bible study that is designed to help you understand, grow and strengthen your spiritual relationship with God. As implied by its name its primary function is to help you uncover the revealed word of god, that it may enlighten, simplify and transact the will and purpose God has for each of us in our every day life. 

Brought to you by L.A Williams, with over four decades of practical experience in the ministry of healing and deliverance, his aim is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ across the world, and see believers embolden with the truth of who they are, and what God purposed for us to be. 

Sit back, relax and allow your spirit to be nourished.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to Rema Bible Study. I've been myself Linmo Williams, Bishop Lenoir Williams, and my topic today is on living in the now. And the scriptures that we have in mind is Hebrews 13 and verse 8, and Ephesians 4 and verse 8. Now, in this scripture, in this topic, we want to look at the reality of Jesus in the lives of every individual. Of course, the Bible tells us in Hebrew chapter 13 and verse 8 that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Of course, yesterday represents the past, the now and the future. And the same activities, the same things that God did in the past, he's doing it today. If one is in a position to receive it and to understand it. And he's also reassuring us that he will be doing the same thing in our future. And that is why it is important for us to put things into perspective. Number one, to know that our Jesus Christ is able to take care of not only the now, but he can take care of the past, take care of the future. And we encourage everyone to lean into this now, into this fact that Jesus is a very present help in whatever situation or circumstances that you may find yourself. Now let's take, for instance, now when the Bible talks about Jesus being the same yesterday, today, and forever, it's giving us a great insight into the unchanging nature of God. And that through Jesus Christ, you have access to God's favor. The Bible tells us that there is no variableness in him or shadows of turning. So what he did yesterday for his people, his prophets, and every everyone that came to him, he will do the same today. And tomorrow is also guaranteed that he will be there as well. And so you can understand why it is we do not lend ourselves to such things as anxieties, because we are already resting on the assurance of God's word to deal with our future and to deal with our present. And that is why we are endeavoring to put our trust in God, because if we do, whatever is happening in the now, God is right here with us. So we're going to look a little bit more into what this means. So the Bible is telling us that he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. This shows that our God is a God that is one steadfast. We have already said that there is no variableness, our shadows of turning, our changes in him. So here he is, showing us that he is God who will always be there to meet us at the point of our needs. Understanding these characteristic traits of Jesus will help us to better understand who he is in our life and who he can be if we would make him, I mean, the center of our being. One, it exercises, it emphasizes rather the character of God. It also tells us through his teaching what he is. It tells us that he is love. I mean, these it's one of his most powerful attributes. It also helps us to understand that he is omnipotent, he is omnipresent, and he is omniscient. Now, when you look at these divine attributes that characterize the life of Jesus Christ, knowing that he is powerful because of his omnipresence to do whatever we want him to do. Isn't it wonderful to know that we have a God who is omnipotent? He is all powerful. We have a God that is omniscient, he knows everything and is omnipresent. Now, these characteristics, these attributes of Jesus, you know, give every believer the comfort and security to know that we are serving a God that can meet us at every point and every need that we have in our lives. Now, when things don't seem to be going the way you want it to go, then God is asking you to remember that He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And armed with these divine attributes, then we can rest assured that God will never fail us. And it is this that gives us confidence, and it is this that reassured us not only in the now but also throughout eternity. Our God is truly marvelous. Now there is also another attribute that truly impacts the way we deal with God and how God deals with us. This attribute is called omnifirus. And what it means is that God will be whatever you want him to be. Now, this is something that he told Moses. When Moses was to go down to Egypt to deliver his people, and Moses, of course, was a little bit shy. Um, in fact, he tried to make an excuse that he is not capable of such a task. He was saying that he was not able, he's not eloquent enough to go and speak to the Pharaoh, which is rather bizarre, given the fact that he grew up in the Pharaoh's house and learned the arts and ever and uh everything about Egypt. But naturally, like so many of us, whenever time God calls on us, we try to find the excuse as to why we cannot do it. But God was off the mark with him. He said to him straight away, I will be whatever you want me to be. So, in other words, there's nothing that's gonna happen that whatever you that whenever time you call on me, I won't be there for you. David came up with the same thing in Psalms 139. He tells us, he asks a question, where can we go from his presence? And again, referring to the fact that our God is everywhere present, he is able to do whatever we ask him to do. And so Jesus Christ, who is who is God, walking at who is God walking with us, and we saw how he carried out his work. How do we know that? The Bible tells us, amen, that in Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We are complete in him who is the head of all principalities and powers. And so when you know that you have Jesus and that the fullness of the Godhead is in him, then we have every confidence that every challenge that comes our way, we will be able to deal with it. And again, man, once we apply the faith necessary to carry out the work, then the Bible tells us it will come to pass. In the book of Acts 10 and verse 38, the apostle again reminded us who Jesus was. And the Bible said to us that Jesus, man, who went about doing good, healing all manner of sicknesses and diseases, because God was with him. And that is important for us to know that we are serving God on the basis that he is with us, he's with us through the Holy Spirit. That's where he is, and he's creating in us the nature of God acceptable to him, and so that we can stand in his presence and ask of him the things that we will. There's nothing that you are going through that God don't know about. There's nothing that you are experiencing that he cannot deliver you from, and there is no place you can be that you can escape from him. So, therefore, in his ministry, the Bible tells us that he heals, that he cast out demons, that he went about doing good things, and of course, showing miracle signs and wonders. This is indicative of the God that we serve. And not only do we um serve him, but he has enabled us that we too would possess the power to carry out the things that is necessary for salvation as well as to bring glory to his name. And one only has to look at the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer that comes with a twofold purpose. One is to create the nature of God in us and to empower us to carry out God's will in our life. How do we see that? We can see that in the gifts of the Spirit, we can see it in the fruits of the Spirit, because here the Bible tells us how God has empowered us, and he empowered us with nine gifts divided into their own groupings. Here it is where he tells us that he has given to us the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, discerning of spirit. The word is also told us that we have the power of healing, the power of miracle, the power of faith. He also instructs us that we have prophecy, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. Now these men empowers the believer to act like is his or her maker. And that is why the Bible reassured us again that there is no variableness in God, and that is the same. Yesterday is the same today, and tomorrow is going to be the same. And what is most interesting is like in the case of Lazarus and uh Martha and Mary in Acts in the book of John chapter 11, Martha came to Jesus uh as a result of his brother who died, and said to him, said, We know that our brother shall live again in the last day. But Jesus then told him, No, the last day is today. Today you are living in the presence of the last day. That Martha didn't quite understand. And he said, I am the resurrection. You mean I am the life. Now is your request will be granted now, not tomorrow, not next week, now, and in like manner, God is reassuring us today that He is our point of reference. It is important for us to know that. Because in everything in life, you have to have a point of reference. And we as believers can have that assurance that Jesus is our point of reference. Again, reassuring us today that Jesus the same Christ, amen, he is the same today, the same yesterday and forever. Now, today, as we see this, we can understand the traits and character of our yesterday. Yes, we understand that. We understand what he did. We understand how we walk by the grave of the dead, raise them. We understand how he looked at the blind and healed them. We understand how he spent time treat teaching and admonishing his disciples to walk in the ways of God. We understand all of that. And therefore, God is wanting us to know that as he was yesterday, he will be with us today as we seek to emulate what he did then. And we have that assurance that the same God that was acting, we read about, talked about in our yesterday is the same God who is operating in our today. And if in time to come, our children will be looking back at our day and saying that they live in the now presence of God. And that is the key thing I want to leave with you, that you understand you don't have to wait for tomorrow to experience the goodness of God. You don't have to wait until something special happens. But every day is a day with the Lord. It's the now day, it's the now time. In Hebrew chapter 11 and verse 1, we see that chapter started out by saying, now faith is the substance of things. See, God deals in the now. And whenever time you approaches him, it he sees it as the now, man, because of course he's not governed by time. Amen. Our God is living in the infinity. Praise God, he's not subject to time, and therefore, whenever time you approach him, whenever time you pray, whenever time you ask, it's done because of who he is. Now we notice in the book of Mark, chapter um 11 and verse 24, it tells us that when you stand praying, believe that you receive it, and this is really indicative of the God that we are serving. It's not going to be, believe that you receive it, and it will happen. Amen. That is that's what he's saying. Praise God. The time constraint impact us, not God. Amen. That is the thing that we need to know. That time does not impact God. And when we live in the God time, and the way to do that is to live in faith. Praise God. He will see things happen in the spirit realm, in the now, and bring it to pass during the process of time. And that is why we see the challenges that people face in the yesterday. What are some of these challenges that they face? Now, people in the yesterday face things like leprosy, yes, which was then known as the chronic disease. We can associate that with the cancers of today, the big sea, as many people would call it, and the fear and dread that this stimulated in the minds of people. But Jesus was not afraid of leprosy. He deals with it. In fact, he would just tell those who were uh who had this disease, go show yourself to the priest. And while they believe and going, their healing took place almost immediately. In the same way, he talks about blindness and traumas and tumors. And of course, he talks about all of the various diseases that people are exposed to, from blood pressure to diabetes to all of the different diseases that they have. Now, the same Jesus would go about doing good, healing, delivering, setting people free. And I'm here to tell you that the same Jesus is doing and is ready to do and is doing likewise to those that have the faith in him. In the book of Isaiah 53, we are reassured again that he was wounded for our transgression, bruised for our iniquity, and the chastisement for our peace was upon him. By his stripes we are healed. Now we saw it happen where we read about it, and most of us have experienced the healing, transforming power of Jesus. That's why we can come to you with such confidence and reassurance that our God is the same. He's the same yesterday, he's the same today, and when tomorrow comes, he's going to be the same. What an assurance you have. And whatever you're going through, let me reassure you today that you have Jesus on your side. And we will continue to pray for you and to allow the Spirit and the presence of God to dwell with you, in you, and through you, and so that you will have a deepened relationship with Him and walk in His presence day and night. I hope this has been a time, a blessing for you, and above all, answers the question that lurks in the pit of your soul, and more importantly, that you can give your life to Jesus if you haven't already done so. God bless you. Jesus' name.