FRI. 15th FEB., 2019

THEME: NOT OF THE WORLD

PASSAGE: JOHN 15:18-21
18. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 21. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.

MESSAGE
Once upon a time, a hunter saw the egg of an eagle and took it home. Reaching home, he added it to his fowl’s eggs which the hen was to start hatching. After a while, the hen hatched her eggs including the eagle’s egg. The young eagle mingled with the chicken while growing up. But as they grew up, the eagle discovered that she was different from the chicken and behaved differently, too. This was a result of the mother eagle it saw the previous time.

Another day, the hen saw the mother eagle again and heard the mother informing her that she did not belong to the ground but to the sky and asked the young eagle to try and fly up there. The young eagle tried to fly several times, but failed. It eventually made it to the sky and started enjoying her new life in the new environment.

The world has a system. It has a practice. It does her things differently from the way heaven does her things. In our reading this morning, Jesus made it clear to believers that they do not belong to this world. Hence, they should not think and behave like the world. Believers should not love the world or things inside it, for they shall all pass away (1Jn.2:15ff). Children of God are expected to shine as light in the world. Their way of dressing, what they eat and drink, what they say, who they associate with should be in tandem with their faith. They should not be of the world or with the world though they live in the world.

God our heavenly Father and Creator does not belong to the world, and He has commanded us as Christians to seek things above. We do not belong to the world any longer. Hence, we should avoid old and worldly lifestyle and live heavenward to the glory of God.

HYMN: EMHB 110
1: JESUS, lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high:
Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,
Till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide,
O receive my soul at last.

2: Other refuge have I none,
Hangs my helpless soul on Thee;
Leave, ah! leave me not alone,
Still support and comfort me:
All my trust on Thee is stayed,
All my help from Thee I bring;
Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of Thy wing.

3: Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
More than all in Thee I find.
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
Heal the sick, and lead the blind:
Just and holy is Thy name,
I am all unrighteousness;
False and full of sin I am,
Thou art full of truth and grace.

4: Plenteous grace with thee is found,
Grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound,
Make and keep me pure within:
Thou of life the fountain art,
Freely let me take of Thee,
Spring Thou up within my heart,
Rise to all eternity. Amen.

MEMORY VERSE: John 15:19, “If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own, as it is, you do not belong to the world. That is why the world hates you.”

PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, put off the canal man in me and replace it with the Spirit of your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.