THIS DAY (MONTH AND YEAR) TO BE THE MOST IMPORTANT

THIS DAY (MONTH AND YEAR) TO BE THE MOST IMPORTANT 

(Part of the 2017 New Year Message delivered by Alex Oguh in CEFN Church, Owowolo, Ofu Local Government Area, Kogi State in Nigeria) 

 I wish to remind you, my friends, one of the things the Lord said to us at the beginning of this year, 2017.

“This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you." Ex. 12:2

There are special days and there are ordinary days. The Lord wanted His people to see the day they left Egypt as the most important day. A most important day is a day you refer to most. It even became a reference point for Israel and for us. The day God first spoke to Samuel became such a day for Samuel. Would Hannah ever have forgotten the day she prayed for the boy, Samuel? Would she ever forget the day she left the young Samuel in the Temple with God and Eli? 

I will never forget 30th December, 1991. It was the day my motor killed a young girl in an accident. As I sat there in the vehicle, amazed at what has just happened, Jesus appeared. One thing led to another and I realized that I had become born again. I must have referred to that day and the incident thousands of times. Everything about me changed from that incident. I even disagreed with the police that was trying to tailor my statement in order to favour me in the case. I didn't want them to lie. The Lawyer said that I was spoiling my case. My ways changed before I knew that I was born again. For me, it was the beginning and the chief of the days. It became the turning point, the foundation for all the other changes or plans for my life. 

Paul referred to his encounter on Damascus road over and over. Hear him many years later in

Acts 22:

6 “As I was traveling and coming near Damascus, about midday a bright light from the sky flashed suddenly around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?’ 8 ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute,’ he said to me. 9 The men with me saw the light, but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. 10 I asked, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ and the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that God has determined for you to do.’ 11 I was blind because of the bright light, and so my companions took me by the hand and led me into Damascus.

12 “In that city was a man named Ananias, a religious man who obeyed our Law and was highly respected by all the Jews living there. 13 He came to me, stood by me, and said, ‘Brother Saul, see again!’ At that very moment I saw again and looked at him. 14 He said, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see his righteous Servant, and to hear him speaking with his own voice. 15 For you will be a witness for him to tell everyone what you have seen and heard. 16 And now, why wait any longer? Get up and be baptized and have your sins washed away by praying to him.’

This testimony of his conversion came many, many years after his conversion. He kept talking about that encounter (See Gal. 1; Act 26).

This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Exodus 12:2 KJV

in the book of exodus, we see why. They had the followings:

1. A PROMISE

    

Ex 13:5-6

And it shall be, when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month. NKJV

They had a promise. The promise of a land flowing with milk and honey was made to the whole people of Israel. For a day, a month or a year to be special, there is a promise. Abraham had a promise when God called him. 

    

Gen 12:2-3

I will make you a great nation;

I will bless you

And make your name great;

And you shall be a blessing. 

3 I will bless those who bless you,

And I will curse him who curses you;

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." NKJV

How can this year be special? It is by having the sure word of God about it.

In the New Testament, we have to be sure of securing His promise. One way He said it is: 

Mt. 11:28 “Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.

Are you in trouble right now? Is there sickness in your body now? Have you lost hope? Above verse can be your promise.

2. A JOURNEY AHEAD (to the Promised Land).

Every special day puts you on a journey. Have you just given your life to Jesus? This verse defines the journey and the destination.

    

Rom 8:29-30

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. NKJV

Perhaps yours is different. Is that your special day the day God called you into serving Him. There is a journey before you – the journey of making disciples to be in His image and likeness. That is the Great Commission. 

3. DIRECTION.

What direction are you following - through Biblical discipleship or through anyhow Christianity? Are you still at the level of “my enemy must die?” Grow more. See God’s expectations in detail in the epistle to the Ephesians.

    

Eph 4:11-15

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, NKJV

That is the work of every minister – to make young converts till they are no more children, tossed here and there by every wind of doctrine. Are you heading towards becoming like Christ and towards Heaven yourself? If not, first take care of your own journey. Be sure you are in line.

4. A HUMAN AND A DIVINE LEADER

They had Moses and they had the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. Do you have a man or a woman leading you as you also claim to be following God? You need both God and a man or a woman to help you reach your destination. All disciples do. 

    

Matt 28:19-20

Go therefore* and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.* NKJV

Jesus took time to have the first workers just like God first got Adam and /Eve. These need to be on the ground so as to be used by God to make you just like parents are needed for continuity of the human race. Pick a human leader that has a leader who is also heading towards heaven.

It was so in the early Church.

  1 Cor 11:1

Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. NKJV

5. MIRACLES AND DIVINE HELP ON THE WAY.

They had Miracles on the way. Remember the escaped from death, the crossing of the Red Sea, the turning of bitter water at Marah, the victories against their enemies and other divine helps. Please don't let miracles deceive you. Most of those who ate the Manna every day and enjoyed divine protection and supply died in the wilderness. Therefore note the next guidepost. 

6. THEY HAD THE LAW GUIDING THEM

Apart from having a Moses and God, they had a written law to guide them. Some of you take your mind or your heart as your guide. Forget it. 

Jeremiah 17:9-11

[9]“Who can understand the human heart? There is nothing else so deceitful; it is too sick to be healed.

[10]I, the Lord, search human minds and test human hearts. I treat each one according to the way he lives, according to what he does.”

[11]The person who gets money dishonestly is like a bird that hatches eggs it didn't lay. In the prime of life he will lose his riches, and in the end he is nothing but a fool.

The devil had set our minds and hearts against God from the Garden of Eden. How dare you trust or follow yourself? Read and study the bible. It will help renew your mind.

Jeremiah 10:23-24

[23]Lord, I know that no one is the master of his own destiny; no person has control over his own life.

[24]Correct your people, Lord; but do not be too hard on us or punish us when you are angry; that would be the end of us.

Again see Proverbs 20

[24]The Lord has determined our path; how then can anyone understand the direction his own life is taking?

That is why the Lord tells you to deny yourself or say no to yourself as in Mt 16:24; Mk 8:34; Lk 9:23.

7. THEY HAD A LAW ABOUT FOOD TO EAT TO AVOID SINNING

This is the final one I wish to talk about. There was a law about their everyday food. They were told not to eat any bread with leaven. 

Exodus 12

[15]The Lord said, “For seven days you must not eat any bread made with yeast — eat only unleavened bread. On the first day you are to get rid of all the yeast in your houses, for if anyone during those seven days eats bread made with yeast, he shall no longer be considered one of my people.

It became a yearly custom to caution them. They were not to pretend. Yeasts made bread to be big. Without yeast or leaven, it is like an ordinary cake, small. But no one wants to be small in Nigeria. We borrow, we ride big cars, run generators even when our villages have no light and we pose as big men and women with corruption monies. Sin is the biggest problem on the way. 

Are you ready to travel well with God in 2017? Follow this wisdom from above and it shall be well. Pray about it now.