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(Sermon at the 70 year birth day of Rev. Dr. Charity Chinyere Nnaocha.)
At a great birthday as this, a sermon of this sort should permeate into the spiritual to bless the day and leave a lasting treasure for hearers or readers to keep.
The children of Israel on their journey to the promised land, had to cross two main Waters.
These Waters were the Red Sea ( Exodus 14 : 13 – 22) and the River Jordan. (Joshua 3 : 14 – 17). These Waters had to be crossed if they were to get to the promised land.
These Waters were problems in different dimensions, with a lot of experiences, about God and the testimony of God’s people.
Sometimes great presures are exerted in life , but all the same they are the roads to achievenents.
If Israel did not cross these Waters, the issue of the promised land should be kept in suspense, because the promises of God to them, were on the other side of the Waters as they journeyed from Egypt to Canaan.
The promises of God to bless His children are on the other side of age and its experiences. Human beings must cross that band of age to enter into another band of divine BLESSINGS.
Abraham lived for 175 years, and by scripture, he crossed many Rivers or problems by the time he died at great old age. Old age is a favour from the Lord.
It is possible to complain of some body weaknesses, but these make up for the grand blessings of God. As we live we must suffer certain things , but a wise nan who believes in God should never surrender. Those issues we meet in life are building blocks of our testimonies.
During my one year stay in my village for twelve months, the first of such long time in the past 53 years, I noted the experience of the old people. Most of them go with walking stick, some cannot stand straight, they are greatly bent because of age.
Yet in the midst of their experiences, many younger people are dieing. Old age is a favour from God and those who are old should sustain this age with righteousness.
No matter the many cares people take to live long, the best medicine for longevity comes from God and it is not what money can buy. It is embedded in grace, so we must pray for abundant grace.
When human beings cross one age to another they enter into another band of life expectations. Certain blessings are tied to age and we must cross that band to receive our blessings.
I PRESUME THAT GOD WILL NEVER DELIVER SOME PROMISES TO MAN ON A PLATTER OF GOLD.
Therefore loved ones of God must suffer at different times , to have some testimonies, of how God saw them through. What of Job ?
From the beginning God told Adam, after the fall:
“3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Genesis 3 :19).
So Adam lived in this world for 930 years. He must have passed through a lot of experiences in that range of life.
In this journey of life, we are crossing Rivers of different depths and God is keeping us.
Age is a river and we must be thankful to God for granting more years to us and that is the reason to celebrate God’s magnificience.
We learn at every age, at such times men are often endowed with great wisdom and that is why in the wardrobe of aged people there are many rags.
Let the aged people, use wisdom of age from above to lead, for a wicked old person can destroy younger people through crooked advice.
The rags of age are rags of dethroments and promotions, rags of happy moments and sadness, but in all God is glorified.
The absence of these rags may have left some lives fruitless and and unfulfiiling. We must pray for legacies, evidenced by some rags in our wardrobes.
While in Egypt Moses was picked by the banks of the River Nile, and he lived for forty years in Egypt as potential Pharoah of Egypt.
Because he had a divine mission to fulfil, circumstance took him to the land of Midian, where he lived till he was eighty. There he lived with Jethro his father inlaw, who was the Priest of Midian and studied at the University of Shepherding, where God prepared him to lead Israel His sheep to the promised land.
That journey took him to 120 years of age. While in this life there are times we go throuhh rough waters, but divine providence is seeing us through.
What ever the situation, we must remain thankful, for the tram that goes through bumps and gets to its destinations, is better than a smooth ride that ends half the journey and gets truncated.
It is glorious to ask for an assignment from God at every age for His glory. Such assignments make men to be fulfulling.
AND IN CONCLUSION :
At this point in this sermon , I say happy birth day, more days, good health and more prosperous life in all its dimensions, both spiritual and material to my beloved wife Charity and my son Ephraim, who happen to have the same birth date.
IN JESUS NAME , SHALOM!
SERMON FROM MIRACLE VALLEY, April 2nd 2023.
Email: outreach.mvgm@yahoo.com.
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