Home Cell Guide (Sunday 14th July 2019)
Christian greetings friends! Last Sunday sparked off the July Mission Month and our Provost; The Very Rev. Canon Dr. Rebecca Nyegenye preached to the three congregations on the topic: ‘Return to The Lord’ drawing Biblical references from Hos 6:1-3 and Matt 3:1-8. Though the Children of Israel were in the presence of God they remained disobedient thus the command to return to the LORD. Therefore we being in the household of God, we should desire to live by His principles and commandments. By the time Hosea told the children of Israel to return, there must have been a place and position that God desired them to return to.
In our current generation the message of repentance is becoming more unpopular since majority of people want to receive from the Lord without an obligation of living right with him. During that time, wealth and prosperity was among a particular class of people that lured Israel into adopting false security, decline and decay in all aspects of life, they rejected God’s law, they became proud and forgot God, there was a lot of materialism, desired pleasure and worshipped false gods.
That is why prophet Hosea raised and delivered God’s command to the children of Israeli to return to God that He may heal them because He Himself had punished them [Hos 5:14]. The Provost urged the congregants to allow the Lord rebuke us for the evil we have committed against Him. The Israelites were like a stubborn heifer and we too today are stubborn in the eyes of the Lord [Hos 4:16]. Today we are living in a broken society where we can’t tell the difference between evil and good, male and female, night and day because we have lost truck and forgotten of who we are in God’s sight. She highlighted the following observations;
• Murder/bloodshed in broad day light has become the order of the day and Theft of all kinds in broad day light and nothing is done. We are stubborn heifers not yielding to the spirit of the Lord.
• For the Lord desires steadfast love not sacrifices and acknowledgement not burnt offerings. We too ought to desist from all sorts of bribery because we can’t bribe God, for He looks at the heart. [Hos 6:6]
• Desist from the spirit of pride. She cautioned congregants especially those in authority not to mistreat others but to bear an attitude of humility. [Hos 7:10]
• God desires you to use your knowledge and professionalism to serve him. You should desist from using your knowledge to destroy others. [Hos 7:15-16]
• Misuse of Smartphone’s today among the couples has caused marriage and family break ups and misuse of finances without proper accountability to one another and therefore a need for us to be good stewards of the phones and money so as to be faithful to one another.
• John called the Sadducees and Pharisees a brood of vipers, such a kind today, are superiors who have mistreated and swallowed up their subordinates in office and make their working environment difficult. [Matt 3:7]
The Provost urged the parishioners to bear fruit by keeping in repentance. The Lord who is full of mercy is willing to restore us to Himself and transform us. Therefore, let us return to Him irrespective of the past experiences because He is our father who will not abandon us but will instead bind and heal our wounds. [Hos 6:1-5]
Guidelines and Questions
1) What do you understand by this command:- Come, let us return to the LORD?
2) In your life as an individual, family, work place, Community, Church and as a Nation, which areas do you think the LORD desires you to return to Him?
3) Prayerfully surrender those issues to God who is merciful and willing to receive us, bind and heal our brokenness.
Rev. Patrick Kamara
Priest in Charge: Home Cell and Pastoral Care
0772482433/0754 482433 /0753922448