Rise Warriors Touching Lives Ministries Uganda

25/09/2024

Children are a a blessing seeing them serving dancing for Jesus makes me happy. I will never stop reaching out to the young ones for Jesus. God bless you children

26/09/2022

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. . . She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.
Acts 16:16-17

This may seem like good publicity but Paul became annoyed. [H]e turned around and said to the spirit, In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her! (Acts 16:18). The spirit departed at once but her owners became upset because she was no longer able to make money by predicting the future. From this we learn that those who make money predicting the future may be assisted by demons. Only God knows the future perfectly, and demons should not be trusted.

-copied from Learning the Word

24/09/2022

Goin to church will not help us in changing the world but being the church is the solution to change

23/09/2022

Then Peter began to speak.
Acts 10:34

He recounted the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. While he was speaking, the Spirit came on those who were listening, and they spoke in tongues. Then they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. This was similar to when the Spirit came on the disciples on the day of Pentecost. They also spoke in tongues, Peter preached, and many were baptized (Acts 2:1-41). God used Peter to reach the Jews, then to reach the Gentiles.

An important point of this story is that God was taking the initiative to get the gospel out. Peter didn’t plan the day of Pentecost—God did. And Peter didn’t plan to take the gospel to the Gentiles—God did. Throughout the book of Acts, God is the one who takes the initiative. He uses people, of course, but God is the primary worker.

The book of Acts records some extraordinary ways God spread his word in the first few decades of the church. God continues to spread his word in extraordinary ways, but also has an ordinary way: the faithful ministry of local churches.

It is through the ordinary ministry of teaching and preaching that most people come to faith, and are spiritually nurtured throughout their lives. We should thank God for his extraordinary ways of working, but never despise his ordinary way since that is how he normally cares for us.

-copied from Learning the Word

21/09/2022

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
Acts 7:59-60

Stephen is rightly remembered as the first Christian martyr. He refused to compromise his message and prayed that God would pardon those who killed him. An important beneficiary of that prayer was Rabbi Saul, who later became the Apostle Paul. From this we learn that praying for those who harm us may lead to their conversion. [B]less those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you (Luke 6:28), said Jesus.

-copied from Learning the Word

20/09/2022

God exalted [Jesus] to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins.
Acts 5:31

The apostles were brought before the court to give an account of their preaching. Along with the message of forgiveness, they insisted on repentance from both the nation and the court. They had killed the Son of God, and could not have a relationship with God until they were sorry for killing his Son. All God wanted was for them to repent.

Jesus told the story of a prodigal son who took his father’s wealth and wasted it in on wild living. It was fun for a while, but when the money ran out, he found himself in squalor. Then we read, he came to his senses (Luke 15:17). This is the beginning of repentance.

Repentance is not feeling bad about yourself, although it may include that. It is not a promise of perfection since we will never be perfect in this life. It is not even a promise never to do something again, since that is the most broken promise on earth.

Repentance is agreeing with God against ourselves and turning back in his direction. When the prodigal son came to his senses he went back home with these words: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you (Luke 15:18). His father was so thrilled that he ran to him, embraced him, and kissed him (Luke 15:20). That is how God treats us whenever we come back to him through faith in Jesus Christ.

-copied from Learning the Word

19/09/2022

When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
Acts 5:5-6

This was the first church funeral and, to be honest, it was a little bit spare. There was no liturgy, flowers, music, eulogy or even a sermon—just a quick burial. Ananias died for the sin of hypocrisy, which falls into the category of judgment miracles.

We generally think of miracles as something good, like healing the sick or multiplying food. But the Bible contains a number of judgment miracles such as the plagues on Egypt: locusts, frogs, boils, gnats and more (Exodus 7-11). Others were infected with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:19), mauled by bears (2 Kings 2:24), eaten by worms (Acts 12:23), driven insane (Daniel 4:33) and struck blind (2 Kings 6:18). For Korah’s sin of rebellion, the earth split apart and swallowed him whole, along with many others (Numbers 16).

And it would be wrong to think this can only happen to unbelievers. Christians in the city of Corinth died for receiving the Lord’s Supper without sufficient reverence (1 Corinthians 11:29-30). Judgment miracles teach us that if we cannot be a good example, we might become a terrible warning.

-copied from Learning the Word

19/09/2022

18/09/2022

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
Acts 4:12

Peter was giving the high court an ultimatum. There was no other way for them to be saved except to believe in the one they had killed. This surely offended them and offends many today. What about Moses, Muhammad, Buddha and Krishna?

To get along in the world, Peter should have known not to be too exclusive. Instead of saying Jesus is the only way to God, we might want to say he is a good way to God, a great way to God, or even the best way to God.

But then, of course, we would have to deny Jesus Christ. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6), he said. The offensive thing about Christianity is that it is the only way to be saved. The amazing thing about Christianity is that it is the way to be saved.

-copied from Learning the Word

17/09/2022

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out.
Acts 3:19

Suppose that Judgment Day has finally come, and you are in God’s courtroom awaiting trial. All your sins are listed on a whiteboard for everyone to see. God is out of the room, but when he enters and sees what you have done, it will not go well. So you go to the whiteboard and try to erase the worst sins, only to discover they have been written in permanent ink. They will not come off, no matter how hard you try.

Then Jesus enters the room and pulls out an eraser dipped in his own blood. The moment it touches the whiteboard all your sins disappear, and the board is left without a mark (1John 1:7). Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, said Peter. With an offer like that, the number of believers grew to five thousand men (Acts 4:4), plus women and children.

-copied from Learning the Word

16/09/2022

A Gift of Self-Sacrifice

Romans 5:7-8

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Thoughts for Today:

What is the difference between a righteous and a good man? Why would someone (perhaps you) be more willing to die for a good man, but not so much for a righteous man? And by the way: What is Paul's point in all this? These are some really good questions, so let's take a look.

The dictionary defines righteous as "always behaving according to a religious or moral code"; and good as "high quality or standard, either on an absolute scale or in relation to another or others". In other words, a righteous man is simply "upright or just" in his relationship with God, while a good man is considered "benevolent" or a blessing toward society in general. In our passage, Paul tells us -- rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, but maybe for the good man -- the slight difference is because of the good man's benefit to his fellow man. However, these are exceptions -- most of us would not give our life for another person no matter how righteous or good he might be.

Now Paul uses this example which we can all understand, and draws a stark contrast to God's love for us: "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." By inference Paul is asking: "If most of you wouldn't die for a righteous or even a good man -- then who would die for a sinner?" Answer: No one. Yet this is precisely how God chose to demonstrate His love for us!

Questions to Ponder:

Who would you die for? Right now, if asked: "For whom would you give your life?" -- a child, spouse, perhaps a parent, sibling or close friend? Have you ever thought about what you would do if a brother came to you and said: "I'm dying and I need a kidney. Will you give me yours?" God didn't just give us a body part, He gave us Himself -- whole and complete -- as payment for our sins. What a beautiful and amazing gift of self-sacrifice!

-copied from Pocket Devotions