OPENING REMARKS
Shekinah Greetings Word of life. I welcome you to the Morning Altar of Prayer today.
I thank the name of the Lord for his doings upon our lives. I believe you have been well from wherever you are connected this day.
From our end, we thank the Name of the Lord. He is so faithful unto us, and we give him the praise.
We had a great service yesterday. I mean, it was a powerful and we give thanks to God for his doings in our lives and I strongly believe that indeed this is for you and for the set time.
As the Lord says, so shall it be in our lives.
OPENING PRAYERS
Lift your voice where you are and be expectant to receive the Word of God this morning and tell God, I am coming before you to receive a Word. Father. Thank you because you are so good that you always provide a Word for me, for us as a Church on daily basis.
We worship you and we give you the praise in the name of any other name, the name of Jesus, that we have prayed and we all say Amen and Amen. Praise be the living God.
PURPOSE OF THE TEACHING
The message I have for us this coming Sunday and starting from today is simple and strange at the same time … ORPAH LEFT...
That is the topic for this coming Sunday and the whole week.
There are people who come in our lives and go. There are people who come and leave behind whether positive or negative marls.
There are people who come, go and leave behind a bleeding heart, a destroyed heart, and sometimes we are left and we exactly don't know what to do next.
Please, I just want you to understand that in life, not everybody who comes in your in our life will come to stay. Not everybody who come in our life will come to remain with us.
It is okay to come to the realization that people will not always be there with us.
Here in the Bible, I will show to you a very beautiful example of two women Ruth and Naomi.
I will show to you how at some point in their lives, they had to part ways and Orpah remained behind because she had nothing to do with the future of Naomi and Ruth. And Orpah and Ruth continued the journey.
I want to understand what happened in the 1st place.
And you know? It comes a moment even in our lives where we don't know how to handle the departure of people.
It comes a moment where we don't know how to handle the situation when somebody who was so close to us for many years and just decide to depart and go.
Some people can be stuck and might not know what to do next.
There are other people who, instead of getting stuck, can also backslide. Some other people can even not move to the next level.
So, that is what we will be looking at this whole week.
Now, the coming Sunday is Orpah Left Sunday Service. It can sound strange and it can also sound very much simple, but this coming Sunday we are coming with a very clear purpose before the Lord.
We are coming to get healing. We are coming to get freedom. We are coming to get blessed. We are coming to get understanding and light to the place where some Orpah will leave our lives and they will go for one reason or for another.
So, somebody will get healing in his heart and in his life and we will understand that it's okay that Orpah leaves. It's okay that Orpah goes. It's okay that Orpah departs from your life.
I mean, this coming Sunday and all this week, I just want you to come to a place where you just relax. You just remain calm. You just remain cool after the departure of Orpah from your life.
Because, whether you like it or not, Orpah will leave you and go.
So, it is important for you to be prepared mentally, psychologically, financially why not physically, emotionally, so that it will not look like a shock for you.
I am preparing you because this teaching is not usual. I have not preached such a thing since I began my ministry.
But it is an impression of the Holy Spirit in my heart to share with you the insight which you need on how to handle the Orpah of our life.
Well, when I talk about the Orpah of our life, one should know that somebody also listening to me, you can also be an Orpah somewhere to somebody.
I mean everybody can be an Orpah at some point in life. I believe this Bible study will help you and just keep you going on with the purpose of God concerning your life.
It is not strange that Orpah leaves.
So, this coming Sunday, the Bible says in Jeremiah 8:22, “Is there no balm in Gilead?” Yes, there is balm in Gilead. God has a solution. He has an anointing to heal your heart after the departure of Orpah.
Don't miss those teachings because there will be so much insight and revelation. And I believe that your life will not be the same again. Praise be the living God.
CHAPTER 1 | WHO IS ORPAH?
PART 1 | Orpah is a backslider goes back unto her people, and unto her gods.
Let me start from Ruth 1:15 And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.
So, we understand that Orpah did not follow Naomi from a place of wholeness. She still had her idols within her heart.
That’s why she went back to her gods. She went back to her idols, instead of following the God of Naomi. Instead of following Naomi where she was going, she decided not to.
Yes, that is open for you Orpah Laws. Together with the Naomi.
And Ruth they were in the same family.
Let me say so because Orpah was married to one son of Naomi. Ruth was married to another son. And it came a moment where Naomi lost her husband. Ruth too lost her husband. Oprah also lost her husband. So we see a family where the father and the two sons died.
PART 2 | Orpah cannot understand the God of Naomi
I just believe that Orpah was like, “My God. What kind of God is it? What kind of God is it where people are dying? The father died. My husband died. The other husband also died. Me. I don't want that kind of God”.
She preferred to go back to her gods. So, she was not ready to confront that reality.
PART 3 | Orpah gives up on you when affliction arises.
I just want you to know that we have some Orpah around our lives. They come in our life and when everything is okay, they are okay. But when everything goes wrong or goes south, they will choose to leave you and go.
CHAPTER 2 | LET US HAVE A LOOK AT SOME SITUATIONS IN LIFE THAT REVEAL ORPAH
1- Sometimes, there can be some kind of stigmatization that can happen in your life.
2- Sometimes also, afflictions can come in your life.
3- Sometimes again, it can be misery that can come in your life.
4- Sometimes, things will not go the way they should go.
5- Sometimes, things can happen in your life that can cause people question your God. That is why Oprah could not understand how God can allow 3 people to die almost simultaneously in a family. She could not believe in such a God. That is why she departed.
You know what? In life, it can happen that you go through a test and people can be looking at you like you have committed a sin.
6- Sometimes, people can look at you and start saying things like …
“What is happening in this Church? There must be something wrong somewhere. There must be somebody who has committed a sin. Look at what is happening. I can't believe that can be God”. And then, they can choose to depart from your life.
At this point, I want you to know that affliction is a blessing. Do you know why? Because in affliction, you will know who is who.
You know what? When we are sharing beefsteak, where we are eating hamburger, when we are going to the supermarket and filling up trolleys with food and all kind of shopping, you might not know who is who.
When you are with people who are very good, when you have money, when you have your way, when you have whatever you need, you might know who is who.
That is why I want to let you know that time will come when affliction will reveal the heart of men. Affliction will reveal who is who around you. And it is in the midst of affliction that you will know Orpah.
For that reason, someone says, “In time of abundance, your friends will know you. And in times of affliction, you will know your friends.”
But I like the Bible.
In Proverbs 18:24, the Bible says, “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother”.
In Proverbs 17:17, the Bible says, “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity”.
The meaning of those verses is … You will know who is who in your life in time of adversity.
7- Sometimes, you can be in a time of weakness.
In such a time, you will also know who is who. Look at Christ. How and when did He show his love toward us? When we were weak. That is what Paul says ...
Romans 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Romans 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
If you are now in a place of weakness, you will know who is who.
8- Sometimes, things can happen to you the way they happened to Job
You know all the story of Job who was a blessed man. At a certain season of his life, everything was okay. He had blessed children. He was blessed with servants. He had all kind of wealth and abundance.
One day, the devil came to God and said, “I'm not sure that this Job is loving you because of you. He's loving you because you have blessed him with all kind of stuff. Just remove those things from him. You will see how he will curse you”
You see? Even the devil knows that affliction reveals the true motivations of the heart.
Watch this. When the God Almighty allowed the devil to take away all the wealth from the hand of Job, see how Job responded to it.
He said in Job 1:21 “Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
And in Job 1:22, the Bible says, “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly”.
Now look at how the wife responded.
In Job 2:9, we read, “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die”.
Do you see the Orpah spirit? Job’s wife could not handle the situation. It was too painful to drink.
By her declaration, it was like she was telling Job, “My friend, I did not marry you to suffer with you. You just curse God and die so that I can get married to another man.
Now listen to me. Friend, don't jump into conclusion like Job’s wife or like Orpah.
But I like how Job answered his wife.
Job 2:10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
Sometimes, things can happen the way they happened to the man born blind.
John 9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
John 9:2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
John 9:3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
John 9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
Listen to me friends. Not every affliction is rooted in the sin of the past. When the disciples looked at this blind man, they concluded that his blindness was due to the parent’s sins. But it was not the case.
Remember a similar scenario happened with Paul when a snake stuck to his arm. What happened? See the reaction of the Barbarians in Acts 28:4.
Act 28:4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.
You see? They said/concluded that Paul was a murderer. But it was not true.
That is why I am begging you by the mercies of God … Don't jump into conclusion.
CHAPTER 3 | ORPAH THE IDOLATER
Orpah is someone who cannot stand affliction. She cannot stand hard time. She cannot stand difficulties.
The reason is because of the idols in her heart.
Listen to me. You will know you have an idol in time of affliction.
Affliction reveals the idols in the heart of men. Your idol can be sex. Your idol can be money. Your idol can be yourself. You can be an idol to yourself.
When affliction came, Orpah left and departed back to her gods.
CASE 1 | AARON, THE PEOPLE AND THE GOLDEN CALF
You know what? God is the God who reveals the hearts. Remember the people of Israel. When Moses went to the mountain, the people stayed for many days. Out of their impatience, the idols in their heart started appearing.
Listen to their declarations in Exo 32:1
Exo 32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
You see? You will know Orpah when things take longer than they should. In your life Orpah is there. In Church, Orpah is also there.
Orpah represents those people who come to Church, but they can't wait upon the Lord. Whenever it looks for them like things are taking long, they leave the church.
Orpah is an idolater. She has idols in her heart.
CASE 2 | SAMUEL THE PROPHET
In 1st Samuel 7:3, Samuel the Man of God said something powerful to the people of Israel who came to him,
“If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines”.
There are people who come close to us, but they have their idols in their hearts. They are not coming there for God or for us.
Listen to me and don't forget it … Not everybody who comes to you comes for you.
CHAPTER 4 | A SHOULDER TO LEAN ON OR A HEART TO CONNECT TO?
Ruth 1:9 The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept.
Ruth 1:14 And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.
The 2 texts above show how the 3 ladies/widows wept together. But after weeping, Orpah left and Ruth stayed. What does it mean?
There are people who come in your life because they want a shoulder to lean on, not a heart, to connect to. So, they don’t come in your life to connect to your heart. They came in your life to lean on your shoulder.
There are people who come in our lives and the only thing they need is a place where they can weep, cry, shed their tears and be wiped away.
Pastor Kasuku wiped the tears of many. I don't brag about it. It is the truth. But after the tears were wiped, after the tears ceased, they depart like Orpah. Why? Because they did not come to connect to my heart. They came to lean on my shoulder. That's all.
Friend, when you give someone your shoulder to lean on, when they are okay, they will leave you because they did not come for you. So, don't bother.
Are you shocked? Look at Christ himself. He was surrounded with people who were following him all over. Miracles were flowing. The dead came back to life. The sick got healed. I mean Jesus was just powerful.
Now look at what happened to him.
In John 6:66, the Bible says, “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him”.
Can you imagine? The people who are leaving Jesus here are those who ate food.
But before they depart, Jesus knew/discerned in advance that they were not following him from the heart, but for food.
John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
What is happening in this text is also happening today. There are people who follow Christ not because of Christ but because they want marriage, children, money, job.
Such people don't come to Church because of Christ. They come to church because of they want from Christ.
That is why I said it and I say it again ... Don't fool yourself that everybody who comes to you comes for you.
That statement is true for marriage. People get married not because of one another, but because of the social position or because of some advantages and privileges or because of the visa etc.
That is why I want somebody to get healed when an Orpah departs from you. She or he did not come for you in the 1st place. So don't be bothered.
But look at how Jesus responded to the disciples’ departure. Instead of encouraging those who remained to stay with him, he is rather asking them,
John 6:67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
Jesus’ attitude is exactly the same like Naomi’s toward her daughters in law.
Ruth 1:8 And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother's house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.
Ruth 1:11 And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
Ruth 1:12 Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons;
Ruth 1:15 And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.
Isn't it amazing?
Now watch this.
Orpah took those declarations as an opportunity to go. Likewise, there are people who will come in your life and will look for an opportunity to go. They will look for lame excuses like your weakness, your mistakes, etc. just as a way to exit.
It is also true in a Church. Some people in Church can be asking themselves, How can I get out of this Church? I am becoming bored. It's becoming annoying for me. How do I go? Then, they will start looking for excuses.
That's why like Naomi and Christ, I always encourage anyone who feels like their time is over in the Word Of Life to just go with my blessing.
But look at how funny things are. The two ladies were together with the same mother in law. But one left and the other continued. What is the point?
The point is this …
When one says, “I am leaving because this man/woman is harsh. It's so difficult to live with him/her. I can't see how I can handle him/her. I don't see how I can handle him/her”. There are others who stay with the same person the formers are labelling as harsh.
How to explain this? Those are excuses.
And my advice is this … Just go. Stop giving excuses.
CHAPTER 5 | IF THERE IS AN ORPAH, THERE IS ALSO A RUTH
I read with you earlier what Paul says concerning love ...
Romans 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Romans 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
The proof of your love toward me is in my weakness. If you can know my weaknesses, if you can see my weaknesses and despite them, you stand with me, that is a proof of love. Why?
Because my weakness is a test of your genuineness. If somebody leaves you because of your weaknesses, it is clear that they never came for you.
If somebody leaves you because of your imperfection, forget about that person. They never came for you.
The Good News is this ...
You will have some Orpah who will depart from you because of Affliction. You will have some Orpah who will depart from you because of some weaknesses. You will have some Orpah who will depart from you because of your imperfection. But at the same time, there are also people like Ruth who will stick to you not because of anything else, but because of you and for you.
There are some Ruth that God has prepared for your life.
Whether you are weak or you are strong, whether you are harsh or you are kind, whether you are weird or you are normal, they will still be there for you. Hallelujah.
There are some Ruth who will stay with you after Orpah departs from you.
Thank God, because there will always be a Ruth who will be there with/for you, who will accept you the way you are. Hallelujah! Who will believe in your God where others reject him.
May God give you some Ruth there in your life. How I pray God to give me some Ruth in my life who will be there not because of anything else, but because of my God.
Whether I am weird, Ruth will be there. Whether I am weak, Ruth will be there. Whether things do not go the way they should, Ruth will be there.
Peter told Jesus,
Joh 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
Joh 6:69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
FACT 1 | PETER CONNECTED FROM A PERSONAL CHOICE
Those are the people you need in your life. You need people who are with you because they have made a personal choice. You need people who stay in your life by personal choice like Peter..
Personal choice means that they have options to go elsewhere, but they deliberately choose not to but to stay.
I am in Kenya, but my mentor is not in Kenya. But I am connected to him like I was physically with him.
You see? It is not about the place. It's about the heart. It is a heart-to-heart connection, not a head to shoulder connection. Because there are people who are connected from head to shoulder not from the heart to heart.
FACT 2 | PETER CONNECTED FROM A PERSONAL REVELATION
John 6:69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
You need people who come in your life and who can stay with you because they have a personal revelation of who you are. There are people who come to connect you, but they don't know you.
That is the kind of Orpah. She did not have a personal revelation of who Naomi was. While Ruth had. That is why though the future was uncertain, things were not clear, tomorrow was obscure, Ruth said to Naomi, “Your God..”
FACT 3 | PETER CONNECTED FROM A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
That's why he said in John 6:69, “And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God”.
You need people who can connect to your life from a personal experience.
For example, I know that at some point the Word Of Life is avbig Church that will grow bigger. There are people who will come to Church because of how big the Church is. There are some who will come because of the instruments and others external stuffs. (light, screens etc.)
But the desire of the heart of God is not about all that. It is about connecting to God at a personal level the way Peter did when he said ...
John 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
John 6:69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
Are you an Orpah or a Ruth? This teaching will give you the answer. Who is Oprah and who is Ruth? This teaching will give you the answer in your life so that you will not be fooled by people who come like loyal people, but they are not coming for you. Can you get healed today?
CLOSING PRAYERS
- Just lift your voice and say Lord thank you for the word. Hallelujah.
- Lift your voice where you are and talk to God this morning.
- The Bible says in Matthew chapter 13 that there are those who receive the Word out of excitement without commitment. When Affliction comes, when disappointment comes, when opposition comes, they find a way out because there was no root in them. Those are Orpah.
- Orpah are people who follow Christ because of their feelings. They follow because they are just excited but not committed.
- Christianity is not about excitement. It's about commitment.
- Orpah is only excited. She comes to Church when she's excited or when she has her feeling okay. But when she's not okay, she doesn't come or vice versa. That is not a Christian.
- Ruth in the contrary is excitement and commitment. She is not only excited. She is only committed.
- Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
- Can we pray this morning and tell God you know what? God, I pray that you give me the grace to be committed In the name of Jesus,
- Help me to stay firm in affliction. Help me to stay firm when things don't go the way I wanted them to go. Help me O God and give me the grace today in the name of the Lord Jesus. In the name of the Lord. Help me Lord.
- I pray for healing in my heart because they did not come to me. They came because of themselves.
- God, give me wisdom so that I will know who is who in my life, father.
- Help me. Give me your wisdom in the name of Jesus Christ.
- Bless the coming Sunday. Let it be a time of refreshment, of healing in our heart.
- We thank you. We worship you. We adore you. We lift your name on high in Jesus Precious name, we have prayed. And we all say Amen. Amen and Amen. Wow.
- Thank you very much for connecting to the Word of life where the King is praised and kings are raised. I wait for you on Sunday.
- There is a Word for you that will change your life. Thank you.
- We meet tomorrow for the continuity of this message. It is a powerful one and I believe it will help you to understand who is who around you and who comes for what in your life. It will also help you to be balanced and stable when people are unstable around you in Jesus name Amen and Amen.
Have a good day.
PASTOR TD KASUKU
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