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Part I—Africa 37 Conclusion It is wonderful to celebrate birthdays. However, it is also an indication that time is being spent. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says there is a time for everything and, in verse 11, says God makes everything beautiful in its own time. I plead with all of you here today. Please, watch your time. Fulfill the purpose for which you were born. This is your time. Measure your success within God’s allotted time and with God’s standard. Please, don’t measure with human ovations or patronizing voices. Consider again the six purposes of a favored life. (1) To be God’s servant and minister. (2) To do good to the people and make them good—adding value to their lives. (3) To bear the sword of judgment in righteousness. (4) To carry around a clear conscience in your tasks of leadership. (5) Tousepeople’staxesforgoodeconomicprosperityandempowerment. (6) To give full time to the job of governing. The promise of the Lord for His favored ones stands sure that with long life He will satisfy you as Psalm 91:16 says. So it will be in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who have come to rejoice with this favored child of God, you, too, need to become a child of God by giving your life to the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to be born again. Tomorrow may be too late. Give your life to Jesus today. The Lord bless you as you do so. 4 Thank god, grace Looked my way (John 5:1-16) Michael Okwakol Agape Baptist Church-Ntinda Kampala, Uganda BIOGRAPHY Okwakol has been the senior pastor at Agape Baptist Church-Ntinda in Kampala , Uganda, since 2006 (he also served at this church from 1996 to 1998). Okwakol has served as the president of the Baptist Union of Uganda from 2006 until the present. He is also the general secretary of the Eastern African Baptist Union of Uganda (2007–present) and has served in numerous other 38 Baptist Preaching leadership positions for the Baptist Union. Okwakol is the founder and president of African Church Empowerment Ministries, which aims to empower churches and communities in Uganda. He has received diplomas from the College of Professional Management and the Uganda Baptist Seminary (theology ), as well as a B.A. (biblical studies), M.Div., and D.Min. from Southeastern Theological Seminary in North Carolina, United States. Okwakol is married to Cossy Acom Okwakol. They have four daughters and one son. SERMON COMMENTARY Okwakol escorts us into his passage using a vivid personal experience of general grace. The introduction must have been evocative, creating an immediate emotional experience for those who recall the days of Idi Amin. Okwakol ’s images at the beginning generate an encounter in the congregation of shared scarcity and the need for someone with grace “to look my way.” In this regard Okwakol not only says what the text says but also does what the text does. This is most helpful in a sermon that is deductive and linear in its cognitive clarity. Okwakol contextualizes this passage among the seven signs in John’s Gospel. He follows a clear teaching model by telegraphing his movements in advance. He further gives them a pneumonic quality with the alliteration of the letter “m.” Throughout the message there are clear verbal clues within the highly structured sermon. Clarity is obviously the intent of the preacher, and he expects his listeners to follow his deductive linear thought without losing their place in the sermon. Before delivering the body of the sermon, he clearly explains its temporal and geographical location, standing behind the text to give information not available on the surface of the text. Each of the movements follows a clear use of the three classical and functional elements in an expository message: explanation, illustration, and application. This time-honored approach enhances clarity for those listeners who want no ambiguity about the linear nature of the message. Inside each of his movements Okwakol carefully parallels the biblical text in each submovement with a contemporary analogue. The misery of the multitude huddling around the pool of Bethesda is equated with the misery of the crowd clustered around the modern equivalent of the pool—those obsessed with television, sports, and so on. In each of the movements this one-to-one translation produces a tight move from the horizon of the text to the horizon of today. Okwakol’s illustrative material demonstrates the global reach of media...

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