The Sacrificial Life Of A Devoted Christian by Reverend Christie Buri: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Growing up and the voice they mocked

Growing up was not a lot of fun. My dad would go to work, come back, take a nap and be gone. He would not come back till we were asleep

When he goes out he drinks. Then he comes and starts making trouble with my mom. We were always under tension. We didn't know when the small issues would blow up into big ones

My voice was a problem. They mocked it, laughed at it, abused me with it. It made me quiet

I heard from my dad, "there's no value to a female child." One day I heard my mom say that of her six girls I was the least pretty

Those things sat in my heart and shaped who I became

I found my escape in books. I started reading from about age four and read very fluently by seven.

My dad would call his friends, bring the day's newspaper, and I would read to them standing in front of them

The one time I caught my father's attention was when I came home with my report card. He would take me in his car around for 3 days, showing it to his friends

There was always tension in the house. An addicted parent, a withdrawn and quiet mother, sick siblings, my oldest brother falling apart

When I was eight or nine things changed overnight. My dad was promoted and we moved from a compound house into a huge house

The demons

As an adult I can say they were demons. I saw them with my eyes wide open. At night I was afraid to sleep because I felt if I closed my eyes they would kill me

I was very thin and couldn't speak to anybody about it, because I didn't even know what it was. I was constantly afraid, terrified. The more I read books the more I withdrew into myself

There were people who came to our house for many years and didn't know my parents had a child like me

Pain will overshadow the good moments. The pain is louder and the pictures are more vivid

The voice they mocked is the same voice that has taken me everywhere around the world. The enemy will try to fight and kill it before it starts

The tape recorder

Music drew me. I wanted to sing, but every time I opened my mouth people would say don't

Illustration: the women's fellowship

My mother took me to women's fellowship and gave me her tape recorder to press record and pause. I did a good job

A few days later she played it at home. Everything was going well until in the middle of the song we heard one voice. I was the first to say, who is spoiling this song?

My mother said, you were holding the tape recorder, did you try to sing? I ran away. I was embarrassed. That put a cap on my attempt to sing

I still joined the church choir. I was the smallest so I was in front when we filed in. My mouth was moving, there was no sound. If I made sound everybody would go off key

In secondary school a senior said, do you realize you have a good voice? I gave her the look. I thought she was mocking me. More people kept saying it

When they did choir elections, the principal said the choir mistress this session is Christie. I could not believe it

It took many years to accept that my voice was worth listening to, because of years of conditioning that it was rubbish

Who backs the voice

God taught me never to focus on how I sounded or how good I was. He told me to focus on the Holy Spirit.

It is not the sound of the voice that matters. It is who is backing the voice

I cannot even do trills. But when I started singing, demons left people's lives. People got filled with the Holy Ghost. Healings took place

God took the elements of the chaos around me and made them strengths Isaiah 61:3

How I got born again

The demons disturbed me and I would not sleep. My oldest sister came back from secondary school talking about Jesus differently. She was excited, vibrant, speaking in tongues. My dad said don't do that one here

I was drawn, because my sister was a sick one, depressed, withdrawn. In spite of the illness, which didn't go away, she had a joy you could see

She took me to a student crusade. Even in church the demons followed me, jumping around me and distracting me

At the crusade, after about 10 minutes I realized how quiet it was. I could hear the pastor directly. They were not there

He made an altar call. I came out and gave my life to Christ. I was 10 years old

Outside, I saw them on the tree, waiting for me. That was the last day I ever encountered them.

I said, so there is a presence which is peaceful that can drive this nonsense away. I will stay with this one

That was the mercy of God. It has been 48 years and every day I am thankful

God can be intentional. He will chase you down. He knows you need Him

Ministry as a young person

I was always concerned about God's opinion of me. I wanted to know God is saying, I like her, she is my good child

It was most likely an extension of what I wanted from my earthly dad. When my dad was upset with me I would be sad for days. When Jesus saved me that extended to my heavenly Father

I saw children like me derailing and making poor choices, and I didn't like that

The Methodist church across the road allowed a children's evangelism ministry on Saturdays during the long vacation. There was always a shortage of teachers.

They saw how committed I was and trained me. I was a child evangelist, teaching seven year olds at 14

The ministry where I got born again did crusades and village evangelism. They found people who had never heard of Jesus or Muhammad, pagans deep inside nowhere.

We drove till the road ended and trekked the rest. One time we were crossing a river and one of us drowned

The interpreter

I could speak Hausa and English, so I was the interpreter

For spiritual things you cannot interpret from one language to another unless it passes through your spirit. That is how God began to train me for ministry at 14

Illustration: the village that became Christian

The chief said, if you pray for my dying father and he gets well, we will become Christians. Papa stood up like Peter's mother-in-law Matthew 8:14 to Matthew 8:15

The whole village became Christian. They gave us two of their sons. We took them to Bible school and they came back to pastor their people

The sacrifices you don't see

The first time I went to a village I packed my mattress. People laughed. They said you want to carry a mat to where people sleep on the floor? They took it and kept it in a corner

When they gave me food I did not eat till I came back. That is how I lost the right to pick and choose food. The next time I ate what they gave me

Now I have no problem going anywhere. If I know they can't afford anything else, I will eat it

Illustration: the village program

I had just ministered in Abuja and stayed at Transcorp Hilton. Two days later I drove to the village in a Lincoln Navigator with some of my children

When they took us to what they called a hotel, the first thing that came to my mind was how are the mighty fallen.

My little daughter looked at the driver and said, uncle, in your whole life don't ever bring me to a place like this again

The venue was a primary school classroom with half wall. One KVA generator, two bulbs, and all the insects gathered around the bulbs. As I was preaching they were falling into my body

They brought a soup I don't like, and sat down to fellowship with me as I ate. My niece shouted, mommy, there is eba under the soup. I pushed it away and found the eba in the cooler

I ate with joy. If that is all you have, I will eat it

The heart of the matter

The one thing people must start checking is their heart. You say you are a minister of God. Where is your heart?

The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart. What are you after?

Some are in ministry because they think there is a lot of money, and because of that they will scheme

Illustration: the friend and her mentor

A minister friend told me her mentor just calls her, the Lord said sow $1,000 now, do it now, because the lady has money.

I said in that case I should start calling you, the Lord said send me $3,000 now, don't let the hour pass

What is the motive of your heart? Ministers who have been there a long time and are still relevant are those whose hearts are in the right place with the Lord

When the heart is not right, what you are chasing comes quick because you are scheming and organizing how to get it. But it is a matter of time

Adultery in the public eye

One of the things I felt in that season was profound loneliness. I had no one who had owned her story to run to and say, you have been through this, can you help me

I was crying before God. Help me, God, I'm dying. God was not nice. When I said Lord, I'm dying, He said that is the only way I can use you

He was throwing scriptures back at me. I said, why are you pressing your finger on me? I'm not the one who committed adultery

He said, because you are the one upon whom the oil is. The only way I can keep the oil flowing is to keep pressing it, to keep the pressure on you

Proverbs 24:10

Scriptures took on real life

Shame

There was adultery and then there was a pregnancy. A living human being would be the result. My sanity was threatened

Shame was like a kimono. I wore it every day. I became scared to leave my house. Shame can break you

One day God said to me, you are not the one who committed adultery. It is not your shame

It takes hearing God to deal with that. Convincing women who have been through infidelity that there is nothing to be ashamed of is a hard thing

In society we shame a woman for her husband's wrongdoing. Even a man feels shame if his wife commits adultery. It is like saying you were not good enough, that is why this person went out

When someone comes to me after adultery I try to trace where their sexual struggles began. Most times the issues predate the marriage. It is not about how fine you are or how ugly you are

In the midst of my pain I heard myself say, no other woman should go through this alone. That is the platform on which I began to speak about my story

God said to me, if you hide you won't heal. The power of any struggle is secrecy. It is like a wound. You must expose it for healing. Air and oxygen help the healing

It hurts me when we make victims responsible for fixing what they didn't break

A man cheats on his wife and she is told maybe she was not giving him enough sex, not respectful enough, not submissive enough.

Why is adultery the only response? Why is that your only response, to go and find another one?

Illustration: the counseling session

A man told me, I didn't cheat on her, I cheated on God first. He started backsliding.

I said most people who backslide don't pray, don't read their Bible, don't go to church. How is your backsliding sleeping with another woman? That is rationalization

3 lessons from almost 60 years

1. You are never free until you are free from the fear of the tongues of men

   What will people say? It has put many people in a box, in the grave, in trouble

2. The only response to shame is despisement

   Hebrews 12:2

   Jesus gave us the prototype for dealing with shame

   Never let shame shame you. Even if you made a mistake, who never made a mistake? All of us have entered that boat

3. Be intentional about maintaining joy

   I channel a lot of energy into maintaining my joy. I choose joy every day

   Joy transcends happiness. Happiness is happenstance. I refuse to let happenstances dictate the aura around me. I control it with joy

3 things marriage taught me

1. I am not as perfect as I thought

   You think you are perfect until the other person starts showing you how flawed you are. Marriage opens you to seeing yourself through the eyes of another

   A couple of years ago God told me to pray one prayer: Lord, show me what it is like to be married to me. I didn't quite like it

   I come up with big dreams and my husband asks why, how much does it cost, why must we do it now. Don't negotiate my dreams

2. God takes the marriage covenant seriously

   We are getting divorced every day, but being married and having conversations with God showed me how highly He weighs the marriage covenant. It is not a casual thing

3. Discipline and sacrifice

   There were times I felt, do this man back, let him also feel the pain of it. God said no, that is not the call

   You are called to righteousness, full stop, whether your spouse is doing right or not

One mistake that cost me

I read electrical engineering to impress my father, who was a mechanical engineer. All my other siblings went to the arts. It was up to me, but I felt my hands were tied

That helps me now. God took me to psychology, which has to do with the wirings of the human mind.

Some things make sense to me from the perspective of wires, short circuits and currents. I am a human engineer

I don't live in regret. Once it has happened, okay, I made a mistake. I'm not going to dwell there. It will mess with my joy

3 lessons on parenting

1. There is no perfect parent

   You can never get it 100%. Even when your children accuse you of being a bad parent, don't answer them

   You are doing the best you can with the resources you have. Resources are not just money. How were you raised? Who showed you the way? Were you even ever shown the way?

2. Children belong to the Lord

   Children are God's before they are yours. We are God's nannies. Give them to God

   You don't have what it takes to produce a sane, levelheaded human being. The owner of them has, so go to Him

   Isaiah 54:13

   I was agitating over one of my children. I speak that scripture over my children from the womb

   God said, do you really mean it? Am I their teacher? Step out of my way and let me teach him

   I said, Lord, you will make a mistake and destroy his life. God asked, who told you mistake is not part of my plan for him?

   Who gave you the right to draw a straight line for your child? Get born, go to primary school, secondary school, university, get a job, marry, have children, grow old. Who gave you that straight line?

   Are you the one holding him? Is it your breath in his nostrils? I said no, Lord. He said step out of my way and let me teach you. I stepped out of my way from that day

   If my children misbehave I tell them, you will meet me at the altar with my Father

3. Let every child be themselves

   I raised seven children with seven different personalities. I did better with my younger children than with the older ones because I didn't know much with the older ones

   The younger ones have a can-do spirit and are not daunted by anything. The older ones calculate and overcalculate

   Don't lump your children together. Don't compare your children with one another

   Even if you have a favorite, never let them know. You will cause problems you will not be able to control. Be attentive, be present, be aware

Living with an addict or a narcissist

1. It is not about you

   It is not about how beautiful or capable you are. He has his struggle. Don't take on the identity of his struggle

2. Put God in

   You need prayer. Find your solace in God. Turn your attention away from the man and focus it on Christ. Otherwise you will lose your mind, lose yourself, and you can die physically

   Bring the person down from the pedestal and put God there. Most of the time we have enthroned a man in the place where God should occupy

   We are devastated because the god we enthroned has failed. There is a God hole in us and we must fill it with something.

   Put a husband or a wife in that place and when they fall you cannot handle it

   God has to be infallible and bigger than us. Remove man, put God. If you are a man and your wife is the narcissist or the addict, remove wife, put God

3. Seek help

   Seek help for yourself first, because the person struggling may not want help or acknowledge they have an issue

   Find a support group, a counselor, a friend, somebody who understands what you are struggling with

   One of the greatest tools of Satan is isolation. Once he can isolate you he can cut you down easily. With a support system there are other voices speaking, not just the voice of your pain

   Then try to get the person to accept that they need help. Sometimes you have to do that

The most important thing is to put God in the center of your heart. He will be enough. He always is