Month: February 2023

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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2023 General Post Pastor's Desk

Humble yourself to accept it | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: February 26, 2023 |Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 11, No. 43

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be multiplied to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am glad to welcome you into the transition week between the months of February and March 2023. I pray that God will keep your heart ever humble to receive His word that He has given to save your soul. Amen.

In his epistle, James tells us this about the word of God and the attitude we must have towards it: “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” (James 1:21NIV) What are we to do with God’s word that is being planted in our hearts?

According to this apostle, we are to humbly accept it. That means as long as what is coming to us is the word of God, we must not reject it, ignore it or argue with it. Instead, we are to receive it with humility, knowing that even if His word sounds foolish in our ears, His foolishness is still wiser than our wisdom. (Cf. 1Cor 1:25)

Then why are we to humbly accept God’s word, as we are told by James? It is because it is able to save our souls. The word of God has the power to save us from this corrupt world and from all the schemes of the devil meant to destroy us. But we will not experience the saving power of His word, if we do not humbly accept it and act on it.

It is unfortunate that many who call themselves God’s children and who are regularly hearing His word will not humble themselves to accept it and to act on it. Why? They are proud. They think they are wiser or smarter than God and can take care of themselves without Him. But is there any of us that is really as wise as God our maker? Is there really any of us that can handle his own life by himself and not ultimately ruin it? There is none of us that is fit for this.

But each time we ignore what God is saying to us and choose to do as we please, what we are actually saying is that we are smarter than Him and have no need of His guidance and provisions. And where this is the case, salvation is bound to elude us. This explains why many of God’s people have remained stagnant for years or have not experienced salvation from certain activities of the devil in their lives. They keep hearing the word of God but will not humbly accept it. So, His word is unable to save them.

Now perhaps that is the situation with you too. Perhaps the reason the word of God has not been working in your life is that you will not humbly accept and act on what He is saying to you about your life, faith, job, business, education, marriage, health, finances and so forth. Then you need to repent and change your ways. What is the point of spending hours week after week to listen to something that you will not act on? Is it not better you stop listening to it altogether?

Well, to say the fact, it is even worse not to listen to the word of God at all. That is because that will shut you away from every opportunity to be saved by it. So, you need to keep listening to His word. But that is not enough for it work in your life. For it to work in your life and separate you from stagnation and destruction, you must also humble yourself to accept and act on it. And my prayer is that your heart will be strengthened to always do this, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a very beautiful week.

Copyright © 2023, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministry.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Encourage them|By: J.O. Lawal|FIRE IN MY BONES

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: February 22, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 5, No. 41

“Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites, who showed good understanding of the service of the LORD. For the seven days they ate their assigned portion and offered fellowship offerings and praised the LORD, the God of their fathers.” (2Chron 30:22NIV)

As we see in the bible, that is, under the old covenant, it was the duty of the Levites and their priests to learn and understand the written will of God about how He was to be served and worshipped. That way, they would be able to lead the whole nation of Israel to serve God faithfully and stay away from unclean and impure things. (Cf. Ezek 44:15-31; Malach 2:7)

But as we also see in the bible, it was not every generation of these Levites and priests that demonstrated understanding and faithfulness in handling the worship of God. To say the fact, most of their generations did not handle the service of God truthfully at all. Therefore, we have several prophets of God condemning them and pronouncing God’s judgment on them.

For example, we are introduced to the sons of Eli in 1Samuel and told how they were nothing but sons of the devil, even though they were the leading priests in the land. So, God had to ruthlessly judge them and their descendants after them. Also, we have God expressing His displeasure towards the ways of the priests of the time of Malachi. Look at how this is set forth in the bible:

“And now this admonition is for you, O priests. If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name,” says the LORD Almighty, “I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me. “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will spread on your faces the offal from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. And you will know that I have sent you this admonition so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the LORD Almighty.” (Mal 2:1-4NIV)

Did you see that? God had no word of praise for those priests at all. And that was because they were corrupt and would not serve His purpose for choosing them. In other words, instead of leading the people in the true worship of God, they were misleading them and getting them into trouble.

Since the nation of Israel, then, had a history of having corrupt and irresponsible priests and Levites, what should be the response of the people, if they suddenly stumbled upon an upright priest? It should be a response of gratitude to God and encouragement to such a priest.

Now that is what we see Hezekiah demonstrating in our opening bible text. This king was leading a spiritual reformation and restoration in the land at that time. So, he needed all the spiritual help he could get. And given the history of corruption of the priests and Levites in the land, he must have been surprised to find that there were still certain priests that understood how God was to be served and that were also devoted to serving Him accordingly. So, the least he could do was to speak encouraging and kind words to those priests. That way, they would be inspired to do better and better in their service to God and to His people who had abandoned Him for years.

In like manner, any time we see people in our land who are devoted to doing what is right and to maintaining justice where they are, we should do all we can to encourage them instead of discouraging them. We know what our country looks like today. We know that it is hard to find in our neighbourhoods, schools, government offices and business centres people who are upright in heart, diligent and trustworthy.

Therefore, anytime we come across anyone who has these qualities, anytime we come across anyone who has refused to be corrupted and made irresponsible by sick our society, we, like Hezekiah, should do whatever we can to encourage them. That is how to strengthen goodness and righteousness in our world.

Interestingly, Paul admonishes us to do similar things in the church. He tells us that wherever we see church leaders that are doing well in feeding us with the word of God and leading us in His will, we should doubly honour them. Why? It is because such leaders are hard to come by. (Cf. 1Tim 5:17)

As the bible shows us, even in the days of the apostles of old, there were so many so-called church leaders that were greedy, corrupt and irresponsible. Therefore, Paul wanted the brethren to know that they must learn to encourage the upright and faithful leaders among them. Otherwise, Satan may, at some point, get these also to lose heart and start imitating the greedy, immoral, manipulative and injurious church leaders around them. (Cf. Phil 3:17-19; 2Peter 2:1-3)

The point I am making, at any rate, is that we all who love righteousness must learn to appreciate it in others. Then we can strengthen it in our world instead of weakening it.

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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2023 Pastor's Desk

If God’s choice can fail | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: February 19, 2023 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 11, No. 42

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to another week of the month of February 2023. I pray that God will cause His peace to reign in our lives and in every part of the country all through the week, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

It is not news that we, as a nation, have now come into election weeks. And people from every part of the country will begin to go to the polls to cast their votes for their preferred candidates. Now while it is not my job to tell you who to vote for or who not to vote for among the various candidates contesting, it is my job to tell you not to put your confidence in any of them but in God.

Yes, you surely will have your reasons for wanting to vote in whoever you intend to vote in. But regardless of how genuine and upright your reasons for choosing this person may be, don’t put your confidence in them but in God. And why should you not put your confidence in them? It is because even if they are God’s candidate, they may still fail.

This, unfortunately, is what many of our church leaders who have been prophesying and saying all kinds of things about certain individuals that they believe God has chosen to become leaders of our country and states don’t understand. And they don’t understand this because they have not been paying attention to Scriptures. The Scriptures show us that the fact that someone has been ordained by God for a leadership position does not mean that he will do well or be a blessing to his people. He may just turn out to be a curse to them and a disappointment to God.

For instance, we are told in the bible that it was God that chose and ordained Saul, son of Kish, as the first king of Israel. But did he turn out right? No, he did not. So, at some point, God got tired of him. Look at what is said in the bible about that: “Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel: “I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the LORD all that night.” (1Sam 15:10-11NIV) Did you see that? Even though it was God Himself that chose and ordained Saul as king, He later regretted choosing him.

Now people often say that God never regrets doing anything. But that is their own thought, and it is contrary to Scriptures. From what we see in Scriptures, there were times God regretted doing certain things. And He did not lie to Himself at such times. Instead, He faced the reality and dealt with the things that brought Him regret. So, if you too are having a feeling of regret or disappointment about certain decisions you made in the past, decisions that appeared to be good at the time you were making them but which have now turned bad, don’t be too hard on yourself. Instead, face the reality and do the needful.

God had to face the reality in Saul case and do the needful. He had to anoint someone else in his stead, even while he was still on the throne. But was He happy about the fact that He had to do that? No! What about Prophet Samuel who represented God in handling Saul’s ordination? Was he happy with the fact that the man lost his way and could not be brought to repentance? No! On the contrary, we are told in the bible that he kept on mourning for him until God stopped him from doing so and told him to go and anoint someone else in his stead. (Cf. 1Sam 15:35 & 16:1)

What is my point? It is that even if you are voting for God’s anointed leaders in these coming elections, you cannot guarantee that they will not fail you, for they may fail both God and you. And if God’s choice can fail us, can we confidently say that our own choices won’t fail us? We can’t. And if they should fail us, what are we going to do? Are we going to continue to mourn like Samuel until the next elections, that is, for the next four years?

Now my prayer is that none of those who will become leaders during these elections will end up making us mourn in this country. But we must be careful not to put our trust in any of them but in God. That way, even if they fail us, we will be able to count on God to turn their failure around for our good.

Have a splendid week.

Copyright © 2023, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministry.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Be of true help to them|By: J.O. Lawal|FIRE IN MY BONES

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: February 15, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 5, No. 40

“..John Mark went with them as their assistant.” (Acts 13:5NIV)

Who did John Mark go with to assist? Paul and Barnabas! They were on their first missionary journey. And they needed a trusted brother from the church to be around them as their assistant. So, John Mark volunteered to go with them.

Now that reminds of a time in which I travelled with a highly respected pastor of mine to Accra in Ghana. He had just been transferred to the branch of our assembly in that city to get the work there established. And he seriously needed someone to be with him before his family would relocate to join him. So, when he asked me if I would want to go with him, I said ‘Yes’.

Why did I say ‘Yes’ to him? Was it because I was going to be preaching with him? No! Or was it because I was being given an opportunity to travel out of the country for the first time? Yes, that was part of it. I really wanted to see what life outside this country was then. But that was not my main reason for saying ‘Yes’ to him. My main reason for following him was that I saw that he could really use my assistance.

So, I went with him, not to preach with him but to help him in whatever way he wanted me to help him. That, of course, involved handling house chores for him, running errands for him, taking his phone calls and so forth. And when I was leaving about three months later, he wished he could keep me with him a little longer. But since he couldn’t, he sent me off with this prayer that I will never forget: God will grant that you will never lack helpers in your life.

Now what greater reward could I have hoped to receive from him other than those heartfelt words of prayer? None! And that is the greatest reward you too could ever get from anybody for faithfully and willingly making yourself available to serve them, especially in their moment of need. But will you get it? Will there be people in your life praying for you every time they remember you for being such a great help and comfort to them in their lives?

Paul, while addressing Timothy in a letter, says this about a man called Onesiphorus:

“May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.” (2Tim 1:16-18NIV)

At a time when everybody abandoned Paul because of his chains, at a time when he was feeling all alone because there was no one around to minister to him with words of encouragement or resources, Onesiphorus was there for him. This man went out of his way to look for this apostle when he came to Rome. It was difficult for him to find him. But he did not relent until he found him and ministered to him. And all that Paul could do was pray heartfelt prayers for him and for his household that they would find mercy on the day of the Lord.

Unfortunately, even today, just as it was with Paul in those days, leaders often find it hard to find trusted and willing people to stand by them to assist or support them. Yes, they often find it hard to find people who will willingly want to make their load lighter, not because of what they want to get or because they are paid to do so but because they truly care. And this is equally true in the church. I mean that, even in the church, it is often hard to find people who are always genuinely looking out for their church leaders and seeking ways to make their load lighter. Most of us only want to serve if there is something for us to gain and if and only if it is convenient.

This, of course, explains why most of our leaders pray for us simply because it is their job to do so and not also because we are continually inspiring them to pray for us. It also explains why we are having fewer and fewer servant leaders in the church. Most of our leaders have not learnt how to genuinely and willingly serve others. How, then, can they teach others to do so? So, they have to resort to the use of money, force or manipulation to get people to do their bidding. And that is how many of them have ended up surrounding themselves with people who are only loyal to themselves and their bellies and not love servants.

Now my prayer is that you will not wake up one day to find out that all the people around you are loyal only to themselves and not at all to you. I also pray that God will provide you with true and willing helpers in your life, helpers who will continually seek to make your life and work easier and more productive. But you too should learn to sow the seed of true help and assistance into the lives of the leaders in your life, both in the church and outside the church. And their heartfelt prayers will water that seed, so that it will bear a great harvest of helpers for you someday.

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General Post

Keep an eye on them | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: February 12, 2023 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 11, No. 41

Beloved: grace and peace be multiplied to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to another week of the month of February 2023. I pray that God Himself will keep you pure and blameless, spirit, soul and body, at the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

As we see in the Scriptures, our Lord Jesus Christ is coming back for His church at the time set by God the Father. But He is not coming for a defiled or polluted church. Rather, He is coming for a church that is blameless, spotless and without wrinkle. All of this is why we are told by Peter to make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him when He returns. (Cf. Eph 5:26; 2Pet 3:14)

But can we really be spotless, blameless and unashamed before Him when He returns? Yes, we can. We can because the Spirit of God is in us and is faithfully committed to making sure this is so. Yes, He is working all the time to ensure that the good work that He began in us when we became born again is carried on till the day of the Lord. So, our being blameless when our Lord returns is not going to be merely a product of our desire or effort but a product of the labour of the Spirit of God in us and over us. (Cf. Phil 1:6 & 2:12-13)

Nevertheless, we must still desire to be blameless when He returns. Not only that, we must also be taking advantage of His grace to live the kind of life He wants us to live. Otherwise, we may end up frustrating all that He is doing to keep us blameless.

Furthermore, it is important that we keep an eye on one another, so that Satan will not succeed in luring any of us away to destroy his faith and life. The bible says the following to us on this note:

“See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” (Heb 3:12NIV)

“See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.” (Heb 12:15-17NIV)

Did you see that? If we all will remain pure and blameless when our Lord Jesus returns, we must keep an eye on ourselves. That way, we can take bold steps to correct, rebuke and protect our brethren, if we sense that Satan is working to ensnare them through jealousy, greed, bitterness, rebellion, discontentment, fornication or any other sinful act.

For instance, when members of Chole’s family of the Corinthian church saw that carnality had taken over that church, they lost not time at all in informing Paul the Apostle, their spiritual leader, about it. They could see that division, jealousy, pride, sexual immorality, cheating and lack of consideration for the faith of young believers were tearing apart this church. So, they wrote to this apostle about it and asked for his timely intervention. That was why he wrote 1Corinthians. So, that letter was an answer to the cry and prayer of certain brethren who wanted to see the church of God remain pure and blameless at Jesus’ return. (Cf. 1Cor 1:11-12)

Unfortunately, when some brethren do similar things today, when they begin to make effort to keep their assembly sanctified unto the Lord, other brethren may start calling them names and quarrelling with them. Why? They are still in love with darkness. So, they don’t want its works to be exposed or dealt with. And if we permit such people to silence and supress the truth in our midst, we will only be helping them to destroy themselves and others and to also tarnish God’s reputation.

Therefore, if you care at all about our being blameless before Jesus when He returns, keep an eye not just on yourself but also on your brethren. And if you see them missing it in any way, don’t hesitate to confront them or those who can help them with the truth, whether they are happy about it or not. But, one day, they will either thank you for doing the needful in saving them or blame themselves for rejecting the will of God for their lives.

Have a great week.

Copyright © 2023, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministry.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Domestic oppression |By: J.O. Lawal | FIRE IN MY BONES

fire in my bones
fire in my bones
Date: February 08, 2023 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 5, No. 39

“Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers. Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.” Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.” Still others were saying, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.” When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry.” (Neh 5:1-6NIV)

As we see in the book of Nehemiah, in order for the Jewish exiles that had returned to Jerusalem to be rid of the harassment and disgrace they were facing from the hostile gentiles surrounding them, Nehemiah had to leave his comfort zone as King Artaxerxes’s cupbearer and come home to help them. Was it easy for him to get this king’s permission to do this? No! He really could have lost his life in the process of seeking it. But because he had first sought the Lord’s face and favour before approaching the man, his request was miraculously granted. (Cf. Neh 1-2)

Now when he eventually came and began to labour for the welfare of his people, he thought it was only the oppression they were faced with from outside that he had to deal with; he did not know that he would have to handle domestic oppression as well. But it was not long after he had successfully dealt with the external forces contending with the welfare of his people that he realised that the people he was working hard to save were equally oppressing one another.

Remember that Moses also had a similar experience. He had, on one occasion, killed an Egyptian in his attempt to save one of his own. But to his surprise, it was not only the Egyptians that were oppressing his people. They themselves were oppressing themselves. And when he tried to point this out to one of them, he ended up having to run for his life for the next forty years. (Cf. Ex 2:11-15)

In any case, as we see in our opening text, Nehemiah was really angry when he realised that while he was labouring hard to help his people get established in the land, there were still among them those who were using their positions of advantage to oppress others. And he had to call their nobles and officials into a meeting and bound them with oaths and curses in order to solve the problem. Otherwise, all his labour to comfort the people and give them rest would have come to nothing because of the domestic oppression going on among them. (Cf. Neh 5:6-13)

Similarly, in Nigeria today, there is much distress everywhere for the citizenry. And is this because our leaders are so cruel and unfeeling? No! Yes, we cannot run away from the fact that many of our leaders have not done well at all in caring for the people. But the truth also is that much of the distress we are now experiencing is not a direct consequence of their ineptitude but that of the domestic oppression we too are subjecting ourselves to.

For example, can we in all honesty say that our leaders are totally to blame for the outrageous increase in fuel prices that we are now seeing? No! That is an offspring of domestic oppression. Or can we in all sincerity put all the blame for the scarcity of the new naira notes that we are seeing on our leaders? No! That is also a product of domestic oppression emanating from many of our commercial banks and POS operators. Or can we say that our leaders are totally to blame for the daylight robbery of many Nigerians by those in the power sector? No! That is equally a product of domestic oppression.

Yes, our economy has been badly managed by our leaders for many years. And no one, as I pointed out before, can excuse them from taking responsibility for that. But we are the ones making this economy daily worse through our greed. Our greed is the force driving us to use the poor leadership in the country as an excuse for pursuing unjust profit in every possible way. So, our pains and miseries are mostly self-inflicted and our oppression largely domestic.

If we, then, are going to witness any relief soon, we all must choose to end every form of domestic oppression we are perpetuating or sponsoring in our offices, business centers, neighbourhoods, schools and even religious assemblies. Remember that, right now, we don’t have any Nehemiah that will compel us to do what is right. So, if we don’t begin to do what is right as a matter of urgency, it may not be long before our beloved country is totally colonised again by foreigners.

Now this sort of colonisation, of course, is not going to be territorial, as it was before we gained independence. Rather, it is going to be an economic thing. In other words, our economic independence will totally be taken away from us and we will be nothing but economic slaves of some other nations. My prayer is that things will not degenerate to that level before we all come back to our senses or before God sends a Nehemiah to us to redeem our honour. Amen.

Copyright © 2023, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2023 Pastor's Desk

How to be preserved | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: February 05, 2023 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 11, No. 40

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to the month of February 2023. And I pray that God will protect you from all the evils of these last days that are ruining people’s faith and lives. Amen.

I offered that prayer to God for you because I know that it is His desire to preserve all of us that are His children from all the corruption and evils of these last days. In fact, the bible tells us that we can trust Him to preserve us because He is a faithful God (1Thess 5:23-24). But it is one thing for God to be committed to preserving our lives and faith; it is another thing for us to place ourselves where He can do so. If you do not position yourself where God can preserve your life and faith, you will not be safe. And that is not a curse. It is the reality.

How do you position yourself where God can preserve you from the corruption of these last days? It is by yielding yourself to the word of His truth, whether it is pleasant for you to accept or not. Paul, writing to Timothy in a letter, says this:

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2Tim 4:1-4NIV)

What does Paul tell Timothy to do in this text? First, he tells him to preach the word of God, not his ideas, the popular opinions of men, community stories or traditions. Second, he tells him to be ready to correct, rebuke and encourage the people of God, whether it is convenient for him or not. But is Timothy not supposed to be aware of these things already, since he is a pastor of pastors? He is supposed to be aware of them already.

Why, then, does he need someone to charge him to give himself to doing them? As we see in the text, it is because a time is coming (and that time is now here) when many so-called believers in Christ Jesus will not put up with sound doctrine but will look for those who will tell them what their itching ears want to hear. Paul, in fact, goes on to say that these people will turn their ears away from the truth in order to listen to myths and lies. And when this happens, there is every tendency that Timothy may feel that he is the one that is being too harsh and so want to change his sermons to suit them. So, Paul warns him before God and before Jesus Christ not to do so. Otherwise, he will ruin his ministry and lose his reward.

In like manner, many in the church today do not want to put up with the truth again, that is, if they have ever put up with it. That is why they keep going from one assembly to another assembly and never really settling down anywhere. They prefer leaders like Aaron who will give them whatever they want, even if it is an idol of gold, to leaders that will confront them with the truth about their lives and the will of God for them. (Cf. Exodus 32)

Now the truth is that such people cannot be preserved by God from being polluted or from being misled and destroyed by the devil. And if you don’t want to end up like them, if you want God to keep you safe and sound in the faith in these last days, you had better yield yourself to sound doctrine and spiritual discipline instead of looking for those who will pamper you until you are utterly destroyed. And know this: there are still some of us that will never change our sermons to suit you. Yes, there are still some of us that will never give you any golden calf to worship, regardless of what you say about us or think of us. That is because we are not answerable to you but to God who sent us. And may God grant you a heart that is ever humble to receive His word of truth without disputing. Amen.

Have a great February 2023.

Copyright © 2023, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministry.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Would He make a garment of skin for you too?| By: J.O. Lawal|FIRE IN MY BONES

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: February 01, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus| Number: Vol. 5, No. 38

“I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.” (1Tim 2:9-10NIV)

The day we live in is one in which indecency and inappropriate dressing are now the order of the day. Yes, it is a day in which women, including some elderly ones, no longer see anything wrong with dressing like prostitutes or walking around almost naked.

Unfortunately, even our women in the church are not left out of this societal menace. Many of them are vitally contributing to it. And this is evident in the kinds of dresses they wear to our church meetings. No, they may not come for church meetings half-naked. But they will make sure they wear something that reveals enough of certain parts of their bodies, so that they could get someone’s attention. It is no wonder, then, that rape cases are daily multiplying at a very alarming rate in our country, just as cases of consensual sex among unmarried people are just too much to talk about.

But from what we see in our opening bible text, God’s people, God’s women, old or young, ought to be different in the way they dress and comport themselves. Is it that God does not want them to look beautiful and elegant when they dress? No! He wants His daughters to look beautiful and elegant wherever they appear. Otherwise, He would not create them to be beautiful.

Look, for example, at what the bible says about the daughters of Job that were later born to him: “The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.” (Job 42:14-15NIV) Who gave Job these extremely beautiful daughters? God! So, beauty, any degree of it, is a gift from God. And no should condemn or despise it.

Unfortunately, there are preachers who have mistaken what Paul says in this text to mean that God’s women are not to dress well or beautiful themselves at all, especially with articles of gold or silver. So, they condemn any woman who appears beautiful, without making any effort to find out what quality of life the person is living. But these same people may not see anything wrong with their own women braiding their hair or using bags or shoes with gold or silver plates. And that shows that they are ignorant of what this Scripture means.

I remember, for instance, how a so-called prophet once told a brother of mine that the Spirit of God wanted him to be careful of light complexioned ladies. Why? He had earlier that day seen him with a light complexioned lady. But did he know who she was to him? No! If he had, he would not have said that the Spirit of God told him what He obviously did not tell him.

In any case, what the Scripture we have above is telling us, first, is that God’s daughters are never to take their dressing or physical outlook more seriously than their conduct. So, we should not say that you, as a lady, are beautiful simply because of your hair-do, use of jewelleries and cost of wears but because you are a woman that is also rich in good deeds and character. In other words, if you are not rich in character, your physical beauty may as well be as good as worthless.

Second, this Scripture is telling us that when you dress, demonstrate decency. Cover what is meant to be covered and protect what should be protected. Yes, God has made you beautiful. But He does not want you to get outrageous in handling it. Or else you might soon turn yourself into a tool of seduction in the hand of the devil or open the door of your life for ungodly people or criminals to begin to desire you.

Remember that when the first man and the first women fell and the glory of God that was covering them left, the first thing they did was to cover their nakedness with garments of leaves. And when God came and met them in that condition, what did He do? He made garments of skin for them. Why? He could see that they were not adequately covered, even though it was just the two of them. (Cf. Gen 3)

Now if God should physically appear to you too today, what do you think He would do or say about your dressing? Would He freely settle down to relate to you or would He want to make a garment of skin for you to cover your nakedness? I am sure you know the answer. Therefore, what is acceptable to God is what you should always wear, whether you are a woman or a man and not what many of these movie, music or sport stars are leading you to wear. Otherwise, one might begin to wonder whether you are a child of God at all.