Author: Pastor J.O. Lawal

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From Pastor's Desk 2025 FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: A ready faith

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 6.

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to the second week of the month of June 2025. And I pray that your heart will always be made ready to receive from God whatever good thing He wants you to have. Amen.

As we see in the bible, no one can receive anything good in this life, if God has not provided that thing. That means we can only receive what God has given or provided. If He, then, has not provided something, no one, regardless of how great his faith may be, can receive it. (Cf. John 3:27)

But then, even if God has provided something for us, we too must want to have it. Otherwise, that thing may never be ours, unless we are shown mercy. For example, as we see in the bible, the family of Zechariah and Elizabeth were childless for many years, even though they were righteous before God. That, of course, did not make them turn to some other gods for help. Instead, they kept on praying to God to show them mercy and take away their disgrace. (Cf. Luke 1:5-7)

Now how did I know that they were praying to God to take away the shame of barrenness from their home? I know because, as we also see in the bible, when God sent angel Gabriel to give the good news of His answer to their prayer to them, the first thing he told Zechariah was, “Your prayer has been heard.” So, if we will not faint in praying to God, we will surely receive an answer to our prayer, as long as it is in line with His will. Yes, the answer may take a while to get to us. But it will surely come. (Cf. Luke 1:13)

However, will God’s answers to our prayers always meet us ready? Are we going to be ready to receive from Him what He wants us to have, which we too may have been praying and longing for, when the thing is eventually brought to us? Zechariah was not ready to receive from God the child he had been praying for years for, when God eventually cleared the way for the child to come to his family. He could not believe that God was really going to give them a child in their old age. (Cf. Luke 1:11-20)

Why, then, was he praying to God all those years for a child? He was probably doing so to fulfil all righteousness. And if God had not been merciful to him, in spite of his unbelief, he would have been the reason his wife would remain childless for life.

So, it is not enough to be praying to God to give us something. Our hearts also must always be ready to receive from Him what we are praying for, regardless of how long it takes for the answer to come to us and regardless of how impossible it may seem for the answer to come to us. Otherwise, our prayer for that thing may end up being a waste.Not only that, we must continually give ourselves to the word of God, so that our faith will be strengthened to always be ready to receive from Him.

Mary the mother Jesus, for instance, never prayed to God to become the mother of the saviour of the world. She probably never considered nor took to seriously the Scripture that talks about a virgin that would conceive and give birth to the saviour. But when angel Gabriel came to tell her that she had been chosen by God to be the mother of the saviour, her faith was ready to accept what God had chosen her for. So, she said, “May your word to me be fulfilled.” And it was so. (Cf. Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:36)

In like manner, if our faith is always ready to receive from God, whatever He wants us to have will be ours, even if we have never prayed for it. So, let us learn to daily feed ourselves with His word, so that we may always have a ready faith to receive from Him. And may you and I be strengthened to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a great week.

Copyright © 2025, 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: 08146472876)

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MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTS Message Transcripts 2025

Title: Prayer

Series: See to it

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I want to continue sharing with you on ‘See to it’. We have been looking at the instructions given to us in Hebrews, chapters 3 and 12 on seeing to it that none of us develops a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. That means it is our duty, individually and collectively, to watch over one another and see to it that we do not go astray. And that has led us to looking at various things we must pay attention to, while attempting to watch over one another.

Now the last thing I want to bring to us on this has to do with praying for one another. See, it does not matter how diligent we are in watching over one another, in counselling one another and in following up one another, so that we do not fall away from the grace of God, without supporting ourselves with prayer, we may still find some or even many among us falling away. This is why we have Scriptures in which we are given instructions about praying for one another in order to remaining in the faith.

For instance, Paul says this in Ephesians, chapter 6, from verse 18:“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” (Ephesians 6:18NIV)

First, our instruction here is to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Then we are told to be vigilant and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. So, we have an instruction here, which is to always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Observe that we are not told in this bible text to always keep on praying for ourselves. Of course, we are to keep on praying for ourselves. But our instruction here is to always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Now, as a person, I take that very seriously. I pray for all the Lord’s people. I do not need to know all the Lord’s people that are here on earth. But I can pray for them based on the regions of the world in which they are living, based on their sex, based on age, based on their professions and so for. And think about this: since are told to pray for all the Lord’s people, we will not be expected to do anything less in praying for those that we are together in our local assemblies. So, we must be praying for all those that we are together in our local assemblies.

Remember that this is God’s command to us. If you, then, have not been praying for members of your assembly and for all the Lord’s people, you are sinning against Him – you are disobeying a clear command from Him. This is not a suggestion to us. This is a command from Him to us. So, we must take obeying it very seriously.

What sort of prayers, then, are we to be offering for our brethren and all the people of the Lord? We are to be offering for them all kinds of prayers. Any kind of prayer that is good for you is good for all the Lord’s people. Any kind of prayer that is good for you is good for your brethren as well. So, do not tell me that you do not know what sort of prayers you are to be offering for your brethren. That is because you can offer for them whatever prayer you offer for yourself.

However, for the purpose of these teachings, we are being specific about the sort of prayer we are to be offering for our brethren. We are considering prayers that will enable them to remain true to God and not fall away from the faith, irrespective of the trials of life that they may be confronted.

For example, in Colossians, chapter 4, from verse 12, Paul says this about a ministry companion of his and his devotion to praying for the brethren in Colossae:“Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.” (Colossians 4:12-13NIV)

This is a very good example of what God expects us to be doing for our brethren, where it concerns prayer. Paul says, “Epaphras, who is one of you…” So, this man was a member of that church. In fact, in chapter 1 of this letter, Paul makes it clear to us that it was this man that God used in starting the church in Colossae. He was the one that preached to be people there and led them to the Lord Jesus Christ. That was how a church started there.

Now Paul, at the time that he wrote this letter, wanted the brethren to know that this man, Epaphras, was devoted to praying for them, even though he was not with them at the time. Paul refers to what he was doing for these brethren as hard work. So, prayer is hard work. If you have been devoted to prayer, you will know that it is hard work. I know that it is hard work.Well, Epaphras was devoted to praying for the brethren in Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis. And he was praying like these for all these brethren because he identified with them – he was one of them. If you too identify with your brethren, if you take them as your family, you will be devoted to praying for them. Yes, all of us have a duty to pray for all the Lord’s people around the world.

But more importantly, we have a duty to be praying for the brethren that we are directly fellowshipping together. Epaphras saw it as his duty to be praying for the Colossian-brethren. And he was very devoted to it. In fact, Paul refers to his approach in praying for them as a wrestle. He says he is wrestling in prayer for them. Why? The reason is that they may stand firm in the will of God, mature and fully assured. Think about that. This man wants these brethren to stand firm in all the will of God, regardless of what they are confronted with in life.People are confronted with all kind of trials and challenges in life.

All of us are confronted with all kinds of trials and challenges of life. And we may not be able to share everything that is coming our way. But if we have someone that is praying for us that we may stand firm in all the will of God, we may not be able to tell to what extent that will help us.There are Christians today that are fighting for their souls in their offices, schools, neighbourhoods and so forth. That is because they are probably living in Sodom and are being tormented everyday by the evil of those around them. And now their faith is shaking and they need our spiritual support.

Unfortunately, many of us are too self-occupied. Because we are self-occupied, we don’t even spend time praying for ourselves, not to talk of praying for others. But your brother may urgently need your prayer. That sister of yours may urgently need your prayer. And God is counting on you to pray for them. So, if a brother or a sister should fall because of your negligence in praying for them, God is going to hold you accountable.

This, of course, is one of the reasons our Lord Jesus says that many who are first will be last. See, many that we are looking up to in the church as pillars may not after all be what we think they are, when we stand before the Lord. And that may be because they have been negligent in handling their duties in various areas. We too may have been negligent in handling our duties in various ways. And one of those areas in which many of us are negligent in our spiritual duties is that of praying for our brethren. (Cf. Matthew 19:30; Mark 10:31)

Now we think it is the so-called prayer warriors that should be praying for all of us. But from what we see in Ephesians 6:18, the duty of prayer is not reserved for any group or class of people in the church; it is for all of us. Yes, our leaders must be at the fore in prayer matters, as the apostles of old said. The apostles of old said that the leaders must give themselves to the ministry of the word of God and prayer. That means they must always take the lead in prayer matters, especially praying for their brethren. (Cf. Acts 6:3)

Nonetheless, every one of us must give himself to prayer. Jesus says, “People ought to always pray and not give up.” He does not say, “Pastors or preachers ought to always pray and not give up.” And in Ephesians 6:18, as I pointed out already, Paul says, “Always pray for all the Lord’s people.” This instruction is given to all members of the body of Christ, not to our leaders alone. And all of us must take it seriously.

Well, my point is that all of us need one another’s prayer support. That is because none of us is exempted from life’s challenges. Even our Lord Jesus Christ was not exempted from life’s challenges. So, towards the end of His life here on earth He had to give Himself to earnest praying.

Why did He have to do that? It was because He was confronted with a situation in which He needed all the grace of God that He could get to walk in victory.Now the Lord, at that time, did take some of His disciples along with Him to pray. But they could not give Him any prayer support. He had told them to pray for themselves. But they would not do so. How, then, could they give Him any prayer support? He Himself knew that He could not expect any prayer support from them.

If they had supported Him with their prayers in that situation, who knows how that may have made His cross easier to carry? But He could not rely on them for any prayer support. And you too may not be able to rely on anyone around you for prayer support. But it is the duty of each of us to be praying for one another, so that we all will stand firm in all the will of God for our lives, mature and fully assured.

Do we really want to stand firm in all the will of God? Do we want to come to maturing in the things of God? Do we want full assurance of faith in our hearts? Then we must be praying for one another. I must be praying for you. You too must be praying for me. A lot of times, we are quick judge brethren who fall short of the grace of God. But did we take our prayer duty to them very seriously? How much time did we spend in praying for those who fell among us before they fell? If we had been praying for them, they probably would not have fallen the way they did. So, don’t be quick to judge anybody.

Yes, you may see Christians that have turned away from God and are living useless and irresponsible lives. But have you been praying for them, praying for all the Lord’s people, that they may stand firm in all the will of God, regardless of the temptations or challenges or even opportunities they may come in contact with? Have you been praying for them, regardless of the persecutions and hostility they are faced with, regardless of the torment of their souls?There are Christians that are living on the edge, where they are continually exposed to danger or death because of their faith.

And some of these people may become tired or weary because of the intensity of what they are going through. If care is not taken, they may fall away or slip back into their former way of life. There have been those who slipped back into their former religions because the hostility they faced, having become Christians, was too much for them to handle.Therefore, we must learn to pray for one another. And we see a clear example of this in the text I shared with us from Colossians 4 about Epaphras and his devotion to praying for the people of God.

We too must be given to praying for our brethren like that, so that they may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. Furthermore, the Lord gives us some other specific prayers we are to be offering for ourselves and for our brethren. Look at how Luke puts it:“Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:36NIV)

First, we are told by the Lord here to always be on the watch. In other words, we must not allow ourselves to get carried away by the things happening around us. Then He goes on to command us to pray. About what? He tells us to pray that we may be able to escape all that is about to happen and that we may be able to stand before the Son of Man.

See, in these last days, wickedness will increase, as we are warned by the Lord Jesus Christ. And these will cause the love of many people to grow cold. So, because of the things we are going to be exposed to in our world, because of the intensity of wickedness that we are going to be exposed to wherever we turn, our faith will put to the utmost test. And the only way for us to escape is for God Himself to save us. Our salvation from the corruption and evils of these last days is beyond our desire or effort. We need all the mercy of God we can get to be saved. So, we are told to pray to Him that we may be able to escape all that will be happening in these last days and that we will be able to stand blameless when our Lord Jesus returns. (Cf. Matthew 24:12; Romans 9:16)

I personally take the offering of this prayer very seriously. I offer it for myself. I offer it for my family. I offer it for all of you here in this assembly. And I offer it for all God’s people. You too should be offering it for yourself and for all the people of God. Well, you can see that we have sufficient instructions in Scriptures on what sort of prayers to offer for ourselves so that we do not fall away but stand firm in all the will of God. So, you cannot claim to be ignorant in this matter.

Yes, we are to be involved in one another’s life, so that we will know how to properly guide, support and counsel ourselves. But all of that may go to waste, if we will not be devoted to praying for one another. You may have been in situations in which you counselled certain people of God and your counsel fell on deaf ears. Yes, you knew that they were going in a wrong direction. You knew that they would ultimately hurt themselves, if they continued in the path they were following.

Yet you could not get them to see the light through your counsel. Now what do we do in such situations? Do we put more and more pressure on such individuals to do what is right? No! We cannot help people beyond what they permit. But we can pray for them. We can take charge of their souls in the realm of the spirit by offering prayers for them.In Luke, chapter 22, from verse 31, he tells us this about the prayer of Jesus for His disciples:“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32NIV)

Jesus, here, is telling His disciples that Satan has already asked to sift all of them as wheat, that is, to mess them up. Think about that. Just as Satan got permission to mess Job up, he also got permission from God to mess up the Lord’s disciples. And what did Jesus do when He learnt of this? He prayed for them. Yes, He had been feeding them with the word of God. But He also knew that feeding them with the word of God would not be sufficient on that occasion – they would need the mercy of God to escape.

So, He prayed for them that their faith may not fail. We too can offer this prayer for ourselves, prayer that our faith will not fail, regardless of what Satan may throw at us. In fact, we should be offering it for ourselves and for all our brethren. We may not know what sort of permission Satan has obtained against our brethren, to pull them down in their neighbourhoods, workplaces, schools, marriages or even Christian assemblies. And there are times that God may reveal such things to us, as He did in the case of the Lord’s disciples.

But whether He reveals Satan’s schemes against our brethren to us or not, we must be praying for our brethren that their faith may not fail.What I mean is that we do not need to wait for any divine revelation before we begin to pray for our brethren. We have already been told in the Scriptures to be doing so. So, we are to take it upon ourselves to pray for our brethren that their faith will not fail, regardless of where they are and what Satan may be doing to pull them down.Now praying like this for our brethren does not mean that they may not stumble or fall at all. They may still stumble or fall, even though we are praying for them. Jesus prayed for His disciples that their faith may not fail. Yet they all ran away from Him when He was arrested and taken away to be crucified. But because He had prayed for them, God was able to restore them. So, there are times that our prayers may not keep our brethren from falling.

But our prayers may assure their restoration. Let us, then, learn to pray for one another, so that none of us will develop a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God or fall short of His grace. My prayer is that the Spirit of God will daily strengthen us to take these instructions very seriously. Amen.

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Fire in my Bones General Post Youth for Jesus

Title: Should you help the wicked?

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 5

“When Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem, Jehu the seer, the son of Hanani, went out to meet him and said to the king, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, the wrath of the Lord is on you.” (2Chronicles 19:1-2)

Why was the wrath of God on King Jehoshaphat? It was because he helped a wicked man. And who was the wicked man that he helped? It was King Ahab.

According to the story, Ahab once invited Jehoshaphat to join him in fighting against the Arameans over a place called Ramoth Gilead. He did that because Jehoshaphat had visited him. And why did Jehoshaphat visit him? He visited him because he was his in-law. (Cf. 1Kings 22:1-4; 2Chro 18:1-3)

Now is anything wrong with visiting our in-laws? No! On the contrary, it is something that is expected of us, if we take our relationship with them seriously and want it to continue to blossom. So, it was not wrong of Jehoshaphat to visit Ahab as his in-law.But then, Ahab was a wicked man. And it happened that the time Jehoshaphat visited him was the time God had set to judge and kill him.

Yet, in His mercy, He revealed through one of His prophets, Micaiah, to these kings that he had decreed death for Ahab. So, all that Ahab needed to do at that time to escape God’s judgment on his life was to respect and obey the divine revelation he was given. But he would not do that because he was wicked and did not have much regard for the Lord. Instead, he would go on with his plan of going to war against the Arameans, especially since he had the support of his false prophets. (Cf. 1Kings 22:5-28; 2Chro 18:4-27)

Unfortunately, even though Jehoshaphat could see that his in-law was godless and also disobeying a divine revelation, he still joined him in going to war against the Arameans. And if God had not shown him mercy, he would have perished along with Ahab on the battle field. But God showed him mercy and saved him. (Cf. 1Kings 22:29-38; 2Chro 18:28-36)

However, when he came back to his own country, God sent a messenger to him to ask him if it was right to help the wicked or to team up with those who hate the Lord? And did he answer this question or not? We are not told in the account. But we are told that he did not learn much from what had happened to him. That was because he still later made an alliance with Ahaziah, the son of Ahab. He agreed with him to construct a fleet of trading ships. And God’s wrath manifested against him, as he had been told before, and those ships were destroyed. So, he lost his huge investment on them. What a shame! (Cf. 2Chro 20:35-37)

Now why was Jehoshaphat being continually dragged into such messy situations? Why was he continually being exposed to God’s wrath, even though he was a godly man? The reason was his marriage ties with the house of Ahab. If he had not been in marriage ties with that family, he would not have found himself helping them to promote their wickedness and so exposing himself to all kinds of danger.

So, if we don’t want to find ourselves helping the wrong people, we need to watch what sort of relationships we get ourselves into. Yes, we may love God and be truly devoted to Him. But as long as we are in certain work, family or neighbourhood relationships, we may find ourselves helping those with us to promote things contrary to the will of God. And that will surely expose us to God’s judgment or satanic afflictions.What, then, do we do, if we are already in legitimate relationships that keep exposing us to God’s wrath or satanic afflictions?

First, we need to continually pray that God, in His mercy, will do the needful about such relationships for us to have peace of mind over them. Second, we must make up our minds never again to help those with us in those relationships to do anything contrary to the will of God. And will that be easy? It may not be easy at all. But it will be easier and better than unduly exposing ourselves to God’s wrath or satanic afflictions.

So, mind yourself.

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From Pastor's Desk 2025 FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: Slow to learn

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 5

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great delight that I welcome you to the sixth month of this year, the month of June 2025. I pray that God will strengthen you every day of the month to make the most of His grace in growing to be all that He wants you to be. Amen.

In the book of Hebrews, the writer tells us that it is possible for our spiritual growth to be arrested. And one of the things that can make that happen is an unwillingness on our part to make effort towards learning the truth of God, understanding it and also applying it to our lives.

Look at how he puts this:“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!” (Heb 5:11-12NIV)

Did you see that? This man of God had a lot of things to share with the brethren who first received this letter about the life of faith in Christ Jesus. But it was hard for him to do so. Why? The reason, according to him, was that they were slow to learn. That, of course, does not mean that they did not have the capacity to learn and understand what they were being taught. Rather, it means that they were lazy about learning. In other words, they were not making any serious effort to understand and begin to put to work the things they were learning.

Therefore, as the man of God goes on to say in the bible text, when these people ought to be teachers already, when they ought to be taking responsibility for other new believers, they themselves still needed someone to be teaching them all over again the basic truths of God’s word. When they ought to be spiritual adults that could be entrusted with spiritual babies, they still wanted themselves to be treated as babies. Now think of how frustrating that must have been for this man of God and other leaders of these brethren. Yes, think of the kind of discouragement it must have brought to their hearts.

Unfortunately, even today, we still have many of God’s people that are lazy to learn spiritual truths and apply them. These ones are making their leaders in the church to teach the same things again and again. They are making them to correct them again and again about the way they are living their lives in bitterness, in hatred, in selfishness, in lust, in pride, in greed, in jealousy and in lack of zeal for God. Therefore, they are slowing down the ministry of their leaders and of their Christian assemblies, making it difficult for them to reach and bless more people for the Lord.

What, then, are church leaders to do to such people? How do leaders deal with those who are frustrating their effort in raising them in the will of God? Well, as the writer of the book of Hebrews tells us, at some point, they will have to stop treating these spiritually lazy believers as babies. Yes, they will have to start teaching them the things they do not want to learn and also stop treating them as spiritual babies, making them to do for themselves those things that they are reluctant to do. (Cf. Heb 6:1-3)

Now will that make such believers happy? No! In fact, it may make some of them stop coming for church meetings altogether. But whether it makes them happy or not, what has to be done has to be done for them to stop hindering the growth of their assemblies. So, if you have been a child of God for two years or more and have still refused to grow in your faith and become someone that your church leader can trust with responsibilities, you are slow to learn and spiritually lazy. And if you continue to be like that, slowing down your church leaders, they may soon begin to withdraw the attention they are giving you, so that you can stop being a spiritual baby. That, of course, will not be something pleasant for you.

So, wake up before it is too late and begin to pray to God to supply you with adequate zeal and strength to start making the most of His grace to grow spiritually. Otherwise, it will not be long at all before those who become born again after you become your teachers in the Lord.

Have a lovely June 2025.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Our attitude means a lot

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 3

“But the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place.”” (Judg 7:4-7NIV)

Who told Gideon that the men with him were too many? It was God. But how many were these men that God referred to as ‘too many’? They were just ten thousand. And these ten thousand men were supposed to go with Gideon in fighting the armies of the Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern people of the time, armies that the bible describes as ‘impossible to count’. Yet the Lord said of these ten thousand men, “There are still too many men.” (Cf. Judg 6:5)

Now that must have sounded ridiculous to Gideon. That was because, as we see in the account, he had just sent twenty-two thousand men home because God had said that he should do so. But God did not ask him to send those men home for no reason. He asked him to send them home because they were already trembling with fear. In fact, they themselves were willing to go home. So, they really could not have contributed much to the success of Gideon’s army, even if they had stayed. On the contrary, they would have been liabilities to him, making him to feed them for contributing nothing. (Cf. Judg 7:1-3)

But then, when this man was about getting ready to go to battle with the ten thousand men left with him, as ridiculous as doing so seemed, God spoke up again and said that the men with him were still too many. “What? God, are you really serious about this?” he must have said to himself. And God was indeed serious this time too. He was not telling him that the men with him were still too many just for the fun of it. He was telling him so because those men were actually too many for the job to be done. That means there were many among them that would add nothing to the success of his army – they were just numbers.

Well, to prove to Gideon that the ten thousand men with him were too many for the battle ahead of him, God told him to subject them to a test of attitude. Sadly, only three hundred of these men passed that test. Others failed. Why did they fail? They failed because they had no attitude or culture of vigilance.

As we see in our opening bible text, what God used in judging the fitness and readiness of these men of Gideon for battle was the way they drank water. Three hundred of them drank water with vigilance, with the consciousness that they were at the battle front and should be ready all the time for the attack of their enemies. But the remaining nine thousand and seven hundred men settled down at the stream to drink water as though nothing was at stake. So, God rejected them and asked Gideon to send them home. And he obeyed.

Now did this man of God regret sending those people home? No, he did not regret it at all. Instead, he went on to overcome all his enemies with the three hundred vigilant and serious-minded men with him. That, of course, means that he did not need more than those three hundred men for success in that battle. Any additional person to their number, then, would have been nothing but a liability, excess luggage.What is the point of all this, in any case? The first is that our trust must always be in God and not in number or population. Number can fail us. But God can never fail us.

Also, it is not every time that more people will equal more success. So, for every project we are handling, we should be certain that it is only those that will contribute immensely to its success that we bring in. Otherwise, we may find ourselves spending much more than necessary in accomplishing our desired results.

The second lesson from the account is that our attitude towards the things of life means a lot to God. The way we sit, stand, walk, sleep, eat, drink, talk, listen and even look at things matters to Him. And we too should let it matter to us. Otherwise, there are certain truths He may never reveal to us, just as there are certain assignments or positions of greatness that He may never consider us for.

So, when He, directly or through others, is drawing your attention to certain attitudes or habits you need to drop or change, you had better listen and act fast. Or else, you may be disqualified from being a part of the celebration of certain victories in this life and in God’s heavenly kingdom.

Categories
Single Message Series

Title: Boundaries to respect (b)

Series: See to it

We have been looking at certain instructions we are given in the book of Hebrews, chapters 3 and 12, on watching over one another. And we are looking at the things we need to pay attention to in order to carry out the instructions.

Let me show the instructions again, from Hebrews, chapter 3, verse 12:“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Hebrews 3:12-13NIV)Then, in chapter 12, from verse 15, we are told this:“See to it that no one falls short of 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. Even though he sought the blessing with tears he could not change what he had done.” (Hebrews 12:15-17NIV)Those are the instructions we are given in Scriptures about watching over one another. And I began to show you that there are boundaries we need to pay attention to, boundaries that we must not cross while trying to fulfil them. The first is that we cannot help people beyond what they want. We cannot fellowship with any believer beyond what they want.

So, we have to respect their privacy. And we have to respect their right to make certain decisions for themselves. Now we may not be okay with the decisions or choices our brethren make for themselves. But we must respect their right to make decisions for themselves. We must not try to run their lives for them. We must not try to take the place of God in their lives. We can counsel people. We can pray for people, something we will still talk about later. But we must respect their right to privacy.

And we must respect their right to make decisions for themselves.Well, the bottom line is that we can fellowship with people only to the degree that the permit us; we can only help them to the degree that they permit us. Otherwise, we may ruin our chances of helping them or destroy whatever opportunity that might have been created by God for us to help them. There is another side to all this. The first side we looked at has to do with recognizing the boundaries people have placed around them, so that we do not cross them while we are making effort to help them or to fulfil the word of God that tells us to watch over one another.

The other side of it has to do with watching ourselves while we are trying to watch over others. For instance, Paul told the Ephesians elders of the necessity of watching themselves, so that they would be able to do well in watching over the flock God had placed under their care. Look at how Luke puts this from verse 28 of Acts 20: “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28NIV)The first thing Paul says here is, “Keep watch over yourselves.” This, of course, would mean that the elders must keep watch over one another.

Also, it would mean that each of them must keep watch over himself. If we do not learn to keep watch over ourselves, we will not be able to keep watch over others. We cannot give what we do not have.He says something similar to Timothy in his first letter to him. He says:“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1Timonthy 4:16NIV)What is his instruction to Timothy here? It is that he must watch his life and his doctrine closely. First, he has to watch his life and pay attention to it. He has to pay attention to what is going on in his relationships.

Then he must pay attention to his doctrine and see to it that it is in line with the will of God. And Paul says that as he does this, he will be able to save both himself and his hearers. Thus, Timothy has to be able to save himself first before he will be able to save others. In like manner, I must be able to save myself first, if I will be able to save others. This, of course, does not mean that I have the power to save myself. I do not. Only God can save us. And if we do not count on Him for our salvation, we will not be saved at all.

But it is important for me to take my own salvation more seriously than the salvation of any other person I may be relating to or may want to help, as far as spiritual matters are concerned. It is when I am able to keep myself safe by taking advantage of the grace of God that I will be able to keep others as well safe through His grace.What we are saying, then, is that it is important that in making effort to watch over one another, we do not lose our own souls or other beautiful relationships we have.

Yes, it is important that in trying to help others we do not become a part of the problem we are trying to prevent or solve. Look at what Paul says along these lines in Galatians, chapter 6, verse 1:“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.” (NIV) Did you pay attention to that? If someone is caught in a sin, those who live by the Spirit, that is, those who are spiritual, should restore the person gently.

Now remember that we have a duty to prevent any of us from being caught in any sin. That is, in fact, what we have been dealing with all along. But sometimes, for various reasons, people may be caught in a sin. I mean that regardless of what we do for our brethren in watching over them and praying for them, some may still be caught in a sin.Jesus prayed for Peter and the rest of the apostles. Yet that did not stop them from falling away for a while. But because He had prayed for them, God was able to restore them.

So, we are told here that if any of us is caught in a sin, we are to restore them. How are we to restore them? We are to restore them gently. Then, while we are restoring the person, we are told to watch ourselves. Otherwise, we too may be tempted. In other words, we too can fall where the person has fallen. We can, in fact, fall into the same sin that the person has fallen into. So, in trying to help one another, we should not do so with a mindset that we are better than the person we are trying to help or that we know much better than the person or that we cannot make the mistakes they have made.

We can make the very same mistakes they have made. We can err where they have erred. In fact, we may even do worse than they have done, if we will not watch ourselves.So, we need to pay attention to our lives, as we are seeking to watch over other believers. And this is why we too must recognize those boundaries that we must not cross in our lives while we are trying to help others. We must know the degree to which we can help others. We must know where we can help them and where we cannot help them. We must not know how we can help them and how we cannot help them. And we must know the extent to which we can help them in their walk of faith.

All this is important because there are people whose hearts are not right. And because their hearts are not right, it does not matter what form of spiritual help we are offering them, it will not work. Such people really do not want our help. They may give us the impression that they want our help. They may give us the impression that they are interested in the things we are doing for them or with them. They may give us the impression that they are excited to have us share the word of God with them, pray with them and counsel them. They may give us the impression that they too want to grow in the things of God.

But their hearts are full of dirt. And unless the Spirit of God reveals to us what is in their hearts, we will not know it. However, if we will follow the word of God in relating to everyone, we will be able to keep ourselves safe from those who may want to injure or corrupt us while we are seeking to watch over their souls.For example, we are told of Simon the sorcerer in the bible. He claimed to have become born again like other people in his city and began to follow Philip up and down. In fact, this man must have joined Philip in praying for others, in following up the brethren and in doing other things pertaining to ministering to God’s people. He must also have sat down like others in listening to Philip teach the word of God. He may even have been asking questions like others to know the truths of the Christian faith.

In short, Simon showed himself to be genuinely interested in what Philip was doing for the spiritual health of the people in that Samaritan city. (Cf. Acts 8:5-24)However, when Peter and John came to the place, the evil in his heart was revealed. It was brought out in the open that what he had wanted all along was popularity. He had been a very popular person in the place until Philip came and started preaching Jesus and doing all kinds of miracles. So, his popularity vanished and nobody paid attention to him again.

Now this man wanted his popularity back. He wanted people to be coming to him or running to him, as they used to. And he felt that he could used the power of God to do that. So, he offered the apostles money for the gift of God. You can see, then, that his heart was not right. Because his heart was not right, all that he was doing was a lie. And because those he was relating to were spiritual, they could detect the evil in him and put him where he belonged.In like manner, we have people like Simon in the church today whose hearts are not right. Their intentions are not right.

So, it does not matter how much spiritual help you are trying to offer them, it can only be a waste. I remember a brother that we used to attend a particular Christian assembly together. He initially showed himself as one that wanted to know God and live for him. But his heart was not right. He was, in fact, a very terrible liar. Most of the things he told us about himself was a lie. In fact, his name too may have been a lie. But I did not bother to check that out.

Why, in any case, was this young man in the church? What was he after? Well, he wanted the money of the church. He also wanted to prey on the unsuspecting sisters in the church, so that he could rip them of their money and also mess them up sexually. So, he was greedy, immoral, deceitful and even violent. But God exposed him. God exposed him because we were relating to him in love. And at some point, his sins found him out. So, we do have individuals like such in the church. That is why we have to be very careful in relating to other brethren, so that we do not become a part of the problem we are seeking to prevent or solve.

Paul, speaking to Timothy in his second letter, speaks of certain individuals who are ever learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth (2Timothy 3:6-7). Why? The reason was that their hearts are not right. For instance, all that some people are after is to corrupt others, for they are loaded with corruption. Remember that the bible speaks of people whose eyes are full of adultery (2Peter 2:14). That is real. And such people may come close to you, giving you the impression that they want to know God or learn the ways of God or do the things of God.

But all they are after is how they will be sexually involved with you. And we have seen cases in which pastors, church leaders and some wonderful people of God fell into the sexual traps of certain individuals that they were trying to help spiritually.Now we may be quick to blame such people. But the fact remains that any of us could become a prey of such individuals, if we will not watch ourselves and our relationships with other believers. So, just as we are told not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, we must also understand that we must not be unequally yoked with believers.

How, then, do we become unequally yoked with believers? First, any kind of relationship with a believer that is preventing us from serving God the way we hurt to serve Him is unclean. That means you have to watch it and do the needful about it. And if you cannot clean it, you have to drop it.What I am saying is that if you find that your involvement with a believer that you are helping spiritually is preventing you from doing the will of God, praying, studying the word of God and taking church meetings seriously, you must watch and deal with that relationship.

That kind of person is most likely not someone you can help spiritually. That person may just want to drag you down. Also, any kind of relationship with a believer that makes you irresponsible in doing your duties in other legitimate relationships you have or that is preventing you from taking any of your responsibilities seriously has become unclean. Therefore, you need to deal with it. You can see that you must watch what those that you are trying to help spiritually are leading you to do or get involved in. If they are leading you to be irresponsible in dealing with your family, in handling your business or in handling your Christian responsibilities, they may just want to drag you down.

You must, therefore, watch yourself with them. Their hearts may not be clean. And if you pay attention to them, taking advantage of the word of God and prayer, you will be able to learn the truth about them.Well, the point I am making is that we have to watch ourselves, as we are trying to help one another in our walk of faith, and not allow anyone to make us a part of the problem we are trying to solve or prevent. Jude, in closing, also tells us something along these lines. Look at it from verse 22:“Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” (Jude 1:22-23NIV)

Did you see that? There are people we need to snatch from the fire of destruction. And God expects us to take advantage of His grace to do so. There are also those that we need to show mercy and rescue from their errors. But we are told to watch ourselves, as we are trying to show them mercy. The words are: “…hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” That means we must not ignore the corruption in anybody’s life while trying to help them spiritually. Otherwise, we may become corrupted ourselves.If people’s hearts are right, the help we are offering them will work – it will lift them up and establish them in the will of God.

But if their hearts are not right, what will happen in the long run is that they will drag us down, if we are not careful. So, we need to be careful, as we are trying to keep watch over one another. And we can do that by first keeping watch over ourselves. Our own safety is most important. It is when we are safe spiritually that we will be able to save others.

Let us pray.

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From Pastor's Desk 2025 FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: Focus on what God is doing

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 4

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to the last week of the month of May 2025. My prayer is that all the good works of God concerning your life will be perfected, according to every day’s need, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, tells us this about God: “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil His good purpose.” (Phil 2:13NIV) Did you see that? God is working in the lives of all of us who are His children. Why? It is so that He can fulfil His good purpose for our lives.

That means God is not idle. He is not sleeping or folding His arms, while we are working hard and struggling with Satan and his demons in order to amount to something in life. Instead, He also is working in our lives to see to it that all His good intentions for us come to pass and that all our effort in life does not go to waste.

Now we may not see what God is doing in certain areas of our lives. It may not even appear that He is working in our lives at all. That, however, does not mean that He is not working. His word tells us that He is working in our lives. And His word is true all the time. So, whether we can see what He is doing to fulfil His good purpose in our lives or not, we should just believe what His word says and begin to act accordingly.

Then, if we do not give up, we will at the right time see manifestations of His good works in our lives.Unfortunately, many of us love to pay more attention to what Satan and his demons are doing to ruin our lives than to what God is doing to make us who we ought to be in life. In fact, all that some of us often focus on is what is Satan is doing. We don’t look out at all for what God is doing. And that is one of the reasons we are not witnessing His glory and a perfection of His good works in our lives as it ought to be.

Truly, Satan’s works are real. Sicknesses, diseases, poverty, accidents and death are real. Also, pains and sorrow are real. And these things can be so real to us that we will think there is no escape from them for us. That, of course, is what Satan wants. He wants us to think that there is no escape from the things he is using to afflict us. And the moment we begin to think like that, we will turn our eyes away from what God is doing to rescue and lift us up.

For example, when Moses came to rescue the children of Israel from Egypt, their afflictions were multiplied by the Egyptians. So, even though God was already at work on their behalf to set them free, they would not pay attention to what He was doing at all; all that they paid attention to were their afflictions. And if Moses too had been like them, paying attention only to their afflictions instead of focusing on what God was doing, their deliverance from Egypt would surely have been postponed to ‘only God knows when’. (Cf. Exodus 5)

But though Moses could see the afflictions of these Israelites and was not happy about them, he did not focus his attention on them. Instead, he focused his attention on God and on what He was doing to save them. So, he was able to secure their deliverance from Egypt when the time was ripe.In like manner, even though we can see all that Satan is doing to harm us and are not happy about it, our focus must not be on it at all.

Otherwise, that is what we are going to be wasting our time talking about. And that will bring discouragement to our hearts. But if our focus is on God and on what He is doing in our lives, regardless of what Satan may be doing to hurt us, our hearts will be daily strengthened to patiently wait until He fulfils His good purpose in every area of our lives at the right time. So, focus your attention on what God is doing in your life and all around you. And you will never again miss any manifestation of His glory.

Have a glorious week.

Categories
Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Choosing Abimelech

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 2

“When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” They gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelech used it to hire reckless adventurers, who became his followers.” (Judg 9:3-5NIV)

Who was Abimelech, the one mentioned in our opening text? He was the son that Gideon’s concubine bore for him. And what was so important about him that God cared to put his account in the bible for us? It was the fact that he was the first man to ever attempt to rule as king over the nation of Israel. (Cf. Judges 9:6)

Now, as we also see in the bible, when the people wanted Abimelech’s father, Gideon, to become their king, he frankly and humbly rejected their proposition. Look at how the bible puts that: “But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.”” (Judg 8:23-24NIV)

Did you see that? This man said that neither he nor any of his sons would be king over these people. Why? The reason was that he knew that the Lord is their king. Yes, he saved them from their enemies. But that was because the Lord called, sent and empowered him to do so. So, he knew that it would be foolish of him to try to take the place of God in their lives as their king. And even though he had seventy legitimate sons, none of them attempted to be king over the Israelites. Why? He had raised them well enough to know their place in the lives of the people. (Cf. Judges 6-8)

In like manner, we too must know our proper place in people’s lives. God may have used us or be using us to help them in various ways. That, however, does not make us God. We should, therefore, never attempt to take His place in anyone’s life. Otherwise, sooner or later, we will surely find ourselves facing challenges never meant for us in life. We may even end up undoing all the good God has used us to do.

So, let us be mindful of ourselves.In any case, as I pointed out before, Gideon had another son called Abimelech, the son of his concubine. And apparently, this son of his was not raised by him as others had been raised. That, of course, must have been the reason the thought of using his father’s legacy as a leverage to become king over Israel could enter his head. Unfortunately, the people of his mother’s side welcomed the idea and gave him a lot of money to hire ruthless men to accomplish his ambition.

Why? Well, as we see in our opening text, their reason was that he was related to them. In other words, he was their relative.So, the people of Shechem did not choose Abimelech as their leader because he was an upright, wise and godly man, one that righteous people could flourish under his leadership. Instead, they chose him because he was their relative. And because they did, a scoundrel was empowered to destroy all his father’s seventy sons (except his youngest son that escaped) and also all the good works God has used him to do for his nation.

Then, much later, he too and his sponsors went on to destroy themselves. What a pity! (Cf. Judges 9)What is the point of all this, at any rate? It is that we need to learn to choose our leaders for the right reasons. Someone may be our relative, a friend, a neighbour, a colleague at work or in school or a church leader. It does not mean that they have the right qualities to occupy certain leadership positions.

And if we should allow sentiments to lead us to choose and sponsor them to occupy a position that they have no ability or character to handle, we may someday realise that we have chosen Abimelech and empowered the devil himself to afflict and destroy much good. Then, like Abimelech and the people of Shechem, we too and the bad choice of leadership we have made may end up labouring hard to destroy ourselves.

Now would something like that not be bad and distressing? It would! But it is something that is happening in many places all around the world, even today. People and the leaders they have chosen for themselves are cursing themselves and also labouring hard to destroy themselves. And if we want to put a stop to a repetition of such mess, we had better stop allowing sentiments to drive us to choose Abimelech.

Copyright © 2025, 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: 08146472876)

Categories
Single Message Series

Title: Anniversary admonitions

Series: Single sermons

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We thank God for another opportunity He has given to us as an assembly to be celebrating our thirteenth year anniversary, our thirteenth year of meeting together as an assembly in this town. We thank Him for what He has done in us, for us, among us and through us in these thirteen years. He has been good and kind to us. And we will surely leave out some time to take testimonies in the course of this meeting.

But before we do that, let me quickly encourage you with some things about church growth, especially as it concerns our assembly.Now the church cannot grow beyond the growth of each of us. In other words, the overall growth of our assembly is hinged on the individual growth of each member of the assembly. In other words, each of us must take very seriously our spiritual growth and development in the kingdom.

It is unfortunate that many of God’s people think it is only the leaders of their assembly that need to be making effort towards spiritual growth and development. They think Christianity is all about joining a church, bearing a bible name or having a personal copy of the bible. But Christianity goes beyond all of such things. And being born again goes beyond confessing the lordship of Jesus. You have to grow in Him; you have to develop in your faith in Him.

See, it does not matter how sound or spiritually developed a church leader is, if members of his assembly are not following in his steps and making effort to grow spiritually, they are going to limit that assembly. That is because the growth of that assembly is not hinged on the growth of the leader alone; it is also hinged on the growth of the individual member of the assembly.

That is why, in Colossians, chapter 2, Paul says this to us:“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:6-7NIV)

Did you see that? The receiving of Christ Jesus as our Lord is the starting point in our spiritual journey with Him. That is how we become born again. That is how we become new creations. But everything does not end with the receiving of Jesus as our Lord. We also have to continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him. That means we have to begin to take advantage of His grace to be established in Him, to grow in our walk of faith.

There is really a lot to say about what Paul says here. But I just want to encourage you that having become a child of God, having been born again, you need to continue to live your life in Him and to take your spiritual growth and development very seriously. It is not going to happen automatically, if you will not commit yourself to things that will make you grow. You will not grow by accident.

No child of God grows by accident or automatically, just as no baby born grows by accident or automatically. If the things that are supposed to be done to a baby are not done to him, he will not grow all by himself. Instead, his growth will be arrested. In fact, he may even die in infancy.The same thing is applicable to spiritual growth. We have to be devoted to those things that will result in our spiritual growth and development.

We have to be devoted to be doing those things that will result in spiritual growth and fruitfulness. We have to be devoted to doing those things that will make us overflow with thankfulness everyday. A child of God ought to daily overflow with thankfulness. But no child of God will automatically overflow with thankfulness. It is spiritual growth that results in being thankful and being joyous.

There are Christians that are always complaining instead of being thankful. And there are Christians are often sad instead of overflowing with joy. The main reason is that they are not growing. And why are they are not growing spiritually? They have not seen the need to grow. Once you see the need to grow spiritually, you will begin to take steps that will result in your growth. Once you see the need for your spiritual development, you will begin to deliberately take steps that will result in your development.

Now as each of us takes seriously our spiritually growth and development, our church will grow in fruitfulness and in usefulness. As I said before, the growth of our assembly is not hinged on the growth of our leaders alone; the spiritual development of our assembly is not hinged on the spiritual development and health of the leaders alone. The spiritual health of our assembly cannot be left to our church leaders alone.

If our church will grow to be all that God wants her to be, if she will grow to be a model to all the assemblies of God in the land, that is, in life, in love, in faith, in speech, in the grace of giving and in purity, then, all of us must take our personal growth very seriously.

Moses, for instance, was a great and sound leader of God’s people. But the people that He brought of Egypt limited him. They made him needlessly spend forty years in the wilderness, wandering with them. He had no intention of wandering in life. But those people made him wander because they made no serious and deliberate effort towards spiritual growth and development. Their unwillingness to grow in the things of God affected Moses as well.In Psalm 103, verse 7, the bible says, “He made his ways known to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.” (NIV)

Think about that. Moses knew the ways of God. So, he was able to walk with Him faithfully. But those Israelites that he led out of Egypt were not serious about knowing the Lord. They only wanted to enjoy His miracles. There was a time God spoke to them, and they told Moses to tell Him not to speak to them directly again but to communicate with them through him. That means they were not ready to grow in the things of God. No wonder many of them lost their lives in the wilderness. Moses could not lead them into the land promised by God to them. (Cf. Exodus 20:18-19)

In like manner, if our leaders will be able to lead us to the places promised to us by God, if they will be able to lead us to where God wants us to be, we must take our personal growth and development very seriously. Now there are things we must devote ourselves to in order to grow spiritually. The early church members devoted themselves to these things and their devotion to them resulted in their growth.

Yes, their devotion to those things made God continually add to their number. God saw that it was safe for Him to add to their number. He saw that they were spiritually healthy enough to add to their number.If we too will have God continually add to our number, He must see us as spiritually healthy enough. I am not talking about the addition that comes through the use of human wisdom and schemes.

Rather, I am talking about the addition that God Himself sponsors. People use all kinds of schemes today to add to the number of their churches. But if we want God to add to our number, if we want Him to multiply us, He must see us as spiritually sound and healthy enough.Look at what Luke says about what the members of the church of those days devoted themselves:“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.” (Acts 2:42-43NIV)

What were these people devoted to? They were devoted to the word of God. They were devoted to fellowship. They were devoted to sharing meals together. They were also devoted to prayer. That means they took these things very seriously. And because of that, they grew spiritually and also increased in number. Also, because of their devotion to these things, God was able to mightily use the apostles among them. When brethren are yielded to God, it is easy for their leaders to minister grace to them. But when they are not yielded to God, even if when their leaders are praying for them, there is no guarantee that the blessings of those leaders will rest on them.

Well, as we begin another year of fellowship together, I want you to be devoted to these things we just saw in the bible. Be devoted to the word of God. Be devoted to fellowship. Be devoted to sharing all good things with the brethren. And be devoted to prayer. In short, I want you to take your personal growth very seriously. That is because if you are not growing spiritually, God cannot rely on you to bless anybody. How, then, is that going to be a blessing to the church? It won’t. And we want you to be a blessing to us.

My prayer is that God will strengthen you to daily take your spiritual growth very seriously, in Jesus’ name. Amen.Happy celebration.

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FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: That grace may increase

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: vol 14, NO 3.

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be multiplied to you without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am delighted to welcome you to another week of the month of May 2025. My prayer is that God will rid your life of everything that is working against the full expression of His grace in your life, so that you can be all that He wants you to be and also enjoy all that He wants you to enjoy in life. Amen.

Now one of the things that hinder the manifestation of the grace of God in the lives of His people is sin. What kind of sin? Any kind of sin! That means just as sexual immorality can hinder the manifestation of the grace of God in the lives of His people, so also can greed, theft, bitterness, drunkenness, jealousy and slander hinder it.Unfortunately, many of us do not have this understanding.

We think it is only obvious sins like adultery, drunkenness and theft can hinder the manifestation of God’s grace in our lives. But any kind of sin can hinder the manifestation of His grace in our lives. That is why Paul asks this question of us all: “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” And his answer is, “No, we cannot go on living in sin and expect more of God’s grace in our lives.”Why is that so? The reason is that it takes the grace of God to walk in victory over sin. And He has already freely provided for us the grace to do so (Titus 2:11).

If we, then, are not walking in victory over every kind of sin, it means that we are not making adequate use of His grace. Therefore, we should not expect more manifestation of His grace in our lives. What we are saying is that for us to witness greater or more manifestation of God’s grace in our lives, we need to first begin to make adequate use of whatever measure of grace He has already given us. If we are not making adequate use of the grace He has already given us, He will not give us more.

Yes, people may pray for more grace for us. But that prayer will only work when we are using the grace that has already been provided by God for us, adequately and appropriately.Look at Samson, for example. When he began to indulge in sexual immorality, did God multiply His grace that was in his life? No! On the contrary, at some point, that grace stopped working.

So, he fell into the hands of his enemies and was seriously messed up. And that is showing us that we cannot be using the grace of God to live a life that is contrary to His will and expect it to always work well for us or to increase in our lives.

However, we can expect God’s grace in our lives to diminish in manifestation or to altogether stop working, if we are not using it at all or if we are abusing it. And that will put us at the mercy of the devil. If we, then, do not want that to happen to us, we must learn to make adequate use of His grace given to us in living in victory over sin and in doing the good works He wants us to do. And we can do this by giving ourselves to His word, prayer and Christian fellowship.

My prayer is that our hearts will be strengthened everyday to make the most of all the grace God has already given to us, so that He can continually multiply it for us to be all that He wants us to be in life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.Have a lovely week.