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FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Only few people | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: January 19, 2025 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 38

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am glad to welcome you to another week of the month of January 2025. My prayer is that God will wake you up to recognize all the duties of your ministry and also strengthen you to begin to carry them out without delay. Amen.

Paul, in a letter to Timothy, says this to him: “…discharge all the duties of your ministry.” (2Tim 4:5NIV) Why does he say this to him? He says it to him because he is sure that he knows his ministry and the responsibilities that go with it. If Timothy does not know the duties of his ministry, then, he won’t be able to fulfil all of them on purpose. Yes, he may accidentally carry some of the duties of his ministry, even if he does not know them. But he won’t be able to deliberately and fully carry out duties that he knows nothing about.

Now if Timothy is not fully discharging the duties of his ministry, then, God will not be able to bless everyone He wants to bless through his ministry the way He wants to. And will God be happy about that? No, He won’t. So, He will have to find ways to wake him up to do all that he is supposed to do or find some other people that will do what he is supposed to do that he is neglecting.

In like manner, God is expecting every child of His in the church today to recognise the duties of his ministry and also begin to carry them out. Otherwise, He will not be able to bless people through them as He wants to. And where this is the case, He will have to seek ways to wake them up to do what they are neglecting or find some other people to do it.

Unfortunately, even though God is doing all He can to wake many of us up to begin to do all the duties of our ministry, we are often unwilling to do so because of fear, laziness, distraction, greed or ignorance. Therefore, often, He also has to call upon others to pick up and do what we are refusing to do. This is why, in many Christian assemblies, it is the same few people that are committed to the word of God that are also often committed to attending prayer meetings, visiting others, giving and even taking care of their church meeting places.

For instance, in a letter to the Corinthians, Paul says this to them: “I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you.” (1Cor 16:17NIV) Did you see that? These three men were evidently elders of the church in Corinth. That means they must have had a lot of responsibilities to shoulder at the time. Yet, as large as the Corinthian church must have been at the time, it was still these three men that supported Paul with their resources in order to make up for what the whole church should have done.

Now is that a good thing to be happening in any church of God? No! Should only few people be bearing the burdens that all the members of an assembly are supposed to be bearing? No! Is it not possible for those few people to become tired or discouraged at some point and not want to do anything again? It is possible. And we have had people who became discouraged and stopped attending their church meetings altogether because they were overwhelmed by the burdens they were bearing.

Then even if such people do not become discouraged, will they not be the only ones that will get rewarded by God for what their entire churches are supposed to be rewarded for? They will be the only ones. That is because God will never reward anyone for what the person has not done for him. Apart from that, the growth and development of an assembly in which only few people are responsible for everything being done will be slow. You can now see why we have several assemblies in our land that have been around for years but are still babies in fruitfulness and usefulness.

In any case, I am sharing these things with you to let you know that it is not a good thing for us as an assembly to leave what all of us are supposed to be doing for God for only few people. And if this has been the case, then, we have unconsciously been limiting the growth and usefulness of our assembly and perhaps also filling some people among us with discouragement. So, we need to repent and pick up our duties in praying, giving, visiting others and so forth. Then our church will begin to grow and increase in usefulness as it should and we also will not lose our reward to others.

Have a splendid 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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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Your hard work or His generosity | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: January 08, 2025 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 7, No. 35

“”But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’” (Matt 20:13-16NIV)

Those were the words of a landowner that our Lord Jesus Christ speaks of in a parable of His. According to the parable, this landowner had gone out very early one morning to hire people to work in his vineyard. And when he got his first set of workers, he agreed to pay them a denarius at the end of the day’s work. So, they went into his vineyard and began to work. (Cf. Matt 20:1-2)

Then, some hours later, he went out again to get more people to work in this same vineyard and told them that he would pay them something fair at the end of the day’s work. So, they also went to work in his vineyard. (Cf. Matt 20:3-5)

However, as this man could clearly see, the people he had brought in to work for him were not enough to get the day’s job done. So, he kept on going out to bring in more people to work for him till the very last hour of the day. And at the end of the day’s job, when it was time to pay his workers, he instructed his foreman to pay everybody the same thing, including those who worked for only one hour. This, of course, infuriated those whom he had hired during the early hours of that day. They felt that it was unfair of him to pay them, who had worked hard all day in the hot sun, the same wages as those who only worked for one or three hours of the day. So, they began to grumble against the man. (Cf. Matt 20:5-12)

Now were they right to grumble and protest against this landowner? Judging from a human point of view, we might say that they were right to do so. But judging from God’s point of view, they were not right to protest or grumble at all. Why?

Well, as we see in our opening text, the man paid them exactly what they had agreed to collect from him when he was going to hire them. So, he did not cheat or defraud them at all. He only gave them what they had bargained for.

But in dealing with others who worked for him that day, especially those who worked only for one hour, he did not pay them according to their labour but according to his generosity. Why did he act like that? We are not told in clear terms in the account. But it could be that he was impressed by their perseverance in waiting until they got a job.

As the account goes, before he brought these men into his vineyard to work that evening, he had asked them why they were standing in the market place all day long doing nothing? And they had told him that it was because nobody gave them a job. So, it was not because they were lazy and unwilling to work that they stood for a whole day in the market place doing nothing. Rather, it was because nobody gave them a job to do.

Now these men could have gone back home in the afternoon of that day, since nobody was going to hire them. But they did not. Instead, they decided to wait until the very last hour of the day to see if anyone would still eventually hire them. And their perseverance paid off. Someone came and hired them, even though he knew that they would only be able to work for one hour. Not only that, that person decided to pay them a whole day’s wages when they done working for him. And that shows us that it pays to persevere in doing the right thing.

See, doing the right thing may not immediately yield us a good result. But if we don’t give up on doing it, God will surely make it pay off, even in what we might call the last hour. So, don’t turn away in anger, discouragement or disappointment from doing that right thing you are doing. Don’t give up on it because nobody is paying attention to it or showing any interest in it or in you. Just keep on doing it and trusting God. And when the time is ripe, He will do for you what will let you know that doing the right thing is never a waste of time.

In any case, why does the Lord share this parable with us? He shares it with us to show us how God rewards people in life and in His kingdom. And how does He reward them? First, He rewards them according to their labour. Second, He rewards them according to His kindness and generosity. And it is the one that they desire out of these two, then, that will determine how He rewards them.

In other words, if you want Him to reward you on the basis of your hard work and diligence, then, He will do so. The only thing is that you may not like what you will get. But if you want Him to look beyond your labour and reward you according to His kindness and generosity, then, you can be sure that what you will get will be beyond what your years, months, weeks or days of hard work can ever bring to you.

Which, then, is it going to be this year? Will you want God to reward you according to your hard work or according to His generosity? As for me, I will want Him to reward me according to His kindness and generosity.

Cheers!

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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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Faultfinders | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: October 23, 2024 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 7, No. 24

“Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words.” (Mark 12:13NIV)

Who sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus? The religious leaders of the Jews. Why did they send them to Him? Well, as Mark tells us, they sent them to Him in order to catch Him in His words. In other words, they did not send them to Him to learn and drink from the wisdom of God at work in His life, neither did they send them to Him to be healed of any disease or sickness. Rather, they sent them to Him in order to pick something that He would say that they would use to condemn Him and His ministry. So, they are faultfinders.

In like manner, we have in the church today people who have become like those religious leaders of the Jews. They too attend church meetings, not to learn or be blessed but to pick something that the preacher might say that they may use to condemn him before the brethren or in the media. How, then, can such people grow in the things of God? They cannot grow. In fact, instead of experiencing spiritual growth and development, what they will ultimately experience, if they do not change their ways, is God’s judgment.

So, let me say this to you: if you should ever find yourself in a situation in which instead of going to a church meeting to learn, all you are out for is to pick something that the leader of your assembly might say that you will use against him, you had better leave that assembly. I mean that if you can no longer go for a church meeting to wholeheartedly talk to God and learn from Him, without looking out for something someone will say or do that you will use to abuse or discredit them, you had better sit at home or find somewhere else to go.

Why? The reason is that you are already bitter, though you may not know it, and have become a weapon that Satan may someday use to destroy someone’s reputation or to cause division in the body of Christ. And people who destroy the church of Christ in that manner can only expect God to destroy them as well. (Cf. 1Cor 3:17)

As we further see in the Scriptures, those religious leaders of the Jews did not stop looking for something that Jesus would say that they would use to condemn Him until they eventually killed Him. So, if it has become a culture for you too to attend church meetings only to look out for something someone would say that you would use to condemn them before other members of the church, before your family members, before your friends or in the media, you are a potential killer. And someday, if God does not stop you on time, you will kill somebody.

Mind you, it is not only in the church that we can be like that, looking for something someone will say that we will use to condemn them. We can be like that in our workplace or school. We can be like that in our neighbourhood. And we can even be like that among our family members.

That, of course, is why you cannot have a normal conversation with some people without getting into trouble at some point. That is because they are faultfinders. They are men and women that have trained their eyes and ears only to pick out errors in whatever others are doing. So, if you have them as friends, family members, close neighbours or colleagues, they will most likely ruin all other good relationships you already have or that you might have. That is because they will not stop showing you why you need to be angry with certain people, even if you can see no reason to be angry with them.

Well, my point is that you should avoid being a faultfinder. That is because a faultfinder is a trouble maker and destroyer. So, he will never have God’s praise but His judgment. And who can stand God’s judgment? No one!

Then don’t celebrate faultfinders or make a faultfinder a close companion or one that you discuss important matters of your life with. Otherwise, they will drive joy and peace of mind away from you through their evil speaking. And when they have nothing else to ruin in your life, they will begin to ruin you. That is when all the evil things they have provoked you to say against others will be exposed by them. Where, then, will you hide your face?

Copyright © 2024, 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)