Tag: christianity

Categories
FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2022

Has your love grown cold? | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: October 23, 2022 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 11, No. 25

Title: Has your love grown cold? | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: October 23, 2022 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 11, No. 25

Beloved: grace and peace be yours abundantly from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am very pleased to welcome you to the last week of the month of October 2022. I pray that God will keep you pure and blameless, spirit, soul and body at the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

One of the things our Lord says will happen in the last days is that the love of most people will grow cold. Why will this happen? It is because wickedness will increase in the world. And is this not true today? Is wickedness not daily increasing all around us? (Cf. Matt 24:12)

Look at our country, for example. Look at the way banditry, kidnapping, terrorism, sexual immorality, swindling, money rituals, killing and misappropriation of public funds are daily increasing. Also, look at the way the use of hard drugs is becoming more and more widespread among our young ones. Yet most of our leaders don’t take these things to heart at all.

Therefore, many of God’s people have totally given up on righteous living. They now live and act as though they were never saved by the Lord. Many don’t even want anyone to demand that they live right again. Yet they call themselves Christians. And this agrees with what our Lord says about how increase in wickedness will make the love of most believers grow cold in the last days.

The question now is, “Has your love for the Lord not grown cold because of the increase in wickedness that the world is daily witnessing?” If you are no longer excited about the word of God and prayer, your love for Him has already grown cold. If fellowshipping with God’s people is now boring to you and you no longer look forward to it, your love has grown cold. If you now get upset each time you are confronted with the truth, your love has grown cold. Also, if you have become selfish and reluctant to give to God and to support others, your love for the Lord has probably gone cold.

Now if your love for the Lord has grown cold because the wickedness of this world has gotten to you, you are already in danger of being swept away with the wicked. Remember that the Lord says that it is only those who stand firm to the end that will be saved (Matt 24:13). That means those who are true believers in Him will never quit walking in His love and righteousness. Instead, they will remain steadfast to the very end and so be saved. But those who quit are showing that their faith has never been genuine at all. So, instead of being saved, they will be lost.

All of this is why the word of God says, “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2Peter 1:10-11NIV) Do you understand what this means? Well, it means that it is our job to daily confirm that we are genuinely saved by remaining steadfast in the love God. That is what will make us, like Stephen, receive a rich welcome into His eternal kingdom (Acts 8:54-60).

But if we have given up on the life He has called us to live, then, our so-called religion is useless and will ultimately take us nowhere. My prayer is that your faith in God and your love for Him will not end up being seeing by Him as a dead and useless, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a great week.

Copyright © 2022, 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)

Categories
Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

He loves a cheerful giver | By: J.O. Lawal

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: October 19, 2022 | Number: Vol. 5, No. 23 | Series: Youth for Jesus

“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2Cor 9:7-8NIV)

Giving, without doubt, is one of the most controversial practices of the Christian faith. And that is because of the way preachers often abuse and steal from people through it. But the fact that there are many abuses of the practice of giving does not mean that it should be altogether nullified or that there is no proper and acceptable way to handle it before God.

As we see in our opening bible text, God expects every one of His children to be a giver. That is why Paul says, “Each man should give…” So, if you are a child of God, don’t be left out in the grace and practice of giving. That is because it is the will of God for you. God has given to us the indescribable gift of His Son and is also daily freely giving us all things (Rom 8:32). And if we are truly grateful for what He has done and is still doing for us, we too should be giving to Him and to all the people He wants us to give to.

But then, even though God wants us all to be actively giving for His cause, there are things He also wants us to keep in mind when giving. Otherwise, there will be no reward for our giving. Remember that though Cain gave to God, He did not accept his offering. So, it is not every kind of giving that is acceptable to God. And if we give in a way that is not acceptable to Him, our giving will be rejected, wasted and not rewarded. Only God Himself, then, knows how many are daily or weekly wasting the so-called tithes, offerings, seeds and so forth they claim to be giving to Him.

Well, if you don’t want to waste whatever you are giving to God or to His people, pay attention to what Paul says in our opening bible text. And what does he say? First, he says when giving, give as you decide in your heart to give. That means no one is to determine for you what to give to God but you. Otherwise, that may affect your willingness and generosity in giving. And once these are affected, you can lose your reward for giving.

What, then, are we to say about assemblies where targets are given to brethren or to their pastors of what to give to God? They are missing it, regardless of how big or influential they may be in the eyes of the world and regardless of what results they may seem to be getting by acting in this fashion. And a day will come when all the people they have misled to waste their giving will see the truth. But it may have become too late then to change anything.

Am I, then, saying that anyone that gives to God in response to a target set for him by some church leader will surely miss his reward? No! If the person’s heart is right in giving to God, he will still have his reward. But once we set targets for people in matters of giving, the tendencies are high that they may not be giving willingly but reluctantly.

Now that takes us to the second thing Paul says to us in our opening text about giving. He says when giving, we are to give wholeheartedly and cheerfully, not reluctantly or under compulsion. That means you must give to God and to His people only because you want to give to them and not because someone is forcing, threatening or manipulating you to do so. If you do not want to give, don’t give, whatever your reasons may be for not wanting to give. God will certainly get His will done whether you give or not.

However, if you must give, then give cheerfully and willingly, not because you want to please or satisfy anyone but because you want to please God. That is because, as Paul further says, God loves a cheerful and not moody or reluctant giver. It does not matter what you are giving to Him, whether it is praise, worship, facility or time, God will cherish it, only if you give it cheerfully. But even if you bring all your wealth to Him, as long as you are not cheerful or happy or excited about giving it, it won’t win His heart. Therefore, you won’t have any reward for it.

You can now see why many give and don’t get to receive from God for their giving. They are not giving in line with His will. And if you want to separate yourself from such fruitless giving, start giving as you purpose in your heart and cheerfully too. Then, He who sees your heart will reward you in His own way and at His own time. He may not give you money in return for money or facility in return for facility. But He will surely reward you according to His grace and mercy, not just here on earth but also when His Son returns.

Categories
Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Be on your guard against them | By: J.O. Lawal |

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Date: October 05, 2022 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 5, No. 21

“Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.” (2Tim 4:14-15NIV)

It is true that the word of God tells us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us, so that we may be like God our Father, who shows mercy and kindness to even bad people (Matt 5:43-45). But that is not the only thing it tells us about how to relate to our enemies and those who persecute us. It also tells us to be on our guard against them. Otherwise, though we love them and are praying for their good, we may end up being victims of their wicked schemes.

For example, in our opening text, Paul tells Timothy to be on his guard against a certain man named Alexander the metal worker. Why? It is because he has been a victim of the man’s wickedness. He says, “He did me a great deal of harm.” What sort harm the man did Paul he does not say in this letter. But it was bad enough for him to warn Timothy to be on his guard against him, so that he too would not become a victim of the man’s wickedness.

In like manner, if we do not want to unnecessarily become victims of people’s wickedness, we must know those that we need to be on our guard against. For example, people who are directly attacking our faith in Christ Jesus are suspects in this matter. We must be on our guard against them. This, of course, does not mean we are to be like them and start attacking them as well or that we are not to pray for their salvation. No, we must not be like them. And we must not stop praying for their salvation, for that will be acting contrary to the will of God who wants all men to be saved (1Tim 2:1-4).

However, we must not foolishly or ignorantly walk into whatever traps they may be setting for us. Instead, apart from praying to God to frustrate their wicked plots against us, we must also be ready to take whatever legitimate step we can take as humans to stay away from their trouble. For example, when Paul learnt from his nephew that there was a plan afoot to assassinate him by some Jews, he did not dismiss it as a rumour or say, “Don’t worry. God will protect me from them.” Instead, he told the young man to discreetly inform the commander in whose barracks he was being held. And the commander did the needful and arranged some soldiers to take him to safety.

Why did Paul function like that, instead of foolishly or arrogantly walking into a death trap, all in the name of trusting God? It was because he knew that the reason God revealed the matter to him was so that he could act on it and save himself. And if he had not made a wise use of that revelation, he may have lost his life in the process and also ended his ministry before his time was up. We too must learn to use whatever God reveals to us about those who oppose us to protect ourselves. Otherwise, we may end up being victims of evil people without need. (Cf. Acts 23:12-34)

Apart from those who oppose our faith, people who are ruthlessly ambitious, envious or greedy are also individuals we must be on our guard against. They may not reveal themselves as our enemies in an open or direct manner. But some of them are like Joab, who would call you ‘brother’, even though he had the dagger he would use to kill you hidden away in his dress. And some of them are like Judas, who would betray you with a kiss to anyone who paid him enough money for your head. (Cf. 2Sam 20:8-10; Matt 26:47-50)

In any case, however close anyone may be to you and whatever pet name they may be calling you, as long as you know them to be greedy, ruthlessly ambitious or envious, be on your guard against them. And I pray that God himself will continue to keep you safe from all harm and from the schemes of wicked and unreasonable people, including enemies that pose as friends. Amen.

Categories
FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2022 Pastor's Desk

Don’t be reluctant to do His will | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: October 25, 2022 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 11, No. 22

Beloved: grace and peace without measure be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our blessed Redeemer. I welcome you with joy into the month of October 2022. My prayer is that your heart will be strengthened every day of the month to serve God wholeheartedly, so that you will be established in the place of His provisions for you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

One of the things that the bible story of King Saul teaches us is that reluctance to fully do the will of God is as bad as complete disobedience to Him. And this could make us lose our place in His scheme of things. As the story goes, God, through Samuel, gave a direct command to King Saul to go and utterly destroy the Amalekites and everything they had. And did he go or not? He did. He went to fight the Amalekites and to destroy them and all their possessions.

However, when he got there, he failed to fully carry out the command of God. Look at how the bible puts that: “Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, to the east of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs — everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.” (1Sam 15:7-9NIV)

Did you see that? Saul and his men were reluctant to destroy all the animals of the Amalekites because of greed. Yes, they killed all the people and all their worthless and weak animals. But they were unwilling to destroy the best of their animals. And how did God judge that? He judged it as complete disobedience to Him and rebellion against Him. Therefore, He took the kingdom away from Saul and his descendants after him and gave it to someone else.

In like manner, if we are reluctant to fully obey God in any area of our lives, He may judge it as total disobedience to Him in all ways. In other words, partial disobedience to God is nothing other than complete disobedience to Him. And that may cost us certain positions or promotion that He has already destined for us. Therefore, if there is any area of your life in which you are reluctant to act on the will of God, you need to retrace your steps and begin to do what is right before it is too late.

Personally, I know what it means to know what God wants of you and yet to be reluctant to do it. It may be because of certain temporary enjoyment you are deriving from acting contrary to His will or because of fear of people or because of love for the praise of people. Whatever the reason may be, being reluctant to do what God wants us to do can only ultimately put us in trouble.

Our Lord Jesus, writing to the church in Thyatira, says this about one of their women: “I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.” (Rev 2:21-23NIV) Did you see that? The Lord was going to punish that woman and those walking in her ways of adultery and idolatry with sickness and death. Why? It was because of her reluctance to repent and do His will.

So, no one can actually tell how the Lord will judge our reluctance to do His will in any area of our lives. And perhaps He is already judging us for our reluctance to wholeheartedly do His will in certain areas of our lives. We may never know this, if He does not reveal what He is doing to us. But whether we know or not, what is important is that we lose no time in doing what He expects of us in every area of our lives. Otherwise, things may get worse for us. I pray that God will set your heart right wherever you are reluctant to do His will and strengthen you to do what is right before it is too late. Amen.

Do have a great October 2022.

Copyright © 2022, 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)

Categories
Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Learn to show proper respect | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: September 28, 2022 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 5, No. 20

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Title: Learn to show proper respect | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: September 28, 2022 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 5, No. 20

“Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.” (1Peter 2:17NIV) One of the things I have learnt by experience is that people, especially in my own part of the world, open doors of attention and favour more readily to those who show them proper respect. Someone may lack character or abilities in many ways. But if they know how to show proper respect to those in their lives or those that they come across, certain doors of favour will have been opened for them before anyone starts asking questions about their character or competence.

So, when we are told in our opening bible text to show proper respect to everyone, it is for our own good. You too know how you often feel when someone does not give you the level of respect you believe you deserve. You feel bad and irritated. You may not show it, so that you don’t appear arrogant. But you know in your heart that certain doors of favour, attention or help have automatically closed against that person who has disrespected you or who is continually disrespecting you.

In like manner, when you too disrespect people that you are supposed to respect or when you do not show them adequate and proper respect, you are unconsciously shutting against yourself certain doors of attention or favour that they are in a position to open for you. And unless God Himself ministers to them and causes them to overlook your flaws in this area, you may never get anything good from them in life.

By the way, some people so detest being disrespected that they are willing to punish those who disrespect them in very terrible ways. You may be familiar with the bible story of Haman and Mordecai. Why did Haman make a move to wipe out all the Jews in the kingdom of King Xerxes? It was because of Mordecai. But what did Mordecai do to him to warrant that? Mordecai would not give him the respect that he believed he deserved as the emperor’s right-hand man. (Cf. Esther 3-7)

Now was Mordecai right to disrespect the emperor’s right-hand man? No! God did not put this story in the bible to teach us that nothing is wrong with disrespecting our leaders or those we are supposed to honour. That would be against His will as revealed in all Scriptures. Rather, He put the story in the bible to show us how far certain people may go in order to punish those who disrespect them. (Cf. Rom 13:1-7; 1Peter 2:13-14)

Haman was willing to wipe out an entire nation of people simply because one of them dishonoured him. And if God had not stepped into the situation to show this wicked man, who was himself arrogant, that he had gone too far, many lives would have been lost in his quest to preserve his honour.

Interestingly, there are still people like Haman in the world today. There are still people that will be willing to take away your life, your job, your position or certain beautiful things that could be yours because you will not show them proper respect. And my prayer is that you will never be a victim of the anger of such people, in Jesus’ name.

However, you too should learn to recognise those in your life and in your world and to show them proper respect, based on their status or their relationship with you. Learn to show proper respect to your parents, the elderly people around you, your superiors at work, the dignitaries in the society, your instructors, your leaders in the church and even your friends. Yes, you may be older, richer or more knowledgeable than some of these people. But the word of God to you is that you are to show them proper respect. Otherwise, it is not only their reward that you may miss; you will also miss the reward of obeying God’s word.

Do you know that you can also close certain doors of favour against yourself by not showing your friends, subordinates or younger ones adequate respect? A younger person in your family or neighbourhood may be in a position to help you in certain ways. But if you are continually talking down to them and ignoring the need to respect their status in life, maybe their marital status or academic status, they may just shut their heart of compassion against you where they could have been of great help.

Remember that one major reason our Lord Jesus could not do any mighty work in His own hometown was that they did not show Him proper respect (Mark 6:1-6). And only God knows how many are missing the miracles and promotion that could be theirs because of a similar culture of disrespect. So, change your ways, if you are one of those arrogant and disrespectful ones that don’t take anyone seriously. Or else you may someday learn your lessons in a very hard way.

Copyright © 2022, 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)

Categories
FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2022 Pastor's Desk

Don’t steal from them | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: September 25, 2022 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 11, No. 21

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to the last week of the month of September 2022. My prayer is that God will secure all that is yours and all that He has appointed this year for your enjoyment for you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

I offer that prayer for you because it is in keeping with the words of David’s Psalm that says, “LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.” (Ps 16:5NIV) Who secured David’s inheritance in life for him? God! And who alone is able to secure our inheritance, profit, job, position, joy, peace, relationships and lives for us? God! And that is why we must learn to daily entrust everything that we have and that concerns us to Him.

However, as we trust God to secure our lot in life for us and keep us from being robbed or cheated, we too should see to it that we are not stealing from others or robbing them. The word of God says, “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.” (Eph 4:28NIV) So, in whatever way you are stealing from those around you, you have to stop it.

You know that we don’t have to carry a gun to steal from people before we steal from them. Anytime we take for ourselves what we are not permitted, authorised or privileged to take from others, we are stealing. Also, anytime we refuse to pay people, organisations or governments duly for services they have rendered to us or for jobs they have done for us, we are stealing from them. And these things will certainly affect the security of what belongs to us to one degree or the other.

Also, as we trust God to preserve our lot for us, we need to be careful that we are not stealing from Him. How do we steal from God? Is it by taking money for ourselves from offering bags or by breaking into a church meeting place and taking for ourselves the money or facilities there? Yes, by doing any of these things we will be stealing from God. And that will affect our safety and the safety of our possessions. But stealing from God is more serious than those. It also involves keeping back for ourselves what we should have given to God’s servants who are ministering to us.

Why did God call the Jews of Malachi’s day robbers? Was it because they broke into the temple’s treasury and stole things from there? No! It was because they would not give to God’s priests that were ministering to them the tithes and offerings meant for their upkeep. And why were they told to give these priests their tithes and offerings? It was because God did not give them any inheritance in the land and had commanded them to devote themselves to serving all the people. So, by not giving to those priests what was meant for them, the people were robbing them and also robbing God who had chosen them to serve them. No wonder they and their possessions were not safe from the activities of devourers. (Cf. Numbers 18; Malachi 3:8-12)

In like manner, the Lord has commanded us to take care of those He has sent to minister to us with our resources. Therefore, when He was sending out His apostles to preach, He did not give them any money to take along. Also, He did not leave any money for them when He was ascending into the heavens. And that was because He expected those that they were serving to take care of them. His words were, “The worker deserves his wages.” So, if those that they were serving would not take care of them, they would be stealing from them. That, of course, as the Lord points out, will keep the blessings of their ministries from fully settling on them. (Cf. Luke 10:1-7; 1Cor 9:14; Gal 6:6)

So, if we do not take giving to support our ministers of God seriously (AND ONLY FEW OFTEN TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY IN MOST OF OUR CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLIES), we are stealing from them and stealing from God. How, then, can we expect the blessings of their ministries to fully work in us or expect the things God has given to us to be kept safe from devourers? This explains why brethren hardly prosper in material things in assemblies where their leaders are not joyfully and adequately cared for. Such brethren may be devoted to staying away from sin and walking in righteousness. But they won’t prosper as brethren who are not as devoted to living in righteousness as they are but who are devoted to caring for their leaders.

Well, the point of all this is that if you are robbing God by robing His ministers of the things you are supposed to give to them or do for them, the manifestation and security of your prosperity will be adversely affected. So, repent now and begin to do what is right. Otherwise, Satan won’t stop seeing opportunities to steal from you.

Have a lovely week.

Copyright © 2022, 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)

Categories
FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2022 Pastor's Desk

Don’t steal from them|By: J.O. Lawal|Date: September 25, 2022|Series: From Pastor’s Desk|Number: Vol. 11, No. 21

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to the last week of the month of September 2022. My prayer is that God will secure all that is yours and all that He has appointed this year for your enjoyment for you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

I offer that prayer for you because it is in keeping with the words of David’s Psalm that says, “LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.” (Ps 16:5NIV) Who secured David’s inheritance in life for him? God! And who alone is able to secure our inheritance, profit, job, position, joy, peace, relationships and lives for us? God! And that is why we must learn to daily entrust everything that we have and that concerns us to Him.

However, as we trust God to secure our lot in life for us and keep us from being robbed or cheated, we too should see to it that we are not stealing from others or robbing them. The word of God says, “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.” (Eph 4:28NIV) So, in whatever way you are stealing from those around you, you have to stop it.

You know that we don’t have to carry a gun to steal from people before we steal from them. Anytime we take for ourselves what we are not permitted, authorised or privileged to take from others, we are stealing. Also, anytime we refuse to pay people, organisations or governments duly for services they have rendered to us or for jobs they have done for us, we are stealing from them. And these things will certainly affect the security of what belongs to us to one degree or the other.

Also, as we trust God to preserve our lot for us, we need to be careful that we are not stealing from Him. How do we steal from God? Is it by taking money for ourselves from offering bags or by breaking into a church meeting place and taking for ourselves the money or facilities there? Yes, by doing any of these things we will be stealing from God. And that will affect our safety and the safety of our possessions. But stealing from God is more serious than those. It also involves keeping back for ourselves what we should have given to God’s servants who are ministering to us.

Why did God call the Jews of Malachi’s day robbers? Was it because they broke into the temple’s treasury and stole things from there? No! It was because they would not give to God’s priests that were ministering to them the tithes and offerings meant for their upkeep. And why were they told to give these priests their tithes and offerings? It was because God did not give them any inheritance in the land and had commanded them to devote themselves to serving all the people. So, by not giving to those priests what was meant for them, the people were robbing them and also robbing God who had chosen them to serve them. No wonder they and their possessions were not safe from the activities of devourers. (Cf. Numbers 18; Malachi 3:8-12)

In like manner, the Lord has commanded us to take care of those He has sent to minister to us with our resources. Therefore, when He was sending out His apostles to preach, He did not give them any money to take along. Also, He did not leave any money for them when He was ascending into the heavens. And that was because He expected those that they were serving to take care of them. His words were, “The worker deserves his wages.” So, if those that they were serving would not take care of them, they would be stealing from them. That, of course, as the Lord points out, will keep the blessings of their ministries from fully settling on them. (Cf. Luke 10:1-7; 1Cor 9:14; Gal 6:6)

So, if we do not take giving to support our ministers of God seriously (AND ONLY FEW OFTEN TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY IN MOST OF OUR CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLIES), we are stealing from them and stealing from God. How, then, can we expect the blessings of their ministries to fully work in us or expect the things God has given to us to be kept safe from devourers? This explains why brethren hardly prosper in material things in assemblies where their leaders are not joyfully and adequately cared for. Such brethren may be devoted to staying away from sin and walking in righteousness. But they won’t prosper as brethren who are not as devoted to living in righteousness as they are but who are devoted to caring for their leaders.

Well, the point of all this is that if you are robbing God by robing His ministers of the things you are supposed to give to them or do for them, the manifestation and security of your prosperity will be adversely affected. So, repent now and begin to do what is right. Otherwise, Satan won’t stop seeing opportunities to steal from you.

Have a lovely week.

Categories
General Post

Eradicating poverty from the church | By: J.O. Lawal Date: September 18, 2022 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk |Number: Vol. 11, No. 20

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours forevermore from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great delight that I welcome you to another week of the month of September 2022. I pray that God will fill your heart with adequate wisdom to walk with all His children in your life with love and understanding, so that your dealings with them will continually result in encouragement and prosperity for them and not in bitterness. Amen.

As we see in the bible, there were no poor persons in the church in those early days. Why? Luke tells us that it was because, from time to time, brethren who had properties were selling them and bringing the money made from the sales to the Apostles of the Lord to distribute to those who had need. That means poverty was not eradicated from among those brethren through special prayer and fasting programmes or through seed-sowing meetings. Rather, it was through generosity that it was eradicated from among them. And what prompted those generous brethren to give the way they gave? It was the love of Christ in them. (Cf. Acts 4:34-35; 2Cor 5:14)

But then, is generosity enough to eradicate poverty from among God’s people or anywhere? No! Unless people complement whatever measure of generosity they are receiving with some honest and diligent labour, it will most likely amount to nothing in their lives. They will just be consuming the gifts they are receiving instead of multiplying them. And this is why the apostles of old not only taught the brethren to be generous but also to be hard and diligent workers. In fact, they insisted that anyone who would not work must not eat. And that was because they did not want those who were being helped in the church to waste the help they were receiving or to become unnecessary burdens for others to carry. (Cf. Acts 20:34-35; Eph 4:28; 1Thess 4:11-12; 2Thess 3:6-10)

Unfortunately, many who want to be helped in the church today are not ready to engage in any serious labour that will enable them to multiply the help they want to get. They just want the church to bear for them burdens that they themselves are not willing or ready to bear. But that will not work. And it is, in fact, one of the reasons most of our assemblies today do not have any serious programme to help needy brethren. They have learnt from experience that most of those who want help from the church are lazy or irresponsible people who are just looking for opportunities to abuse the grace of God. Some of them are even bound to vanish once they get the help them want. So, if you want the church to support you in any way, you have to prove that you will not dupe the church of God and that the support you will get will count for something.

Another thing that made it possible for the generosity of those early saints to succeed in eradicating poverty from their midst was that it was not lopsided. In other words, it was not that those giving were giving to enrich others while they get impoverished. Also, it was not that those giving were the only ones continually giving and those receiving were also the only ones continually receiving. Instead, everyone was mutually involved in supporting one another based on what they had and according to their needs. (Cf. 2Cor 8:13-15)

Why, then, is this not the case today in most of our assemblies? It is not the case because our leaders are not teaching us not to be selfish in our dealings with one another the way those apostles of old taught their brethren. Paul, for instance, says this to the Philippians: “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Phil 2:4NIV) Did you see that? Those brethren were taught not to be self-centred, not to look only at what they can get from others but also at what they can give to them or do for them. But many in our assemblies today only look for what they can get from others and not what they can do for them. And as long as we are like this, there is no way those who are supporting us will not be irritated and, at some point, change their attitude towards us.

So, if we want to eradicate poverty in our churches, we must give heed to these three things, besides trusting God to supply all our needs. First, we must allow love to motivate us to be generous to one another. Second, we all that are able-bodied and of sound mind must be involved in some honest labour, so that we do not become unduly dependent on anyone. Third, we must not only be looking at what we can get from the church or others but also at what we can give to them. And may the Spirit of God enable us to act accordingly, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a great week.

Copyright © 2022, 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)

Categories
FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2022 Pastor's Desk

An evangelical woman|By J.O. Lawal|Date: September 11, 2022| Series: From Pastor’s Desk|Number: Vol. 11, No. 19

Beloved: grace and peace be yours forevermore from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to the second week of the month of September 2022. My prayer is that God will fill your heart with great inspiration to lead many others to Him, so that they also can enjoy His goodness and salvation, just as you are enjoying them. Amen.

In John’s gospel, he shares a story with us about a Samaritan woman that our Lord Jesus met by the well of Jacob in a town called Sychar. Evidently, the woman we are talking about must have a very troublesome one. That is because, as the conversation our Lord with her reveals, she had gone through five different marriages and had been divorced by her five different husbands. And even at the time the Lord met her, she had moved in with another man that she was not married to at all. Imagine, then, the kind of reputation she must have had in that town and among her people. I believe that is the explanation for her being all alone at the well to fetch water. She was somebody most people did not want to have anything to do with. (Cf. John 4)

Yet, when the Lord was done talking with her and introducing her to His well of living waters, she left her water jar, went back into the city and practically brought everybody with her to listen to Him. And that was how He ended up spending two more days with them.

But how did this troublesome woman suddenly become evangelical? How did this woman that nobody wanted to associate with succeed in bringing a whole town to Jesus? She must have spoken passionately to all the people about her experience with the Lord. That means what she heard from Him so blessed her that she forgot about her bitterness and hatred for those around her and began to freely tell them to stop deceiving themselves and come and meet their Lord and Messiah.

In like manner, if we have been blessed at all by our Lord Jesus, He expects us to become evangelical like this woman, forget about all the wrong things people have done to us and begin to lead them to Him. This is so that they too, like us, can experience His salvation and goodness in their lives. Unfortunately, many of us are not doing anything about this. We are not inviting others to come and join us in the beautiful fellowship we are having with the Lord and His people.

Why, then, are we like this? Could it be that we are not enjoying His goodness in our lives at all? Or could it be that what He is doing for us and in our lives is not worth talking about? Or could it be that we are ashamed to be associated with Him? Whatever our reasons may be, it is selfish of us not to lead others in our lives and around us to the one that is doing our lives good and bearing all our burdens for us moment after moment.

So, if the Lord has been nothing but good to you in your life, home and affairs, as we face this new week, become evangelical like that Samaritan woman and begin to lead those around to join you in fellowshipping with our Lord Jesus Christ and with us too. Truly, you may not know how to preach. That woman also did not know how to preach. Yet she brought all her townspeople to our Lord Jesus, the one who knew what to say to them. You too should bring all those people in your life who are in need of the Lord Jesus into our fellowship. And the Lord will give us the right words to say to them and meet them at the point of their needs. May the Spirit of God will your heart with great passion and boldness to act accordingly, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have yourself a splendid week.

Categories
FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2022 Pastor's Desk

What do you want to hear? | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: August 21, 2022 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 11, No. 16

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am delighted to welcome you to another week of the month of August 2022. And I pray that God will continually humble your heart before Him, so that you will always embrace His word for your daily edification, exaltation and salvation. Amen.

Paul, writing to Timothy in a letter, says to him, “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 4:3-4NIV) Who are the people this apostle is referring to here? Is he referring to unbelievers? No! Rather, he is referring to so-called Christians, to people who claim to have been born again through faith in Christ Jesus.

And what does Paul say about these people? He says they have a wrong attitude towards the truth of the of the Lord Jesus. In what way is their attitude towards the truth of Jesus wrong? First, as he points out, it is by not putting up with it. In other words, they detest it and do not want to embrace it. In fact, Paul says they turn their ears away from it. Why? It offends and hurts them. Why does it offend and hurt them? It is because it is contrary to their way of life.

Perhaps you too hate to hear the truth about God or about yourself or about life in general. Perhaps you too are continually turning your ears away from the truth when you are confronted with it. It only means that your life is contrary to it and you don’t want to admit it. Therefore, you will never be free from whatever binds you and is destroying you, for it is only the truth that makes people free (John 8:32).

Another thing that Paul says about these so-called Christians is that they gather around themselves a great number of teachers that will tell them what their itching ears want to hear. That means these people know what they want to hear. But it is not the truth. And in order to satisfy themselves, they will do anything to look for those who will tell them what they want to hear. Even if they have to pay handsomely for this to happen, they will do so.

It is no wonder, then, that we have a lot of preachers today who have departed from the truth of Jesus in order to teach errors, myths and other related nonsense. And interestingly, they also have a great number of people that are willing to follow them anywhere.

Now perhaps you too have certain things you want to hear from God or your church leaders other than the truth. Maybe there are things about money, sex, Christian devotion and so forth that you want to hear from God but which are contrary to what He wants to tell you. I want you to know that you will never be free from the trap of sin and death until you humble yourself to hear and embrace the truth He is bringing to you. Yes, you may go from prayer mountains to prayer mountains or from prophets to prophets for deliverance or exaltation. But as long as what you want to hear is not what God wants to say but what your itching ears want to hear, you will never experience the salvation or exaltation you are seeking.

So, what do you want to hear? Is it God’s truth that will bring you perfect liberty in your life or men’s lies and stories that have no power to give you any serious help? As for me, it is the truth of God that I want to hear all the time. And that is why I join Habakuk to say, “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.” (Hab 2:1NIV)

Do have a week of delight.

Copyright © 2022, 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)