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

Friendship with the world_Pst_J.O_Lawal

Recommended Citation:

Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 23). Friendship with the world. From Pastor’s Desk, 12(47).

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be multiplied to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to another week of the month of March 2025. My prayer is that God will daily keep His love in your heart burning, so that you may remain true to Him to the end. Amen.

As we face this new week, I want to admonish you with the words of James that say, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” (James 4:4NIV) What point is James making here? It is that there is no way we can choose God as our friend and still be in love with the world. Once we choose the world as our friend, then, we have already chosen God as our enemy. And how that will hurt us is not something anybody can tell. But it will surely hurt us.

Now it is unfortunate that we have many so-called children of God who claim to love Him but who are still in love with the things of this world. They still want to talk and dress like those of the world. They still want to party like them. And they are still in love with their music and movies. How, then, can they truly say that they love God? Or how can they say that these things of the world that they are in love with are not hurting their relationship with God? It is only a liar that will say that.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that everything being done by those of this world is wrong. To say the fact, there are a lot of things being done by those of the world that are right and good for God’s people too and that God’s people can learn from. But there are also things that those of this world do to basically pollute themselves and others. And the child of God must identify such things and separate himself from them. Otherwise, regardless of how much he claims to love God, he will be polluted and turned into an enemy of God.

Remember Lot’s daughters. Even though they left Sodom as virgins in their bodies, they were actually not virgins in their minds. Why? The reason was that the things they saw and heard in Sodom corrupted their minds. In fact, it is possible that they had practised in their minds all the things they were seeing and hearing in Sodom before they left the place. Therefore, at some point, when they could no longer control themselves, they got their own father drunk and then slept with him. What a shame! (Cf. Gen 19)

In like manner, we may think that the things we are seeing and hearing through our friendship with the world are not hurting us. But we are only lying to ourselves. There is no way we will be in friendship with the world and its pollution will not enter our lives. And once it enters our lives, we too may one day do as Lot’s daughters did. We may do the unthinkable.

All of this is why the word of God warns us against friendship with the world. It can only make us enemies of God. And if we should become His enemies, what will become of our hope of His eternal kingdom? It may just slip out from our hands. I pray that the hope of God’s kingdom will never slip out of our hands. But we too should watch ourselves.

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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Fire in my Bones

Don’t make yourself a victim_J.0_Lawal

Recommended Citation:

Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 19). Don’t make yourself a victim. Youth for Jesus, 7(45).

“Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.” (Gen 4:8NIV)

Why did Cain kill his brother Abel? He killed him because he was jealous of him. He was jealous of him because, while God accepted Abel and his offering, He did not accept him and his offering. He had probably thought that he would be more favoured by God on that occasion. But when things did not go as he had expected, he became very jealous and angry. And because he would not deal with these things, he ended up murdering his own brother, a brother that he was supposed to be protecting.

But why did he succeed in murdering Abel? He succeeded in murdering him because Abel was either naïve or unobservant. As the bible tells us, after Cain and his offering to God had been rejected, he became very angry. He was so enraged that God had to quickly come to talk to him about his attitude and sin’s desire to posses him to do something stupid and dangerous. (Cf. Gen 4:1-6)

Now did Abel not see that his brother’s face was downcast because God did not accept him and his offering? If he did not notice that, then, he was totally unobservant. That means he was not paying much or any attention to what was happening around him. How, then, could he possibly tell if he was safe to be where he was or not?

Personally, I do not think that Abel was unobservant. The account does not show that he was unobservant. On the contrary, the account suggests that he too could see that his brother was very angry because of how God treated him and his offering. Yet he was not on his guard against him. Why? It must have been because he did not think at all that his brother could harm him, regardless of how angry or jealous he was.

But that was naivety on Abel’s part. It was naïve of him not to know that anger could turn someone into a mad man, making him do unthinkable things, things that he himself will later regret doing. It was also naïve of him not to know that jealousy always poisons people’s lives, making them dangerous and unreasonable. Since Cain, then, was filled with both of these things, he should have been on his guard against him.

Unfortunately, he was not on his guard against him. So, he lost his life prematurely to the cruelty of his own blood brother. And God did not protect him. Why did He not protect him, even though he was a righteous man? We are not told the reason in the account or anywhere else in the bible. But our Lord Jesus tells us something that may help us understand why God may not protect a righteous person from the wickedness of those in his world. He says:

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Matt 10:16NIV)

Did you see that? The righteous is not just supposed to be as innocent or meek as a dove, he is also supposed to be as clever as a snake. In other words, he is supposed to always be attentive, observant and on his guard against any form of danger. Otherwise, he will often make himself a victim of the hatred, bitterness, jealousy or sexual harassment of the wolves in his world.

Truly, regardless of how smart or clever we may be in our conduct, if God does not protect us from the evil schemes and anger of the wolves in our world, we will not be safe. But we should at least first obey His command that tells us to be as clever as snakes in dealing with those of this world. Then we can trust Him to take care of every other thing that concerns our safety.

If we, however, fail to obey what He has told us to do, we may end up making ourselves a victim of the wicked, as Abel did. And God may not protect us. Yes, He will avenge us. But we would have already suffered. My prayer is that you will never again suffer from the hands of the wicked and unreasonable. But you too should be as clever as snakes, just as you are as meek as doves.

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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Single Message Series

Open up leaders_J.O._Lawal

Recommended Citation:

Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 9). Open up leaders. See to it.

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I want to further share with you on the need for us to take seriously what Scriptures tell us about watching over one another as believers in Christ Jesus. And in the last lesson, I showed you from the Scriptures what we are told to do to so-called believers that are living in sin. We are told not to associate with them. But then, I asked, “Should we wait for any of our brethren to become immoral or ungodly and then have to dissociate with them? Should we allow that to happen at all?”

As we also see in Scriptures, there are instructions to us not to allow any of our brethren to fall away. And I want us to look at some of those instructions again. First, in Hebrews 3, we are told this:

“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)

We have a similar instruction in Hebrews 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)

These instructions are all pointing to the same thing, which is that we are to keep watch over one another, so that none of us develops a sinful heart that turns away from the living God. That means we are to pay attention to ourselves, so that none of us becomes immoral or ungodly. Otherwise, we will also have to obey the word of God that tells us not to associate with them. The word of God tells us not to associate with them for two major reasons. The first is that they may see how terrible their condition is and see the need for them to repent. The second is that they may not pollute us. And we must bear these two reasons in mind. If anyone that we know to be a believer becomes immoral or ungodly in any way, we have to dissociate ourselves from him for these reasons, if he is not willing to repent.

But I am saying that we should not allow any of our brethren to become immoral or ungodly. And this is not just something good for us to do; we are also given instructions to do so in the bible. We are told to see to it that none of us develops a sinful heart that turns away from the living God or falls short of the grace of God.

However, we also need to know how to go about this. If we do not know how to go about this, we will just realize that, day after day, we will keep having brethren that are turning away from the living God and won’t be able to stop them. So, first, we need to know what is happening in the lives of our brethren. And for us to be able to do that, we must be deliberately involved in their lives.

Now I know that someone may ask, “What if our brethren don’t want us to be involved in their lives at all?” I will come to that later. But we must deliberately be involved in their lives. That way, we can know what is going on in their lives – what businesses they are involved in, what sort of friends they have, what places they go, what people they listen to or follow, what teachings they are exposed to and so forth.

All this, of course, does not mean that we have to unduly police our brethren or interfere with their lives. I will get to that as well. But it is just important that we are fully involved in their lives that we may know how they are faring. Look at some of the things Paul says along these lines to the Thessalonians:

“But brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. For we wanted to come to you – certainly I, Paul, did, again and again – but Satan blocked our way. For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.” (1Thessalonians 2:17-20NIV)

Here Paul is expressing their desire as apostles to visit these brethren in Thessalonica. They had ministered to them and among them for a while and had also had to leave them hurriedly because of persecutions. But after a while, they began to long for them. They wanted to see them and know how they were faring. And personally, as he points out in the text, he made effort to go and see them. But twice, as he equally points out, Satan prevented him from doing so.

How did Satan prevent Paul from visiting these Thessalonian brethren? He would not say. He does not disclose that in the letter. But he makes it clear in the text that it was Satan that prevented him from visiting them on the two occasions that he had attempted to do so.

Now if visiting them was not important or significant to their faith, why would Satan prevent him from doing so? I mean that if Satan did not know the relevance or significance of Paul’s visit to these brethren, why would he prevent him from visiting them twice? So, even Satan knows how important it is for us to keep in touch with one another as believers. And he will do whatever he can to isolate us and keep us from continually fellowshipping with one another, so that he may have his way with some of us or all of us and ruin our faith. We, unfortunately, are the only ones that seem not to appreciate the significance of this.

Well, Paul, in chapter 3 of this same letter to the Thessalonians, goes on to say:

“So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labours might have been in vain.” (1Thessalonians 3:1-5NIV)

Look at that. Paul was concerned about visiting these brethren because he wanted to know how they were faring in the faith. And he was concerned in this manner because he was aware of the devices of the devil. He knew that Satan would use any opportunity he had to tempt these brethren and to turn them away from the truth of Christ Jesus. So, he wanted to be sure of their faith conditions by visiting them.

Now that is how it has to be for us too. We must be concerned about the faith conditions of our brethren all the time. And to show that we are concerned, we have to be participating fully in their lives all the time. Yes, we have to know what is going on in their lives.

However, charity begins at home. What I mean is that we have to set an example in this manner. In other words, we, especially those of us who are leaders, have to make our lives open to the brethren. That way, we can continually get to know what is going on in their lives. So, we have to set examples for them. We have to let them know what is going on in our own lives. That way, they can see that we have nothing to hide and that our lives are a clear example of what we are telling them to do or how we are asking them to live.

In Ephesians chapter 6, from verse 21, Paul says this:

“Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.” (Ephesians 6:21-22NIV)

Paul is setting an example for the believers here of how important it is for them to know what is going on in one another’s life. Otherwise, they may not be able to fully fulfill the word of God that tells us to watch over one another. Well, he says I am sending Tychicus to you to tell you how I am and what I am doing. That means he wants the brethren to know how he is faring and what is going on in his life and in the lives of his ministry companions. And if he is opening up to them like this, then, they too will not see it as something strange to share their lives with him.

Also, in Colossians, chapter 4, from verse 7, Paul says:

“Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.” (Colossians 4:7-9NIV)

Paul, again, is being open to the brethren about what is going on in his life. So, no one will have to start investigating his life or carrying around any rumour about him. That is because he has already made plain and open his life and what is going on in it. Therefore, no one will say that they do not know what is going on in his life or what he is up to.

You can see, then, that it is important that people know what is going on in the lives of their leaders. Otherwise, they may begin to misbehave. Remember that when the children of Israel did not know what was going on with Moses, they began to misbehave (Exodus 32). In like manner, when people cannot tell what is going in the lives of their leaders, when they cannot see anything about how they are living their lives, they may begin to misbehave.

Yes, leaders may be giving their brethren all kinds of faith instructions. They can be instructing them on the relevance of praying and studying Scriptures. But can they see them praying? Can they see them studying the word of God in any serious way? Can they see them living righteous lives where they live or work? If they cannot see these things, then, they may not take very seriously the instructions that these leaders are giving to them about living right. So, I am saying that, as leaders, if we will be able to fully get involved in the lives of our brethren and fulfill the word of God that tells us to see to it that none of us falls away from God’s grace, we must first be open with our own lives.

Before I move on, let me give you another Scripture that shows us the significance of watching over one another. It is from Acts of the Apostles, chapter 20. From verse 28, it says:

“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. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:28-31NIV)

We see here, again, how important it is for us to keep watch over one another. It is important because, as I said before, Satan will be looking for whatever opportunity he has to deceive us and turn our hearts away from the living God. He will be looking for any opportunity he has to introduce impurities, greed, bitterness and other forms of ungodly things into our lives. And once he succeeds in sowing any of these wicked seeds into our lives, it will not be long before the seed grows and begins to bring forth fruit. Then we will become upset and begin to raise alarms.

But what were we doing when Satan was planting those seeds? We were not paying attention. And we would not know anything until the seeds have become big trees that are producing fruit of immorality, greed, jealousy and so forth. If we, however, will begin to pay sufficient attention to what is going on in our lives, then, we might be able to tell when Satan is sowing some evil seeds into our brethren’s lives and then move in to prevent him or uproot his seeds from their lives.

Well, the point I am making is that it is important that we watch over our brethren, if we do not want any of us to fall short of the grace of God or becoming unbelieving and turn away from the living God. Then I am saying for us to be able to watch over them well, we must be involved in one another’s lives. And the leaders must take the lead in doing this. The leaders must first make their own lives open to their brethren. Then they can expect them to follow suit.

Now look at what Paul says about this in 2Corinthians, chapter 6, from verse 11:

“We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange – I speak as to my children – open wide your hearts also.” (2Corinthians 6:11-13NIV)

Paul, here, is challenging the Corinthians to be open to them about their lives and affairs. And on what basis is he doing this? He is doing it on the basis of the fact that he and his ministry companions have already done this to the Corinthians. They have already opened wide their hearts to them, expressing their love and concerns for them. Why, then, are they not doing the same? That is his question to them. Why are they withholding their affection from these servants of God? Why don’t they want them to know what is going on in their lives? Well, he tells them that as a fair exchange, they too should open wide their hearts.

In like manner, there are brethren who may not want us to know what is going on in their lives until we begin to deliberately show them what is going on in our own lives. When we let these ones know what is going on in our lives, then, they will not think of it as strange, if we are asking them to let us know what is going on in their lives. So, leaders must take this very seriously.

If a leader wants to travel, for instance, he should let his brethren know. But there are leaders who will not want their brethren to know their movement. Even if it is fear that will not allow them to do that, it is still inexcusable. I do not, of course, mean that you have to inform the brethren of every step you take. But they need to be able to tell where you go and where you don’t go and what you do and what you don’t do with your life. They don’t have to rely on outsiders to be telling them about you or about your life. It really should not be in the dailies or on the social media that they will be finding out what you have been up to.

So, let them know what is going on in your life, if you are not having some secret affairs. And be deliberate about this. Be deliberate about letting them how you are faring in life and in business. Let them see what sort of challenges you are facing and how you are handling them by the power of the Spirit of God. You will be using this to teach them to open up.

Now remember that until we know what is going on in their lives, we may not be able to help them stay in the faith. Also, remember that if any of our brethren should fall away from the grace of God, we will have no choice but to dissociate ourselves from them. But what is the guarantee that they will be restored to the Lord, if we have to stay away from them in that manner? Yes, we have to stay away from them so that we do not become corrupted by them and so that they may see the need to repent. But what is the guarantee that they will repent on their own?

So, it is better we do not let any of our brethren fall away at all. Yes, regardless of how much attention we give to some brethren, if they are determined to mess up, they will surely mess up, just as Judas Iscariot did. But we have to be sure that we do our own part in ensuring that none of our brethren falls away. And I am saying that in order to do that, we must be fully involved in one another’s lives.

Let us pray.

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

Cursing the Deaf_Lawal_J.0

Recommended Citation

Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 12). Cursing the deaf. Youth for Jesus, 7(44).

“Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.” (Lev 19:14NIV)

What point is God making by saying to us the things we have in our opening text? It is that we are not to use the weaknesses or handicaps of others to exploit or hurt them. Doing so, as He further points out, can only show that we do not fear Him.

Now, of course, we may say, “I can never do that. I can never curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of a blind person.” But any time we are using someone’s ignorance, weakness or position of disadvantage in life to exploit or hurt them, that is exactly what we are doing. We are cursing the deaf. We are putting a stumbling block in front of the blind.

For instance, a pastor that I once knew was transferred to replace another pastor in a chapter of their assembly. And the first thing he did when he got to that assembly was to reduce the stipends being given to all the staff he met there. Why? Well, his reason was that they were performing far below what they were being given.

But what those people were being given at the time for what they were doing was quite little, compared to what most graduates like them were earning. Yet this man did not care at all. He just did what he felt that he had to do.
Now was he not afraid that those staff members may resign and leave? No, he was not. Why was he not afraid? First, he was not afraid because he knew that those staff members had put in some years of their lives into serving that church, years that they could have used in building some careers, furthering their studies or building some businesses. So, leaving the church office like that would be like starting all over again. It would, then, take a very bold and daring person to do so.

Second, that man was not afraid that his staff would leave because he was aware that most of them, if not all of them, came to work in the church office because they believed that God wanted them to be there to serve Him. So, he judged that they would not want him to start telling the church members that the reason they left was that they were unwilling to make sacrifices for God. And did he judge right or not? He did.

In fact, none of those staff members left at the time. Instead, they all stayed to justify the fact that they were not working for God because of money but because they loved Him. But were they happy to stay? No! What, then, can we say that the man did to them? He used their situation, their sense of commitment to God, to exploit them. And that is nothing but cursing the deaf and putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind.

Now there are several other things that we too can do that will amount to cursing the deaf or putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind. For instance, people will know that the price of an article has gone terribly up. Yet they will go to someone who doesn’t know and buy everything they have from them at the old price, instead of telling them that the price had changed. And too often, it is their own customers that do this to them. So, the person ends us suffering some losses that could have been avoided. What is that? it is cursing the deaf and putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind.

What about those who take advantage of those who come to them for help in dealing with sexual abuse or sexual sins? They are cursing the deaf and putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind. How? They are well aware of the weakness of those coming to them. They already know that they cannot help themselves in their situation. Yet they mess them up while claiming to be offering them help. Are they not cursing the deaf and putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind? They are!

In any case, the word of God tells us that a lack of the fear of God is what will make us do such things. That, then, means there will surely be consequences. So, if there is any way in which you are using people’s ignorance, handicaps, weaknesses or position of disadvantage to exploit, harass or hurt them, you need to repent before it is too late. That is because God is watching you. And He will pay you back in full for whatever you do, good or bad. So, mind yourself.

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

Be Careful and Prayerful_J.0.Lawal

Recommended Citation: Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 9). Be careful and prayerful. From Pastor’s Desk, 12(45).

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be multiplied to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am glad to welcome you to the second week of the month of March 2025. And I pray that God will keep you from falling into any trap set by the devil for your soul, so that you may stand blameless at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

As we begin this new week, I want to admonish you with these words of our Lord Jesus Christ:

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 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 21:34-36NIV)

What are the main things the Lord wants us to note and take seriously, as we see in this bible text? The first is the need for us to be careful. Why do we need to be careful? The reason is that our enemy, Satan, will daily use all kinds of things to fight our souls in order to enslave us and make us forget that this earth is not our permanent home. And if we are not careful, we will have been lost to the anxieties of this life and to all kinds of ungodly things that will ruin our lives and souls before we know what is happening.

So, be careful. Be careful of where you go. Be careful of who you make friends with. Be careful of what you allow your eyes to see and what you allow your ears to hear. And be careful of what thoughts you permit in your mind. Otherwise, you may just lose yourself to the world and to the devil before you know it.

The second thing the Lord wants us to pay attention to, as we see in that bible text, is our devotion to prayer. There are, of course, all kinds of prayers. But the prayers He is talking about here have to do with the preservation of our souls in these last days. So, first, He tells us to pray that we will be able to escape all the terrible things, accidents, calamities, plagues, famines and so forth, that will be happening in the last days. Second, He tells us to pray that we will be able to stand before Him when He returns.

What is the point of all this, then? It is that none of us can escape the dangers and corruption of the last days, if we are not preserved by God Himself. Our boldness, determination and strong will are not enough to preserve us. God Himself has to preserve us. Otherwise, we will just wake up one day and realise that we too have become everything we have once preached against.

Therefore, apart from being careful in our daily walk in this life, we must also give ourselves to earnestly praying that God, in His mercy, will preserve our lives and souls from all the dangers and corruption of these last days. And if we will continually do this in faith, we will not be put to shame. Instead, we will be preserved pure and blameless when our Lord Jesus returns.

Do have a lovely 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)

Categories
Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Sensible People _J.0.Lawal

Recommended Citation:Here is a citation in APA 7 format:

Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 5). Sensible people. Youth for Jesus, 7(43).

“I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.” (1 Cor 10:15NIV)

Who is speaking here? Paul the apostle! Who is he talking to? The Corinthian brethren! And how does he describe them? He describes them as sensible people.

Therefore, the fact that someone is a child of God and is filled with the Spirit of God does not mean that his reasoning abilities have been taken away from him. No, they have not been taken away from him at all. Instead, they are still very much with him. So, he is expected to be using them.

Are you, then, using your reasoning abilities? Am I using my reasoning abilities? One of the things that can easily make us angry and lose ourselves is for someone to tell us that we are not sensible or that we are not using our head? And if we are not using our head, we are simply not using it. So, even if we get angry because someone says that we are not using our head, it will not change the fact that we are not using it. What we need to do, then, is not to get angry but to start using our head.

As Paul points out in that text, sensible people use their head. Yes, sensible people judge what they hear, see and feel before they decide on how to respond. They won’t just take something as good or bad or as true or false, based on what they can immediately see, hear or feel. Instead, they will first take out some time to examine and judge it in the light of the knowledge that is available to them. That is why they rarely fall into traps of deceit or seduction. It is also why they are often able to make the most of life’s opportunities, even turning bad situations around for their good.

Therefore, as a sensible person, always judge the things coming to you before you act. When you hear a sermon or read a passage of the bible, for example, judge it in the light of entire body of truth given to us in the Scriptures. Paul, as we again see in our opening text, invites his readers to judge what he is teaching them. He doesn’t say that they should just accept and never question whatever he says to them, seeing that he is an apostle. If he had done that, he would have taken away from them their freedom to use their head. And that is what often results in slavery. If you, then, don’t want to be enslaved to any false doctrine or ungodly practice, you had better learn to stay away from anyone that will not allow you to judge their teachings or practice before accepting it.

Then, even in natural matters, learn to judge what you hear, see or feel. Otherwise, you may lose certain once-in-a-lifetime opportunities or unconsciously make a victim of yourself. David, for instance, had to start acting naughty, when he first came as a fugitive to Achish king of Gath. Why? He had heard this king’s servants telling him of his exploits as Israel’s war champion. And he immediately judged the situation and reasoned that Achish may soon begin to see him as a threat to his life and his kingdom and then have him killed. (Cf. 1Sam 21:10-15)

Therefore, he pretended to be having fits of insanity in order to appear too weak to be a threat to anyone. That, of course, bought him the needed time to gain Achish’s trust. So, the man eventually began to treat him like a loyal servant. (Cf. 1Sam 27)

In like manner, we too can turn bad situations around for our good, if we will learn to act like the sensible people that God has made us, judging what we hear, see and feel carefully to know the proper way to respond to them. And I pray that you will be daily strengthened by the Spirit of God to begin to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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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General Post Single Message Series

Songs of the Spirit_.J.0_Lawal

Recommended Citation: Lawal, J. O. (2025, February 23). Songs of the Spirit. Single Sermons.

In Colossians, chapter 3, verse 16, Paul says this:

“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” (NIV)

I have shared some things with us along from this verse of the Scriptures before. Yet I want to speak to us from it again this morning, as we sing together. Now I want you to know that what we are doing this morning is spiritual. It is not a waste of time. It is not something we are doing to just fill in the gap. It is something spiritual.

Well, from the verse I just read to you, Paul makes it clear to us that we can do two major things with singing in the church. First, he says we can instruct ourselves with songs. Yes, we can teach and admonish ourselves with songs. We can educate ourselves in the things of the Spirit with songs. And we have done some of that this morning. Haven’t we?

Then he also tells us that we can praise God or minister to Him with songs. We can worship God, praise Him and bless His heart with songs. That is why he tells us to sing to God with gratitude in our hearts to God. In other words, we are to express our gratitude to God with songs.

There is, of course, another use of songs in the church, which Paul does not mention here. It is that we can pray to God with songs. And when we talk to Him with songs, He will answer us, as long as we are talking to Him according to His will. That is why Paul tells us in that text that our songs must be songs from the Spirit. That means they must be spiritual songs, songs that are in line with the will of God.

In any case, when we begin to sing like this, all kinds of things will begin to happen to us and for us in the realm of the spirit, especially when we are doing so from our hearts and according to the will of God. Truly, we may not be able to immediately tell what is going on when we are singing spiritual songs from our hearts. But things are surely going on.

For instance, in Acts of the Apostles, chapter 16, we are told of how Paul and Silas were arrested in Philippi for setting free a young lady that was possessed of a demon. They were arrested. They were beaten. And they were jailed. But then, as Luke tells us, in the middle of the night – about midnight – Paul and Silas began to pray and to sing hymns. They could have been depressed because of their situation. Remember that they had been unjustly treated. And that was enough to give anyone a reason to feel sad or sorrowful and to pity himself.

But these men did not pity themselves. They did not allow depression or anxiety to take over. Yes, they had every reason to be depressed. But they chose not to be depressed. And all kinds of bad or negative things may be happening around you or to you too, if you allow yourself to become depressed because of them, it is your choice. That is because you can choose not to be depressed. You can choose not to be anxious. You can choose not to be afraid.

Now you may look at your life and see that things are not going as they are meant to be going. And that can indeed be what is obvious. I mean that it may be obvious to everyone around you that your life is a mess, that it is out of order and place. And you can allow that to depress you. Or you can choose to praise God and bless His name.

These men – Paul and Silas – chose to pray and to sing to God. And they were not doing this quietly, as Luke further points out. Everybody heard them, as they prayed and sang to God. All the prisoners with them in the prison could clearly hear them as they prayed and sang hymns. That means they were excited about it. That means with all the pains that they must have been feeling in their bodies, with all the bruises and cuts on them and with the horrible odour of blood that must have been coming from them, they still chose to pray and to sing aloud.

Well, as they were doing that, suddenly a miracle happened. They were not expecting it. They were just doing what they knew to be right. Remember that the word of God says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, ‘Rejoice!’” And to rejoice always means to rejoice always. This ‘always’ means all the time, including when you have no money in your bank accounts, including when failure is staring you in the face, including when your body feels weak. (Cf. Philippians 4:4)

So, it is not the circumstances that should determine your devotion to rejoicing in the Lord always. Rather, it is the word of God. The word of God says, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” That is God’s command to you. That was what Paul and Silas were obeying. And as they were obeying it, there was an earthquake that shook the prison where they were being held to its very foundations. Immediately, their chains and those of all the prisoners with them fell loose. Also, all the prison doors were flung open. In fact, it was so serious that the jailer was going to kill himself, for he thought that all the prisoners had escaped.

But Paul quickly stepped in and said to him “We are all here. Don’t harm yourself.” And that same night, salvation came into the house of that man. Why? The reason was that two men chose to act differently. They chose to go against the tides. They chose to do the will of God. And if you too will choose to do the will of God this morning, praising Him, miracles will happen in your life. Yes, miracles will happen around you. Miracles will happen in your home. Concerning your business miracles will happen. Concerning your job miracles will happen. Concerning your academics miracles will happen. There will be earthquakes that will destroy the limitations in your life. There will be earthquakes that will destroy barriers. There will be earthquakes that will remove the mountains hindering you. There will be earthquakes that will bring to you all that God wants you to have, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let us continue to bless His name this morning.

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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From Pastor's Desk 2025 General Post

His Eyes Are Always On Them_J.O.Lawal

Recommended Citation: Lawal, J.O. (2025, March 2). His eyes are always on them. From Pastor’s Desk, 12(44).

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the third month of this year, the month of March 2025. My prayer is that God will beautify your life and home afresh in the month, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now, as we begin this new month, I want to encourage you with these words from a Psalm of David:

“But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.” (Ps 33:18-19NIV)

What do we see here? We see that God’s eyes are always on those who fear Him and who have put their hope in His unfailing love. In other words, He never takes His eyes off them, regardless of where they go or find themselves.

Why, then, are God’s eyes always on such people? First, it is so that He may deliver them from death. Remember that it was David that said these words. And he said them as a testimony of God’s goodness to him. God continually protected him from death, even though his enemy, King Saul, took all kinds of steps to kill him and prevent him from sitting on the throne of Israel. Eventually, it was his enemy that lost his life. But he went on to become the king that God had always wanted him to be.

In the same vein, if we too are living in the fear of God and have all our trust in Him, not in human beings or their schemes, we will always enjoy His protection from death and destruction. That means it does not matter what Satan does to destroy or kill us, he will not succeed. But we will go on to become on all that God wants us to be in life.

Second, God’s eyes are always on those who fear Him and whose hope are in His unfailing love in order to keep them alive in famine. That means it does not how bad the economy of a place becomes, God will always see to it that those who are living to honour Him and who have their eyes fixed on Him do not go hungry. In fact, as He made Isaac wealthy in a time of famine, He is able to make them wealthy too. (Cf. Gen 26)

In like manner, even though the economy of this country is poor at the moment, if we will continually live in the fear of God and put our hope in Him, He will see to it that we do not hungry. How will He do that? I cannot tell you. That is because I wouldn’t know unless He tells me. But I do know that if we will not throw our confidence in Him away, He will see to it that we do not lack any good thing, even though we are living in a time of famine.

So, maintain your faith in God, regardless of what is happening around you and regardless of what you have or do not have at the moment. Also, keep on living in His fear, even though everyone around you has given themselves to unrighteousness. And He will see to it that you are never put to shame.

Have a lovely March 2025.

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

It’s not just to make you sorrowful_By J.0. Lawal

Recommended Citation:

Lawal, J. O. (2025, February 26). It’s not just to make you sorrowful. Fire In My Bones_Youth for Jesus, 7(42).

“Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it — I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” (2Cor 7:8-11NIV)

What should rebuke or correction aim at accomplishing? As we see through Paul’s words in our opening text, it should aim at accomplishing repentance. This man of God, at some point, had to write a letter of rebuke and correction to the Corinthian brethren. And his words of rebuke and correction were so intense that he later received news that those words made these brethren sorrowful.

Now was he happy that the Corinthians became sorrowful on account of his letter of rebuke and correction? No! Why was he not happy that his letter made these brethren sorrowful? Isn’t that the purpose of rebuke or correction, making people feel sad and sorry for themselves?

Well, Paul was not happy that the Corinthians became sorrowful because of his words of rebuke and correction because he knew that being sorrowful about one’s wrongdoing is not the same thing as repenting of it. We may feel very terrible today about something we have done. That, however, does not mean we will never do it again, given the same or similar circumstances.

There are people, for instance, that always feel sorrowful each time they are involved in sexual immorality or each time they hurt someone they love. But have they stopped hurting the people they are hurting? No! Of what use, then, is their sorrow? Of no use!

Therefore, as we see in our opening text, what Paul was looking out for in the Corinthians was not just their sorrow about their wrongdoings; rather, what he was looking out for was their repentance. It was their repentance that would make him happy. It was their repentance that would show him the kind of sorrow they had.

See, as this apostle shows us, there are two kinds of sorrow. First, we have godly sorrow. This kind of sorrow produces repentance. In other words, it drives the one that has it to take necessary steps towards putting a stop to whatever they are doing wrong, so that they can begin to do what is right. Therefore, it will not leave them with regrets. Instead, it will make them receive God’s cleansing from the poison of sin and error.

Now that, of course, is the kind of sorrow God wants to see in us, when He corrects us. It is the kind of sorrow that Peter exhibited when he denied Jesus Christ three times in a row in one night. This sorrow made him see the folly of trusting in his own ability to follow the Lord. This sorrow made him draw even nearer to the Lord.

But then, we also have worldly sorrow. And Paul says this kind of sorrow brings nothing but regret and death. Yes, you are sorrowful about what you have done. But instead of turning to God for forgiveness and strength to repent, all you think about is your mess. And the more you load yourself with thoughts of regret about your mess, the more you want to punish yourself for it. Then, if you stay longer in that realm, it will not be long before you do something to harm your faith in God or to harm your life.

Remember Judas Iscariot. Remember that he killed himself for betraying Jesus. But he was not the only that failed Jesus that night. Peter and all the other apostles also failed him, to one degree or the other. But did they kill themselves? No! Why, then, did he kill himself? He killed himself because what he had was worldly sorrow. All he was thinking about was how someone like him could stoop as low as to betray his loving lord and master. He was not thinking at all about God’s grace for his cleansing, repentance and restoration. So, he made a bad situation worse for himself.

If we too don’t want to be making bad situations worse for ourselves, when God is correcting or rebuking us, we should never again focus on the mess we have made but on the need to make the most of God’s grace for our forgiveness, cleansing and repentance. Yes, we may be sorrowful about what we have done. But unless we are cleansed of it and set right, our sorrow will make no sense to God or result in the healing of our lives.

In like manner, in correcting or rebuking others, our focus should never be on making them feel bad or sorrowful, to the end that they may want to destroy themselves. Rather, it should be on encouraging them to repent and begin to do what is right. There are people who rebuke or correct only for the purpose of making others feel really silly and horrible for their wrongdoings. They care nothing about whether your sorrow leads you to repentance or not. They just want to make you feel very bad.

Now such people are simply being borrowed by the devil to destroy others. And if, for any reason, you should be a target of their rebuke or correction, you had better not allow them to fill you with the sorrow that destroys. Otherwise, you will only have yourself to blame.

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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From Pastor's Desk 2025 General Post

Show your love for Him – By J.0. Lawal


Lawal, J. O. (2025, February 23). Show your love for Him. From Pastor’s Desk, 12(43).

Senior Pastor Alaythia Bible Church

Beloved: grace, mercy, and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the last week of the month of February 2025. My prayer is that God will make available for you in the week every good thing your heart desires to have this month that you are yet to have. Amen.

Now, as we begin this new week, I want to encourage you with the following Scripture about Solomon and how he proved himself worthy of God’s favour:

“Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places. The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.” (1Kings 3:3-4NIV)

How did Solomon show his love for God, as we see in this bible text? First, he showed it by walking according to the godly instructions given to him by his father. In other words, he was living according to the will of God. Second, he showed his love for God by giving to Him. He gave Him a thousand burnt offerings in one day. And there is no record in the bible that anyone had proved his love for God in this manner before.

Well, because Solomon took his love for God beyond words of mouth by living according to His will and also by being generous to Him, God also appeared to him in a dream to reward him. God asked him to ask for anything that he wanted Him to do for him. That, of course, was how he became the wisest and richest man of all the people of his time. (Cf. 1Kings 3:5:15; 2Chro 1:1-12)

What is this teaching us? It is that it is not enough for us to be telling God that we love Him or telling people that we love God; we also need to daily prove our love for Him. And how do we prove our love for Him? First, it is by living according to His will. No one who will not live according to the will of God should say, “I love for God.” That will be nothing but a lie. If you truly love Him, then, you will not only be devoted to finding out what He wants but will also be doing what He wants.

The second way to prove that we love God is by being generous to Him. Can we truly say that we love someone that we are not generous to? No! If we love people, we will be generous to them. We will want to give them anything that is within our ability to make them happy. In fact, sometimes, because of our love for some people, we may even go beyond our ability in giving to them. And if we truly love God too, there are times we will go beyond our ability in giving to Him.

A woman once proved her love for Jesus by pouring a jar of some very expensive perfume on His head. Those who saw this, of course, were very angry with her. Why? They thought the perfume she poured on Jesus’ head was too expensive to be wasted like that. But Jesus said told them immediately that what she did was not a waste at all. On the contrary, what she did was done to show her love for Him. Then what she did, according to the Lord, was also done to prepare His body for His burial, even though she had not known this herself before that time. That means it was actually the Spirit of God that led her to do what she did. And the reward was that her name would be mentioned wherever the gospel of the Lord is preached. (Cf. Matt 26:6-13; Mark 14:1-9; John 12:1-8)

So, we can even say that one of the ways to know how yielded we are to the Spirit of God is through our generosity to God. How generous are you, then, to Him? How generous are you to His servants? Then how devoted are you to living your life to please Him? These are the things that will let us know whether you truly love Him or not. My prayer is that what you call love for God will always prove to be genuine and not counterfeit, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a pleasant 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)