PREPARATION FOR DIVINE VISITATION

TRETS 30/03/2017

PREPARATION FOR DIVINE VISITATION

Deuteronomy 16:16; John 7:2,3,37-39; Acts 1:4-14

In the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, there were special times when God’s people gathered together to receive from Him. Israel gathered thrice every year and it was during one of these gatherings, the feast of Tabernacle (John 7:2,3,37-39) that Jesus made the great invitation for the Holy Ghost baptism. The outpouring of the Holy Ghost was during the feast of weeks or Pentecost (Acts 2:1).

God also wants His children to gather today so that He can bless them. Retreats provide opportunities for such gathering and they have over the years, been a medium of reaching the lost, setting captives free, sanctifying blood-washed saints, empowering thirsty, sanctified and waiting believers, bringing the promises nearer to the people, delivering the oppressed, consistent Christian living for previously defeated, fledgling believers, prosperity for the needy and concentrated teaching of the word of God for all.  To the spiritually famished, destitute, blind and lame folks (Amos 8:11,12; Jeremiah 15:21; 1 Corinthians 2:9; Luke 15:14) in the neighbourhood, the December Retreat is their very present hope before the year runs out.

Therefore, to fulfil God’s purpose for our community and also receive our heart desires, we must ARISE, possess “a mind to work” and prepare for God’s blessing. This will be done as we make personal preparation, get involved in prevailing prayer, be resolved to proclaim the Retreat and personally participate in the Retreat.

1. Personal Preparation For Divine Visitation

Numbers 11:18; Joshua 3:5; 1 Samuel 7:3; 2 Chronicles 19:3; 29:15; Luke 1:17; 24:49; 2 Timothy 2:2.

On the eve of great events in the Bible, God generally called His people to personally prepare - “sanctify yourselves”, “prepare your hearts unto the LORD” “prepare thine heart to seek God”. Our heart must be prepared to listen, learn and live out the word of God. All “idols” must be removed. Our preparation can be meaningful only when it is characterised by the following qualities:

(1) Desire - Psalm 27:4; 37:4; Matthew 5:6

(2) Determination - John 4:34; 9:4; Psalm 57:7

(3) Discipline - 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 2 Timothy 2:1,3-5

(4) Dependence on God - Proverbs 3:5-7; Luke 1:37; Zechariah 4:6; 2 Corinthians 3:5.

So, a desire to receive from God, a determination to remove all distractions and engagements while the Retreat lasts, self-discipline and total dependence on God must be our lifestyle during the Retreat.

2. Prevailing Prayer For Divine Visitation

Jeremiah 33:3; Zechariah 13:9; 2 Kings 13:14-19; Isaiah 43:25,26; Ephesians 3:14-20; 6:18-20.

Prevailing, goal-oriented and sincere prayer is indispensable as we prepare for the Retreat. With prayer, we express our dependence on God and slit open the curtains of heaven. No believer can function effectively, receive great blessings from the Lord or lead others to Calvary without intimate prayer union with the Lord.

There is ample time to pray at the Retreat. Blessings that have eluded us through the year hitherto must be obtained through personal persistent prayer as we gather. Sinners must be prayed into the kingdom, backsliders prayed into restoration and the church prayed into revival. Prayer is a duty we must fulfil; a debt we must pay.

3. Proclamation And Participation For Divine Visitation

2 Kings 7:9-16; 13:14-19; Luke 14:21-23; Psalm 68:11; Ezekiel 3:17; Mark 5:19; Exodus 25:1-9.

As we look ahead excitedly to the days of the Retreat, we must earnestly reach out and proclaim to others who have not heard. We must go with urgency and announce the good news of God’s blessings at the Retreat to all people in every street, house, factory, office, bus stop, market place, hotel, school and hospital.

As we invite them, we also must participate. The physical work and giving must be done by all. Every believer who has received pardon at Calvary must proclaim to all the people and participate in working towards the salvation of others.(PFA)

The blessedness of Love and Unity in the Church

The blessedness of Love and Unity in the Church

Rom.12. 9-10, 1 Cor. 12. 14 – 31, Ps. 133.1-3

The Church is a collection of people redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and purchased by the precarious sacrifice of Jesus at the Cross of Calvary. The basis of Church unity is the salvation experience. When everyone in the local church is born again, then they would have all things common and will form a formidable army fully prepared to wage war against the onslaught of Satan and fulfill God’s purpose on earth. The unity of such a glorious church will command great power and authority both on earth and in heaven. Many souls would be won to the Lord and many captives of Satan will be set free through such body. However, many conflicts are being propagated by the Devil today to keep the church separated and divided, but an awakened church will never give any room to Satan and his devices. Love and unity will always bring tremendous blessings to any church as it happened in the early church. This is what we expect in our local churches, and God will give us this experience in Jesus name.

Causes of Conflicts and Divisions amongst church membership. 1 Cor 12. 25, Acts 6.1, Rom. 14.13, 1.10-12, Gal. 5.15, 2 Thess. 3.11, Gal. 2.4, I Cor. 5. 6-7).

Many habits of some members today are being used by Satan to cause conflicts in the church and threaten its unity in many areas. The goal of Satan and his agents is to divide the church and bring disharmony, distrust and disloyalty among the church members. Satan’s tools include (i) murmuring (Acts 6.1), (ii) contentions and divisions (1 Cor, 1.10-12), (iii) Prejudice and judgmental spirit (Rom. 14.13), (iv) back-biting Gal. 5.15, (v) mix-multitude having disorderliness and worldly behaviors (2 Thess. 3.11), (vi)  false prophets and their false doctrines if allowed (Gal. 2.4), (vii) Pride, “holier than thou” attitude and other secret sins (I Cor. 5. 6-7). (viii)Disobedience to leadership. (ix) Partiality and nepotism in decisions, (x) carnality and worliness, selfisheness and lack of consideration for others etc. believers must eschew these vices and allow God’s love to rule our hearts so that God’s purpose for our church will be fulfilled.

 Commitment to Charity and Unity in the Church. 1 John 1. 6-9, 1 Cor. 1.10-12, 12: 12-27, Heb 13.1, Deut. 30.6-7, Eph. 4. 2-6, Acts 1.14, Col.3.1-2, Acts 2.46, Heb. 10.25, Acts 4.24, Php 2:3; 1 Pe 1:22; 2:17; 3:8; 5:5; 2 Peter 1:7

Every member of the church must ensure that he confessed his/her sins and be forgiven before the church can pursue unity. Where some members are still living in secret sins, there will hindrances to prayer and limitations of our potentials. The basis of our Christian love and unity is our love for God through genuine salvation. Every member must therefore strive to grow to spiritual maturity through constant prayer and regular study of God’s words. Holiness of lives and sanctification experience of members are essential experience that can bind us together in love and godly unity that no satanic onslaught can divide.  We must therefore be tirelessly committed to giving, sharing and loving one another (even) above personal gain or personal achievements and benefits. The church is called to maintain unity   (i) in purpose Acts 1.14, Col.3.1-2 ii) unity in place of worship and fellowship (in the temple) Acts 2.46, Heb. 10.25, iii) unity through our Praises (Acts 4.24), iv) unity through possessions sharing and giving- Acts 4.32 v) in prayer Acts 2.1, vi) unity in power and possibilities as each member contributes his potentials to the growth and furtherance of the church making the church strengthened and more powerful Acts 5.12-14 vii) united in proclaiming the gospel truth Acts 8.6. Every member must endeavor to be united in faith – Believing God as the Sovereign creator and worthy of all worship and adoration. Believing Christ as the Head of the church, whose atoning blood paid the full and acceptable sacrifice for our sins and believing the blessed Holy Spirit who leads us into all truths. Also be united in faithfulness to God and His precepts (doctrines) always. Be united together in the fervency of our service to the Lord as our master and ‘rewarder’ of our obedience. To do these faithfully, we must lead a modest, meek and lowly life of gentleness with all other members; We must be crucified to the flesh- seeing ourselves as less important to others but choose the position of servants to serve others in love, and ensure that we speak the truth in love with all men.

Consequence of Christians love and Unity in the Church. Ps 133.1, Acts 2. 1-4, 41-42, Acts 4.31-37; 12.5-10, 21-23, Acts 7.17, 9.31, 12.24,  Acts 8. 5-8, Acts 15.3

There are great blessings in the unity of the church. When believers of like-minded faith dwell together with one purpose in love, heaven always give attention to their requests and there is no limit to what they can achieve. God’s awesome power comes into manifestation through our prayer of faith and preaching of the gospel. When a united church, comes together and pray with single mind and heart, the mountains must definitely move and the shackles of inglorious oppositions shall be totally broken into pieces. The yoke of sin in even hardened sinners shall be broken through the power of the gospel (Rom. 1.16). We have awesome power through the name of Jesus that can neither be denied in heaven nor resisted by Satan. We possess authority and power of Jesus (Luke 10.19). We also have the dynamite and the power of the Holy Ghost. Demonic manipulations are shattered and destroyed. Kingdoms and dominion of the powers of darkness are dethroned while the gospel of Christ continues to grow sporadically. The possibilities include total freedom and salvation for sinners, numerical growth and multiplication of the local churches, power to proclaim and spread the gospel and the word of God shall grow exceedingly. The Lord’s name shall be established and glorified everywhere. Problems of sicknesses and afflictions are removed through prayers and the brethren shall be highly edified. Miracles, signs and wonders will be done more frequently. There will be great joy in our homes and cities. There will be speedy answer to our prayers. This will definitely give us steady numerical growth. Members of the church will always be happy to gladly identify with the church. Visitation of new converts will become more interesting as the unbelievers will surely know that God is in our midst.

WALKING BY FAITH VS. WALKING BY SIGHT

WALKING BY FAITH VS. WALKING BY SIGHT

 2 Cor. 4.15-18, 2 Cor. 4.16-18

Walking by faith is an excellent way of life by which a believer cast all his trust and confidence in God without looking back in spite of challenges of this present time. It is the life that pleases God because such a person had completely yielded to God, and so lived for God and His glory. He doesn’t compromise his stand to please the world nor the flesh, but to do God’s will and to enter into His rest at last. Such a person is profoundly blessed because God takes over his burdens and eliminated his concerns assuring him in all his ways from earth to heaven. The opposite is to walk by sight which is living by the impulse of the needs and challenges of the day. This is a faithless kind of life in which decisions are made without consulting God and without thinking of God’s holy standard. This is a dangerous and damnable kind of lifestyle as it leads to compromise and eventual rejection by God. A Christian who begins his life in the faith must be careful not to yield to the pressure of the flesh and the need of the present hour with their temptations. To walk by faith we must be truly converted to Christ, crucified with Christ, consecrated to Christ’s will and committed to Christ’s work.

Danger of Walking by Sight 1 Cor 2.14, 3.3, Rom 8.5-8, Gen 12. 10-13, Judges 14. 2-3, 2 Kings 7. 1-2, 18-20, Matt. 16.21-23, Eph. 4.17-20, 2 Thess. 3.11, Isa. 49.14, Num 13. 27-31, John 1. 46, Gen 21. 14-16, 19, Exo. 14. 10-12.

To walk by sight is to be carnally minded. That is to please the flesh and the world in taste, feeling, and friendship and in all decisions. Paul the Apostle described this way of life as being carnal and in enmity with God. Carnality, worldliness and faithlessness bring untold perils to people that engage in them. Peter was engrossed with the progress of Christ’s earthly ministry and would have preferred Him physically with them than to go to the cross for our redemption. He was rebuked by the Lord. When a man allows personal gains, interest, immediate enjoyment, or even limitations to determine his steps and decisions at the expense of God’s glory, it brings untold hardship and dilemma. This was the case of Abraham going down to Egypt without taking counsel from God. He almost lost his wife. Also Samson lost his life through his carnal and faithless walk in choosing a wife. Paul the Apostle therefore caution us saying “that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind” Eph. 4.17 .

Determination to walk by faith.  Heb. 11. 5-6, Gen. 5. 21-24, Gen. 12. 1-2, Gen 17.19, Rom. 4. 18-22, Rom. 10.17.  

Walking by faith requires personal determination and conviction to please God in all situations and not man nor the flesh. Such faith is founded upon strong confidence in God after salvation as the only one who can save from sin, heal from all sicknesses, deliver from all oppressions, provide for all needs and protect from all dangers. When a man trust God’s ability totally this way and looks up to Him at any time, God answers speedily. Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Paul and the apostles of old were amongst many who walked by faith and their faith produced tremendous benefits for them and the generations after them. To have a consistent walk by faith, we must give our lives to God and grow in His grace through constant reading, meditation and study of God’s word (Rom 10. 17). We must also determine to obey Him even though He is not physically present. Moreover, we must be ready to resist all forms of oppositions and persecutions through our faith in God to make us overcome. Like Joseph in Egypt (Gen 39.9) and Daniel in Babylon (Dan 1.8, 6.10), we must reject every action that contradicts our faithfulness to God by deliberately avoiding people, places, and objects of temptation. We must strongly determine to be established in faith(Col. 2.7) and continue in faith and faithfulness to God to the end (Heb 10.38).

Dominion of winners through faith. Mark 9.23, Exo. 14.13, Joshua 6. 10, Joshua 10.12, Matt. 8. 5-13, James 5. 16, Phil 4.13.

Faith in God is highly essential for anyone to do exploit in this world. Every believer who walks by faith is already living to please God and His kingdom, therefore exploits and dominion is a common phenomenon in their lives. They constantly live a life of spiritual victory and therefore physical and secular victory is certain. They constantly maintains their dominion over sin, self and Satan and this manifest in their day to day lives. To such people, miracles are regular, normal and naturally come at any time they are confronted with challenges. Moses simply declared “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more forever” and it was so, Joshua also was able to conquer Jericho by faith and even made a command by faith and the Sun and the moon stood still. By faith, the centurion man received healing for his servant. By faith you can also receive whatever you ask from God, only if you determine to join the winners, who walk by faith.

WINNING CHILDREN TO CHRIST

TRETS 02 MARCH 2017

WINNING CHILDREN FOR CHRIST

TEXT: Matthew 28. 19-20, Proverbs 22.6, Deut. 31. 13

“Children are the heritage of the Lord” and they occupy a very special place in the plan and in the programme of God. They are gifts from God and therefore are an integral part of the “all the world” that Christ commissioned the church to reach. God loves children and He highly esteems the soul of children. In fact Christ demonstrated a great concern for children when He declared in Matt. 19.14 saying “suffer the little children and forbid them not to come to me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven”. In this vein, God is not willing that they perish but that they have eternal life. This means that salvation plan of God through Jesus Christ covers children as well. Every member of the church must therefore wake up to the challenge of reaching out to the children in all capacity and develop the traits that will attract the souls of these children to the knowledge of the Saviour.

The following facts by researchers must touch your heart and drive you into an eternal passion for the souls of our little children. (i) Forty-five per-cent of Africans are below the age of 15 years of age. These are the future of our nations tomorrow. The morality and spirituality of our children today determines the strength and godliness of our future generations (ii) Children are full humans and they possess eternal souls as adults, therefore neglecting them brings their blood on us as caretakers. (iii) We must provide an atmosphere where children feel loved, accepted, affirmed, needed, cherished and appreciated otherwise we make God unhappy with us and incur His wrath (Matt. 18. 6, 10). (iv) If children are not won to Christ through our method, we must change our method to their ways to win them for Christ because their hearts are fertile grounds that must be ultimately cultivated. Unfortunately, neglect of the children salvation had brought great perils and devastation to our world today and we discovered that most perilous activities carried out today are perpetrated amongst young adults and teenagers who would have been won to the Lord. Negligent brings grave regret to the world and to the church while the sinners and their negligent leaders, parents and supervisors are liable for God’s judgement.

Children’s  peculiarities and their classifications Prov. 20.11, Luke 15. 12-13, Prov. 29.15

Every child has his own peculiar characteristics. Though there are general traits of children, yet every child is unique of his/her own. Knowing their various characteristics as they grow up gives good insight of what to expect from the child. To win the children to Christ, the preacher must firstly be genuinely born again. He must also have been crucified with Christ with a sincere experience of sanctification experience. Furthermore, he also need to be familiar with the behavioural distinction of the age brackets of such children so as not to be easily provoked or offended. In our Church, we had divided the children into Age groups namely Age 3-5, Age 6-8 and Ages 9-12. These age group differences make reaching children a bit challenging but very interesting as well.  (i) Probing (Gen 22. 7). Children always ask questions. Sometimes, their questions are provoking and disturbing. We must be wise, patient and temperate to accommodate them and reach to pass the message of Salvation across to them. (ii) Irritation and offensive: (2 King 2.23) Children can be  naughty and restless attimes which may cause weariness to some adults and even make some to loose their temperance.  (iii) Ignorance: Children are ignorant and they will need to be taught. (Ps. 34. 11), (iv) Unresponsive to the gospel. Some of the children do not respond to the message on time, yet we must be patient with them.  (Luke 15.13). (v)   Too slow. Some of the children with some physical or mental challenges may be too slow for the teacher. Soul-winners must gently get closer to him/her to discover the disabilities and help the child in his peculiar way (1 Cor. 9.22), (vi) Pranks and stubbornness. Children sometimes play pranks and proving stubborn on their soul-winners by showing outright disagreement in order to make their views known or to have their ways at all cost (1 Sam. 8.3). (vii) Extremes. Children always get to the extremes in their actions and attitude. If they are aggressive, they go too far, and if they will withdraw, they also go too far.

Christ-like Passions and pattern of reaching the Children. Mark 10.13-16, Prov. 22.6,

Believers have the charge to reach out to all children irrespective of their ages and peculiarities. Our Lord demonstrated an instructive pattern to us in His attitude towards them showing a great example as to how they could be reached. We must also adopt this pattern if we must have a successful children ministry. (i) Telling them scriptural Stories that will lead them to Christ  e.g about God, Christ, Holy Spirit. Children are very attentive to stories particularly at the lower ages (Deut. 11.19), (ii) Show tenderness, kindness and gentleness in preaching too them as it is highly demanding of every children soul winner. If you are too tough, children will avoid you and you will lose them (1 Thess 2.7), (iii) Teach them the Word as it is written. Don’t remove any part of the scriptures but break it down so they would easily comprehend it (Deut. 4.9, 6.7), (iv) Train them practically e.g about God’s love to him, and others. Train them using teaching aids as well as practical demonstration (Prov. 22.6), (v) Test and tame them regularly, Test is part of training. Good teachers develop short tests at various level of teaching and correct them when necessary. We must be sure they understand a lesson. (vi) Touch their lives by your exemplary life of holiness, humility, faithfulness, faith in God and worship. (vii) Travail over them ceaselessly. Praying for these children is very important, and must cover every areas of their life such as Spiritual, family, academics, and even their special peculiarities (Gal. 4.19).

Commensurate Possibilities and Profits of Preaching to Children Ps. 144. 11-15, Isa. 8.18,

There are great possibilities in the children world particularly knowing that a good spiritual foundation brings a much more successful teenagers and adulthood, we must pay the sacrifice to achieve a greater and brighter future through our converted children. Children love exercises and activities, therefore we must bring our message of salvation and conversion to surround their hobbies so as to motivate them to love the Lord and remain a Christian. Crusades and rallies (indoors) could be held for children in our community, We could also organise Hymns and musical concerts for them, as children love music. We also need to show them colourful Illustrations that inform and instruct them of the messages of the Bible to pull their interest in the topic. Literatures such as wordless books such as cartoons, magazines and tracts are also very good materials for children education. Demonstration is key in passing our message across. Without this, the class becomes dull and the children plays off or sleep on the teacher. Reading habits of children must be developed and cultivated through Bible stories. Furthermore, we can engage them in Excursions, picnics and exercises that makes them active and agile as well as adding knowledge with fun. Novelty games should be introduced to make them compete against one another and develop their time keeping and time management skills.

There is no single method that works all the time, but we must utilise and combine various methods to win them. The ultimate goal is to have them truly converted. When we faithfully reach out to individual children whether in the church or at home or in school and these children are genuinely converted, they bring great joy and fulfillment to the parents, to the church and to the world at large. The scripture says “happy is that people that is in such a case”.  We become a very good friend of God like Abraham when He sees our faithfulness in teaching and commanding our children in His ways and His precepts. Lois led he daughter Eunice to the Lord and this gave us Timothy a faithful evangelist and preacher of the word. We contribute greatly to the spread and the sustenance of God’s kingdom when we faithfully and painstakingly do our part in winning children to the Lord. We shall be happy here and in eternity. ref.(DLSC2017)