THE GC PODCAST EPISODE 2

On this episode, me and my brother discuss the just concluded elections and the judgement of God

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NOTHING IS IN VAIN

In my days of blogging, I’ve taken a hiatus about three times now, the first two times were because I just needed to learn consistency, the third one (which I just came out of) was because I was going through a time of reevaluation and rethinking a lot of things through. I didn’t want to do in the public eye. So, I stuck to my local church and my friends.

In my ministry, there are times when I considered things around me and foolishly compared myself with peers; other Pastors, bloggers and ministries. In those times, I would get extremely discouraged and wonder if what I was doing was really making an impact. This was one of the reasons for my initial hiatuses. I wondered if my blog and the messages I preached was reaching anybody, or if it was even affecting anybody’s life.

In those times, the thing that got me going were the testimonies. People who would just randomly tell me that they enjoyed my blog and how helpful it has been. People who would mention long forgotten messages on the podcast that impacted their lives. It always meant a lot. I remember one time a good friend of mine, who I least expected to care about such things just brought it up in our conversation. She asked why I had stopped writing on my blog. I told her I was just moving on from it. She commented that it was a shame, she really enjoyed my writings (or something to that effect), I can never forget that. In the course of time, I’ve learnt that consistency and quality is key to any venture. We only see people at their peak, we do not know all the hours they put into the work. Starting is euphoric and full of energy and the result seems sexy and glamorous, but we do not see the time in the middle when it’s not so cozy. More importantly, you never know who’s watching you and being impacted by your humble beginnings. So keep doing what you do

I admit, I’m not the type of guy who’s doing this for glory, I’m not ambitious in that regard. But still, the desire to be heard, to excel and to grow is always there. I know I will not abandon the Gospel, and I cannot abandon the preaching of it in one form or the other. But I also have to keep in mind that nothing (usually) happens overnight and nothing we do is in vain. Even if we don’t see it or hear about it, all our spirit-led actions have an eternal impact. Just read 1 Corinthians 15:58

 
So, my dear brothers and sisters, stand strong. Don’t let anything change you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord. You know that your work in the Lord is never wasted.

English Revised Version

“With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort” The Message Translation

Nothing we do is in vain, no act of love or sacrifice we perform is wasted. We might not be able to see the impact or ripple effect of our actions now or even in this lifetime. But we will see it eventually, when all is wrapped up and the world is renewed. We have been used by God to sow little seeds of love that will eventually germinate and cover the whole earth.

Selah  

THE SEED A TRUE MYTH BY ERIK GUZMAN

The story of the Bible and the Gospel can be summarized this way:. God creates all things and it is good, man believes a lie and seperates himself from God plunging himself along with all of creation into utter darkness; and God becomes man in order to rescues him and all of creation from the darkness.

In “The Seed-the True Myth” Erik Guzman uses that backdrop and creates a story of eternal love and the triumph of Love over every darkness. The book portrays how in our brokenness and helplessness, we see the hand of God extended to us in Love with suspicion and fear. We are so lost that we saw the light of God’s love and viewed it as utter darkness. While we worshipped Satan and his principle of self-centeredness and fleshly indulgence. In the book he portrays how we view God as the taskmaster who expects us to work to the bone and who is never satisfied. He also portrays how many of us are so willing to serve this god and our feeble attempts at pleasing this god, in spite of the constant voice in our heads telling us we are not doing enough. We build bigger and bigger temples, doing more and more acts of service, offer bigger and bigger sacrifices and pray longer and longer but it is never enough. In reality, this “god” is Satan, using the madness we fell into at the fall to superimpose himself as God. In other words, he is filling the vacuum of the false impressions we have about God and gaining great power from it. Satan is the first and ultimate being that fell into the madness of flesh, and by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we joined him in his madness

But it’s not all gloomy, because Erik also shows how God who is Love came and shattered the power of Satan in a way he never expected or even understood, because it was through Love and Divine sacrifice and self-giving; A way Satan had abandoned eons ago. And God calls us to join him in that way again, his Holy Spirit is like a river flowing over the whole world beckoning on all mankind to drink of him and fill themselves with the light of his love. Halleluiah

This is a wonderful novel that wraps the Gospel in a beautiful fantasy story, much like C.S Lewis and portrays its beauty so wonderfully. I don’t agree with a few ideas in the book, but so what, he doesn’t agree with me too. In the grand scheme of things, the story is compelling and can be enjoyed just as a novel. But it is also a great portrayal of the Gospel.

Disclosure of Material Connection:

Now I have to say this (seriously, I do): I received this book free of charge from the publisher and writer via the Speakeasy network, I'm not under any obligation to write a positive review and the views I have expressed are entirely my own. I'm writing this disclosure in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

MY APOLOGY

By the Grace of God, I've been privileged to be in a leadership position in the Church. Men who were better than me have realized the call of God on my life and given me opportunities to preach to the people. It seems to me that while it is true that I was called at the time, I had not been sent. I wasn't ready to lead, I wasn't prepared by God enough. I knew very little about God and most of what I knew were lies and half truths.

God is love and I don’t believe any minister is ready until he gets that into his head; that all that God does is motivated by his being Love. Of course, we grow into this, but it must have settled well enough before we presume to lead our brothers and sisters. I remember many sermons I preached and many times I got an opportunity to speak and it was horrible. I was always pointing out how unsatisfied God was with people. I disqualified them from God’s blessings. I berated people for not praying loudly enough; praising vigorously enough or giving largely enough.

Even when the grace of God began to unfold to me, I became a Grace Pharisee. I lost my patience with anyone who refused to see things my way and got into many arguments and fights with my brothers. I look back at some of my encounters with certain people and realize how those meetings could have ended in a more peaceful and friendly way.

I was an angry preacher because I believed that God was angry with me. I have since repented from that error. I no longer feel condemned for my wrong doings, not even for the ones I just pointed out. However, I do want to apologise. To all that have felt condemnation, unworthiness, or disqualification by my words or actions, I sincerely apologise. I knew not what I was doing. And I want you to know that God loves you with an unquenchable love. He does not need you to move an inch, give a cent, or pray a decibel louder before he blesses you. In fact, he has blessed you in the Lord Jesus and he doesn’t take back what he gives.

May the Grace of our Lord continually be with you.

TELL ME YOUR RED PILL MOMENT

The scene below is from the first installment of the seminal movie "The Matrix". I love that movie. I was just thinking about that scene and comparing it to my journey into the Hyper-Grace Message.  I remember my first steps into the true Gospel, I call it my red pill moment. It all started from a simple revelation; God has forgiven all my sins, past, present and future through Jesus' death on the cross. That fact led me down the rabbit hole. Little did I know just how deep that hole goes. I have been forced to rethink everything, and I'm still rethinking stuff. I think of some of my friends who also took the red pill and in my opinion have begun to deviate from the true Gospel into some really weird stuff. Others have gone deeper than I have and been a real help and encouragement to me. But it's all good, God is with us all. The base line of all my thoughts is that God loves all of us in a very passionate and unconditional way. That is the fabric of my rabbit hole and its drawing me deeper and deeper

I'd like you to share your own red pill moments in the comments section. When was the wool removed your eyes? And what wool was it? How deep is that moment taking you or have you abandoned it? God bless and enjoy the scene

  

CONSIDERING THE WORK OF HIS HANDS

Not too long ago I celebrated my birthday. I have reached a milestone age in my life and it was worth celebrating. I didn’t have any party plans in mind so I just spent it praying and in the evening my siblings, my mother and my dear friend came over to celebrate with me, my wife and my son. It was a good day. People called me from far and wide, I received various congratulatory text messages and it all had the makings of a glorious day

But when you hit a landmark age in your life, you can’t help but reflect on the things that have happened. So I did, I started taking a critical look at my life and I must admit I was very disappointed. I wasn’t making as much money as I would want to and a few things that I expected to have happened were either not happening or they were happening contrary to my expectation. This frustrated me and it kind of numbed me to all the love I was receiving for the rest of the day. I wasn’t involved in what was going on around me any longer. Here I was surrounded by family, who were being entertained by my bright baby boy and all I could do was sulk internally and be aloof.

Of course my wife knows me better than anybody and she asked me what was up.  I proceeded to explain to her in few words the things bothering me and she tried her best to cheer me up and remind me that I was loved. I should stop focusing on the bad stuff, it will be there tomorrow. Instead I should focus on what was going on at that moment in time and enjoy the day. That sounds awfully similar to Jesus’ admonition that we should not worry about today, neither should we worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6: 25-34).

At first I found it hard to shake off the dark cloud over me. But then it became more and more obvious to me that the more important stuff in life were standing right there in front of me; good friends, a beautiful and loving wife, an awesome son and a loving family, divine health for me and for all that surround me. These things are priceless and eternal. The things I was worried about (it all boiled down to money anyway) are temporary, they do not have eternal value. They were just things that empty people hold on to in order to cover the loneliness in their hearts.

It is always important to focus on the good that God is doing in our lives instead of all the evil Satan and this fallen world confronts us with.

“EVERY GOOD AND PERFECT GIFT IS FROM ABOVE, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” James 1:17 KJV (emphasis mine)

All the good things in our lives is from God, whether we know it or not. He does not do evil and I found out that I only had to take a cursory look at my life to see those gifts. He that gave me these things of value will also take care of our other needs.

I know it can be hard to see these things sometimes. Life hits us hard, and sometimes we don’t have many people like I just said on our side. But I encourage you to take a long hard look at your life, you’ll find something good and that thing is from God. Focus on that, and let God see you through your challenges

SCANDALOUS GRACE

Sometime this week, the Council of State granted pardons to several Nigerians; some were pardoned post-humously, other people who were pardoned are alive and well. One of the people pardoned is the Former Governor of Bayelsa State who was convicted on corruption charges.

This has led to serious outcry from the populace; the most prevalent view being that a Government that says it is currently fighting corruption should not go around pardoning people who have been convicted of corruption.

While I don’t intend to delve too much into the propriety of the issue (whether or not I favour this particular pardon is something I’ll keep to myself. It is irrelevant. What is done is done and the Council of State was well within its rights to do so), I do intend to draw parallels with the nature of man to the extravagant nature of God’s grace.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is the following in Romans 5:8:

“But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.”(Amp)

At first glance, this seems like a harmless sentence. But a closer investigation reveals a truth that is repulsive to our natural senses; God has forgiven the sins of every man, woman and child on planet earth. He didn’t just do this by sweeping it under the table or overlooking it. He did it by coming in the human flesh and taking the punishment for sins of the past, present and future upon himself and dying for it.

This means one simple thing; God is not punishing the sins of anybody. That is such good news to me. It frees me to be me and let God work in me to become the person he has made me to be. However, those who oppose this presentation of the Gospel oppose it on many grounds the two most prominent grounds are

1.      We are giving people a license to sin

This to me is ludicrous because nobody needs a license to sin in the first place. People sin because they want to. They don’t need anybody to tell them they can sin. At any rate, telling a person that God has forgiven all his past, present and future sins is not invariably telling them to just live anyhow. The motivation for living a Godly, Christ exalting life should not be the fear of punishment, it should be love. God is love and anything done without love is useless. God took out the fear aspect of Sin in order to insert his love into our hearts (Romans 5:5) now we love because he first loved us (1 John 4:18-19)

2.      We want people to get away with their wrongful actions

This really reflects most of the controversy trailing the recent pardon. Let’s be honest, we all have someone we think should go to hell. We all have someone that we think should not be forgiven due to the gravity of their actions. At least we can all agree that we don’t want Adolf Hitler in heaven. Yet, it seems to me that God is not concerned with all of that. He does not deal with us based on the enormity of our sin. He says though our sins be as red as scarlet, he would make us as white as snow. There is no sin too great for the blood of Jesus. There is no sin that he did not die for. No hurt that he did not redeem in order to give birth to the new creation. It is funny that most people are quick to pass judgement on others when it is not them or their friends and relatives that committed the crime, when it’s us, most of us will not hesitate to seek mercy. This is not to say that God does not appreciate the evil and destructiveness of sin. He is more aware of it than we can ever imagine; which is why he redeemed us in order to heal us

It is important to note that the Former Governor of Bayelsa State had already served his sentence. The pardon just gives him back his right to vote and be voted for and to serve in public office. In other words, it takes away all the disadvantages of being an ex-convict. The same can be said of us. The bible tells us that when Christ, all died (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). His death was our death and his resurrection our resurrection. Therefore when he took the fire of God’s judgement for our sin on our behalf, we were there with him being punished in him. He died because of our sins and rose because of our justification (Romans 4:25). Some will read this and immediately conclude that I'm saying all are saved and all will go to Heaven (so to speak). Well, I’m not. To quote Andre Rabe “romance anticipates a response”. Faith is our positive response to God’s act of love and it is faith that leads to eternal life.

God’s grace violates our sense of justice. Sometimes we can’t even accept it for ourselves. We want to receive some sort of torment for our acts in order to ease our conscience. In this season of lent, I think it is fitting for us to explore this topic of the atonement some more. May God help us to understand and bask in the indiscriminate, vulgar and extremely scandalous grace of God.

GOD IS NOT SANTA CLAUS

Hello everybody Christmas is upon us again!! How time flies, I remember writing my Christmas article last Christmas on having fun during Christmas. You can check it out here. I love Christmas, I love the festive mood, the reunion with friends and family and the general magic that comes along with the atmosphere. As a kid, part of that magic was Santa. All the movies and songs portrayed him as real and on his way. While most Nigerian kids didn't really believe in Santa (they were too many at different places at the same time, plus our parents didn't make a fuss about it like western parents did) we still kept the illusion going for the fun and magic of it.

However there is an aspect of Santa that has evolved from a twisted idea of God. Many believe God is vengeful and relates with people based on their behavior. This is the traditional view of any deity and this view was imposed upon us by the fall of Adam. This is the view that Jesus came to eradicate. He also came to give us a proper vision of God. It is a God we could never imagine existed. He is Love. Not that he chooses to Love or he has love, not even that he loves, but HE IS love. One of the attribute of Love is that he keeps no records of wrongs (1 Cor. 13)

Beloved, our God is not Santa. He does not have a naughty or nice list, giving the naughty nothing and giving the nice their wishes. He lets the Sun shine on both the good and the wicked, and he is kind to ungrateful and evil people (Matthew 5:43; Luke 6: 32-36). God is not a book keeper. The only book he keeps is the list of those who have chosen Life over Death; Jesus over Religion; The Finished Work over self effort. Any person who ends up in the lake of fire on the day of judgment ends up there because they have chosen to save themselves by their good deeds rather than accept that they have been saved by Grace ( Ephesians 2: 8-10)

The essence of Christmas is not about a God who gives good gifts to the good people but about a God who saw a perverse world heading for self destruction and instead of accepting that, he came and joined us in the person of Jesus. He took our destruction and evil on himself and conquered it in every form. In that way, he redeemed us from our own evil.

Even the original Saint Nicholas (from whom we get Santa Claus) was a man who went about giving gifts to destitute children. I don't think he was keeping a naughty or nice list, and i'm absolutely certain that all those children weren't nice kids. Let us keep the spirit and intent of Christmas going; the birth of Jesus, giving and being with family

I believe in Christmas and that kids should enjoy all the magic and fantasy that accompanies. I don't even think we should make a big deal about Santa. I mean saying "Santa is Satan" is very uncool and ridiculous  come on !! However, I believe we should be conscious of the idea of God we portray to our children and if Santa is going to conflict with that idea, we should make sure they get the distinction; God is real, Santa is fiction and God is not Santa Claus.

Have a Merry Christmas everybody

BEING HUMAN

“By this you know the Spirit of God; Every Spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God and this is the spirit of Anti-Christ….” 1 John 4:2-3

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, people who do not confess Jesus as Christ coming in the flesh. This person is the deceiver and the antichrist…”2 John 1:7

One afternoon, after getting bored with writing arguments and drafting Affidavits, I decided to delight myself with a round of my PC game: “Chinese mahjong”. Expectedly, one round turned into two and then three and then….. you know how it goes. After a while I got stuck in a level and I found myself going over it again and again without completing it. Somewhat frustrated, I suddenly thought to myself “why not ask the Holy Spirit to help you out with this game?” so I did. I said “Holy Spirit, help me finish. Jesus, join me in playing, so we can win.” Just as I had finished saying these words, I got a nudge in my spirit; I could sense Jesus telling me “I was already playing the game with you and as for exercising some sort of divine insight to win, what would be the fun of that?” Wow!!! Good news folks; Jesus loves being human.

There is something about us that makes us want to live superhuman lives; we wish we could fly; we fantasize about having x-ray vision, telepathy, pyrokinetics and so on. We therefore celebrate anyone who looks like they possess these qualities, even if it’s a work of fiction; hence our devotion to characters like Superman, Spiderman, Tony Starks, Edward Cullen and so on.

But we see Jesus and we see a regular guy. He did not possess any supernatural qualities in and of himself. As Jesus, God became totally and irrevocably like us in our fallen state (which is what is meant by God, THE Word becoming ‘Flesh’). Contrary to popular opinion, Jesus never performed any of his miraculous deeds as a result of some “special power” inherent in his DNA. He did all he did in fellowship with the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit. He was born as a baby, and he grew up as a regular child; obedient to his parents and learning new things every day (Luke 2:51-52). He probably had to learn the family business of craftsmanship like everyone else, with many mistakes and missteps. He wasn’t pretending to be Human, he was and is Human. He spent the first thirty years of his life building things and doing nothing extra-ordinary. Now I'm sure he was a very good man and he was sinless, I'm sure people would have regarded his values as a little weird, though good natured but I seriously doubt that he gave life to a dead bird or he healed any of his brothers when they were sick.

Beloved, Jesus did not start being God when he was baptized in the river Jordan and the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. He was God right from when he was born; all through his formative years and the period wherein he was a carpenter. Jesus is the express image of the invisible God; he came to make our God known, to express him and to explain him. And what did this image do? He lived a normal human life for thirty straight years. It doesn't mean that God was imitating humans; rather he was showing us that humans are living out Divine life by being human. He also showed the type of total trust and fellowship with the Father that a normal Human was designed to have. We were not created to try and conjure up spiritual power or strengthen ourselves, we were made to draw from His strength and let God be God in our lives.

When we realize that God is not only with us in our human activities, but that we are participating in his life while engaging in human activities, it gives our lives a whole new meaning. Just knowing that God, in the person of Jesus is with me; expressing his life through me when I chat with friends, do my job and even watch a movie tends to magnify the pleasure from those things a million times more. It also makes me realize the importance of what I do and how I live my life. I realize that my humanity is not to be discarded, but to be embraced and enjoyed; because God enjoys it. Hence, we are told to do whatever we are doing in Christ.

There is nothing wrong with being human, we were made by God and he doesn’t make mistakes. If there was a mistake, Jesus would not have remained human in his resurrection. He could have shed his skin and become another entity. That would have meant that our salvation included a transformation into something else, like a being of light; that is a form of heresy called Gnosticism and as we have read in the quotations above, any denial of Jesus’ humanity is a plunge into heresy and anyone who teaches such things is an Anti-Christ.

Please note that I absolutely believe in the supernatural. I also believe the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and will do wondrous things through us. I just don't believe we should look down on our humanity and expect to be transformed into some other type of being, and I believe Jesus has a lot of fun with being human

So enjoy your life, relish the legitimate pleasures of humanity and may the Grace of our Lord Jesus be with you forever

THE LORD WHO SERVES US

But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that in this world kings are tyrants and officials lord it over the people beneath them. But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must become your slave. For even I, the Son of Man, came here no to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many”… Matthew 20: 25-28 (NLT)

This is the last in a series I started a few weeks ago on the Lordship of Jesus. You can check out the first post here and the second one here. In light of the just concluded elections in America, I think we’ll find them instructive. My point of emphasis has been that Jesus is Lord. That statement is not just one of a deistic or dualistic God; i.e. Yes, Jesus is Lord in some spiritual way but he is not involved in the affairs of this world. No!! It is a statement that bears serious implications on all things. Whoever is president of your country, that country ultimately belongs to Jesus, he has a purpose for every nation and every person and he will see that purpose fulfilled without violating our wills. That is the beauty of Jesus.

So I just want to encourage you, whether or not you believe in the candidate that won; whether or not you believe in politics or politicians; whether or not you even care either way. Fix your eyes on Jesus; the owner of everything and recognize that he is Lord. We have a leader that cares about us deeply:

Jesus washing his disciples' feet

 All of scripture is about Him. But all of Him is about you. Who he is, is who you truly are. He told us that unlike the world where their Lords are despotic, in the Kingdom of God, the first shall be the last and he who wants to be greatest must be a servant. He demonstrates that to us by being the First born of all creation and through that medium, he serves us thoroughly (Ephesians 1: 20-22, Colossians 2:9-11). He is our Lord and he is no hypocrite. If he says that leaders must serve, then he is the greatest servant of all. He makes all of Him available to all of us. He perfects our imperfections, authors our faith, strengthens our faith and completes our faith. What a Lord, what a God. When I think on these things, I bow down and worship, giving reverent praise to the Lord, my servant.

Congratulations America for a peaceful and successful election process, you should cherish it. Many of you probably don’t know the value of a Peaceful election. I’ve seen otherwise and I think you should be grateful.

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ continually be showered upon you. Amen

THE LORD WHO LOVES US

“Have you noticed that even though you call me ‘Lord’ and ‘King’; I have never really acted in that capacity with you? I’ve never taken control of your choices or forced you to do anything, even when what you were about to do was destructive or hurtful to yourself and others”…

-Jesus in “The Shack” by WM. Paul Young

I am continuing on my thoughts on the Lordship of Jesus from my last post. I love Paul Young, he expresses in one Novel volumes of theological thinking in a way that is understandable and that hits the main point of the Gospel home i.e. God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit loves you. And in the passage from his book that I quoted above, he drove home one simple fact; Love does not force its way.

Like I said in my last post, Jesus is Lord over everything and everyone. That is the Gospel we proclaim; the arrival of a new Emperor who has all authority and power in his hands. The good news about it is that this Emperor is on our side. He loves us deeply and dearly and wants us to partake of everything he’s got! Unlike the emperors and Kingdoms of this world who go about imposing their will on their subjects and forcing everyone in their path to either bow or be beheaded, this King decides to pick ragtag men from unlikely places (The Apostles, lowly Gentiles) and sends them into the ends of the Earth with one message; Jesus is Lord and he wants you to reign with him.

For approximately Two Thousand and Twelve years he has watched his brothers shun him, denounce him, kill his emissaries and followers and make a mess of the World he created. Yet he does not act in force, he does not destroy nations, he does not punish them, neither does he engage in a great act of wonder to make himself known to the World and to force his will to be done on Earth. He does not turn us into robots that obey his every word without questioning it.

Why is he like that? Because he is Love, and Love is patient and it is not self serving. He does not force his way because Love does not operate that way. So even though he is Lord of all things (and whether we like it or not, that is who he is), he will never ‘Lord it over us’. He will speak his mind and give instructions but if you choose to disobey, He will always respect your choice and the consequence of your actions. When you repent of your choice and turn to him for deliverance, he will deliver you instantly because he is bigger than your mistakes and he loves you. He will never bring that mistake to remembrance between the two of you because Love keeps no records of wrongs. Even if you disobey again and start the cycle all over again, he will keep doing the same thing; advising, respecting and delivering until you are ready to move on and get healed.

This is why I believe in Hell, I don’t believe it is the place where Jesus punishes those that reject his Lordship and banishes them from his presence; I believe it is a place where people exile themselves in a futile bid to run away from his presence and rebel against him (in case you’re not aware, it is physically impossible for a place to exist where God is not present, everything is in God; specifically Jesus). Whether or not there will be any such people is left to be seen and I will not speculate on that issue by giving a general statement for or against it. I’d rather stay on the side of Christ and say whatever choice you make will be respected, whatever torment you suffer as a result of that choice is still your choice. But God will not stop loving you, chasing you and drawing you unto himself. He has made the way open for all men to engage in a relationship with him but a relationship is always a two way street, even for the Lord.

IT IS HIM WE PROCLAIM

I have no ambitions. Seriously, I don’t. It’s one of the things my wife keeps talking to me about. I believe the Lord orchestrated my life to be this way. Growing up I never was one of those folks that wanted to have a large, complex life. I’ve always preferred to live simply and enjoy myself and my family. I never dreamt of being a billionaire business magnate with my hands in so many pies that all I have time for is the business. I just wanted to always have enough to give my family the best and keep my children grounded; respectful and loving towards others (eat your heart prosperity preachers)

Of course this way of thinking has shifted slightly as an adult. I don’t mind being a billionaire any longer, if it will afford me the chance of living my simple life and taking care of others. Plus, there are so many things I could do with those resources now in ministry and personally. But my point is that I have never had grand dreams, visions and goals for any of my business ventures. I just do them because I either have the skill to do it or I love doing it. Sometimes I try to create some great goal for my Law Practice; what do I want to do? How big do I want it to be? More often than not I draw a big blank.

Even in ministry, when I realized that I was called and gifted to preach the Gospel and plant Churches. I adopted the dreams and visions of most people ahead of me. I adopted their ideas of success in ministry and had these grand dreams of creating my own vast empire. I later realized that this was not what I wanted; it was just my attempt at trying to fit in with the crowd and not be myself in the midst of all the bandwagon riding. After reaching that point in my life where I abandoned all ambitions, goals, and fantasies of building my own empire, the Lord began to show me HIS purpose, HIS goal and HIS ambition. It is to build a temple where he can dwell in through Christ, to raise us up to be the Bride fitting for Christ and to make us a perfectly functioning body of Christ(an extension of his physical body everywhere) and to be his Sons in Holy Spirit and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Subsequently, he began to show me that every minister should have no aspirations of his own, because we were not made ministers by ourselves. He chose us and sent us to play our part in the fulfillment of his grand purpose. I came to realize that it was not my job to build things or make it grow, but to plant and water the seeds that I have been given by God (1 Cor. 3:5-9). My part is to proclaim to the world that a new emperor has emerged; Jesus our Lord and God. He is the supreme super power and the one for whom, through whom and in whom everything exists and as many as accept that and make use of his Lordship in their lives are given the right to be Sons of God. To reject Jesus is to reject truth and ultimate reality. It is to confine oneself to Hell.

This is why all Kingdoms eventually fall, all empires eventually fail and all superpowers eventually crumble, but Jesus lives forever and he reigns forever. Because they are all lies and only Jesus is true

I am the way, the truth and the Life… (John 14:6)

Of course when I say ministers should have no aspirations I am in no way saying they can't imagine or want their ministry flourishing. If God calls you to be a minister in any capacity, or he gives you a dream or business idea. It can be as far reaching as possible within the zone of the Grace he has given you. Our God is a BIG God. My point is whatever dreams one has , it should be in line with God's grand purpose and the Lordship of Jesus

We will be exploring this fact in the next few posts on this blog. What are the implications of Jesus' Lordship and how does he exercise it? It's going to be fun!!! 

Peace be with you

WHEN WORDS STING

There are times in every relationship where words get spoken by the other party that sting or stick to the memory of the person being spoken to. Whether or not such words were meant to inflict the sting is immaterial, the fact is the deed has been done. The words have been spoken (sometimes foolishly).

I find such times to be very troubling; especially when it is my wife that has spoken such words. Sometimes men can just be oversensitive, we take certain things too far and regard every suggestion by our women as a bruise on our ego (Although i must admit women DO take words very seriously for the most part) anyway, people generally do not like being spoken to in a bad way. Words are very powerful and they have a way of affecting us very strongly, sometimes even more than physical assault. As a result, we find ourselves lashing out at the person; one way or another. Even when we say we won’t lash out and we repress it. The best solution is to talk to the person about it and let the cards fall where they may. The problem is that is easier said than done

In my case, I find it hard to say I’ve been hurt by words. I’m not a talkative person (which is why I know that it is only by the Grace of God that I preach) and I find myself repressing a lot of feelings. But repression will not stop us from ruminating on the words; turning them over; thinking of all the witty replies to the statement; all the flaws to the statement; all the reasons why what she said proves that she does not have my back…. This kind of thing can go on in my mind for the whole day!!! If unchecked, this kind of thinking can take root and become a very deep seated bitterness and resentment towards the person. You find yourself subconsciously seeking justice and unknowingly punishing the person for saying something they didn’t mean to be understood that way.

 If you are like me in this department, I have come to understand one simple fact- THE PERSON YOU’RE THINKING ABOUT IS COMPLETELY OBLIVIOUS OF THE FACT THAT YOU’RE UPSET. They probably would have never in their wildest dreams imagined that those words would have had that effect on you. They most likely did not mean it that way. The other person is either lying next to you enjoying a good night sleep, or at work doing their own thing while you’re there philosophizing on a forgotten statement for hours. In addition, even if the words were made to hurt, the purpose has been accomplished by your allowing it to affect you that much. You have given the person the satisfaction of hurting you

We should also recognize that we are all broken in some way; even when we realize our identity and completeness in Christ, we have a lot of mind renewal to undergo. So we have two or three people who have issues of their own trying to live life together, surely stupid things will be said

The reason we hurt so much is because we have come to depend on this person for our happiness, so we don’t even love them because we love them anymore- we love them because we want them to love us back. However, to become dependent on a loved one makes it impossible for us to truly love that person. When we live our lives needing their approval, their respect and their love, we make it impossible to be honest with them and to be free to just love them.

The truth is, man was designed to be loved, approved and affirmed; we just weren’t designed to seek it from one another. God made us to live in His Love, His approval and His affirmation. Just like Jesus did. When he stepped out of the waters of baptism, he received the Holy Spirit and the words of his Father calling him “beloved” and the one in whom he was “well pleased”. On the strength of that statement, he went and conquered Satan. Beloved, God is saying the same to you too right now; He loves you, approves of you and sees you as pleasing. On the strength of that, we go out and love others. Like John said, “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). That way, we can be honest with people around us and actually tell them when we were hurt and let the cards lie where they may. We will also be able to look beyond ourselves and see things from the other person’s point of view; most times the other party has a point. Then the healing can really begin

Now I am not undermining the pain of hurtful words, neither am i in anyway condoning abusive words in a relationship of any kind (if you're a victim of abuse please realize your freedom in God from the shackles of that abuser). This post is dealing mostly with just everyday stings of words and arguments that occur between two people who genuinely love each other and are working at having a healthy relationship 

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

HE LONGS FOR US II

Before we go to today's post, I must first offer my sincere apologies for the drought of posts recently, been busy. Please forgive me. Now that we are through with that, let's go to the post. I will be continuing my series on my wife's trip and the things i was taught through it. I wrote them during that time period, I just couldn't get to post them. As a result, I don't intend to change the tone and tense of the post:

In the last post, we explored how God had a plan to be in close fellowship with us forever and how we abandoned that fellowship to strike out on our own. We saw how God missed us and went to great length to get us back through his Son Jesus.

Like I said in my last post, the parable of me missing my wife illuminated the Gospel to me in two dimensions; first is before the Cross, which we have dealt with, second is after the cross which I intend to write about today. You might be wondering, since the Holy Spirit is in us and we are in him, and the fullness of the God head dwells in us through the Spirit, how can we say that God misses us again or he longs to see us again? Well, there are two sides to my post today: He wants to see us physically and we want to see him physically

There is a passage in Paul Young’s book “The Shack” where Mackenzie the protagonist of the Novel meets with the Trinity for the first time. As he is about to knock on the door, it is opened by Papa (the character representing the Father) who upon seeing him gives him the biggest bear hug, he is lifted from the ground and kissed all over the place. His defenses are melted immediately, this has never happened to him before and tears start streaming from his eyes. Ultimately this is something every heart longs for; to be hugged, accepted and welcome by God. We seek it from every other person, every thrill, every Job, every good deed we do in ministry, every stride we take, but the truth is that we are seeking that these things fill a hole only God can fill. And he is willing to fill it, if we let him. I believe our hearts are longing for that bear hug from Papa, or more accurately we are wrestling against it in our ignorance and seeking it from others. However, not only do I accept the Holy Spirit’s agency in giving me this hug, I can’t wait to see him physically. I can’t wait till he returns and transforms my mortal body to the resurrected form and to see him. To touch my Lord and to see him hug me with tears in his eyes and mine as he says “welcome home my brother”. It is not the physical appearance of Heavens that creates a longing in my heart any longer but the person of Jesus himself

In the same vein, I believe the same for God himself. He has made his home in us and he finds rest in our bodies. But we are still told that Jesus will return, that he will split the sky and call us up to where he is (1 Thess. 4:16-18). If he were satisfied with the present state of things between us, he wouldn’t do that. He wants to see us and feel us; to eat and drink with us (remember God has become a man in the person of our Lord Jesus). I believe even though the Holy Spirit gives him something more than a digital impression of his presence, he still longs to return to us and feel us with his physical hands, see us with his physical eyes and speak to us one on one. We are his bride and we take his breath away.

So we can pray like the early Church prayed Maranatha, come Lord Jesus come

HIS HEART LONGS FOR US

Last weekend I saw my wife off to the Airport. She was going to see family and she’s going to be gone for a while so I’d been tearing up all day, in fact all week. But I never let the emotion show, I reasoned that she would not be gone for so long and the days would just pass by swiftly, so there was no need to worry. Whenever we talked about how much we would miss each other, I tried to keep a stoic demeanor and just be frank about it all

But as it remained two hours for her to leave, I began to feel the heavy weight of deep loss, I really didn’t want her to go, and I would miss her presence too much. As she walked past the security gate and went out of sight; not to be seen for the next couple of days, I felt a part of me leaving with her, and even though we have means of communicating with each other; Skype, chatting and plain old calling each other’s cell phone, nothing beats her being present with me here. I still miss my wife a whole lot, I’m not used to coming home, watching movies or even praying alone. Now more than ever, I cherish the presence of my spouse sharing everyday life with me. I cannot imagine how old people feel when they lose their spouse, no wonder they tend to sleep in the Lord quickly (especially if they were very close)

As I was driving back home from the Airport and contemplating these things, I suddenly felt a nudge in my belly: “This sense of loss I feel does not originate with me, it is a parable and it originates from God”, I could feel it originating from the heart of Jesus himself, communicated to me through the Holy Spirit.

I will talk about this in two layers; before the Cross and after the Cross

BEFORE THE CROSS

When Adam fell, he died. He separated himself from God and in his utter confusion about God and his character, he started hiding from God. This little act has degenerated over millennia to mankind having all these myths about the Father; twisted and convoluted ideas about the Nature and character of God that make us constantly fear him, distrust him and run from him. In a way we were passing through the Security gates and leaving the place of pleasure (Eden) and fellowship with him forever. We could still communicate with him sometimes, Israel had the Temple and he spoke through his Spirit to certain men. Many other nations had inclinations of their origin in God, but Satan twisted these inclinations and set himself and his demons up to be gods in those Nations. However, God still communicated with Gentiles, just not as frequently and directly as he did with the Jews.

But that was never enough, what he wanted was to live in us and share everything with us. He wants us to have a conscious knowledge of his presence in all that we go through in life; good or bad. He wants to fully express himself in humanity, and include us in the unbroken and unbreakable fellowship of the Trinity. This is what Jesus came to give to us. This is the plan that began in Eden but was not fully consummated.

He came to show us a true picture of God:

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” John 1:18

He came to give us Life (a living fellowship with the real God):

“Father the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life; that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:2-3

Now I’ve had a glimpse of how the Father must have felt for millennia without our fellowship and of how the Son would have felt, waiting for millennia to become flesh and claim his Bride. Not that God is incomplete without us or anything like that. He can do without us; he is wholly whole and satisfied in the Trinity. He has just chosen never to do without us. Like Karl Barth says, “God refuses to be God without us”

So when he became man, he became the last Adam; fully representing us in a way that is much more powerful and effective than the first Adam. When he died, he put to death that Adamic race that alienated himself from God with its idiosyncrasies and he rose again to newness of life, a man completely innocent before God with complete access to the throne room of God. Now all that is left is for us to accept who we are and what has happened to us, and make use of it by engaging in a real relationship with God. The moment we believe this, the Holy Spirit makes his dwelling in our hearts and that connection is made.

“And you were also included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession to the praise of his glory” Ephesians 1:13-14(emphasis mine)

Please do not get me wrong, I understand the severity of Sin and Christ’s need to die and take our punishment. But we must remember that is not where the story starts. There was a plan before the fall, and the fall did not stop that plan, it only meant that Jesus had to make certain stops in carrying out that Eternal plan

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, just know that God longs to make his dwelling in your heart. He’s not disgusted at you, unhappy with you or disappointed in you. Sure, you might be doing things he does not like, but he’s not surprised and he’s very aware of the fact that only in him can you find the strength to change. He literally died to make it possible. If you have not accepted this gift please do and if you have, the least you can do is enjoy his presence and let him love you.  In fact, I believe that is all that is required of us.

Now, this post is getting too long for my liking, so I’ll write about the next insight in my next blog. Stay tuned.

REDEFINING OUR VOCABULARY

In recent years there has been a resurgence of the real Gospel, a sort of excavation of old and ancient foundations that were buried deep underneath a super structure of Legalism, spookiness, Gnosticism, secular Humanism and general worldliness. We are beginning to recapture the essence of the Gospel. We are beginning to read the Bible without the lens of religious conditioning.

As a result, I believe there is a need to recapture the true meaning of Christian terms and phrases. I have come to find out that a lot of the words we use bear a totally different meaning from what we were made to believe growing up. Most times, what we are taught are meanings steeped in Old Testament theology. Well, we have come to know that the Cross made a difference. The coming of Jesus and his death on the Cross has turned these terms on their heads and in fact abolished the Old Covenant. And it is in this context that the New Testament writers came to see and use these terms

A good example is the word Righteousness. We were told righteousness means doing right, obeying all the rules and being sinless; in other words, being spotless in terms of our behavior (it’s funny that those who interpret it this way and encourage people to ‘be righteous’ are not righteous themselves if they are to go by this definition). However, we have come to know that this interpretation is faulty in light of the New Covenant. No one can be righteous based on their performance. No one is spotless in and of themselves. So, God goes the other way round; he makes us righteous by giving us his righteousness and when we lean on that, impulses are created in us to do his will. We begin to bear his fruit, as opposed to creating fruit. Righteousness is not a doing; it is a state of being.

Similarly, there are various terms in our vocabulary we must begin to either redefine or rediscover its true meaning. Words like faith, sin, The Word of God, holiness, Church, responsibility, hope, Hell, repentance, Covenant and many more have a totally different meaning in light of the New Covenant. This is one of the things I’ve been thinking about in recent times. I will share my thoughts on these things as I feel the release to do so of course, but I would implore you to think for yourself and ponder on these things too. You have the Holy Spirit and he will lead you into all truth

Below is a video teaching by Ryan Rufus where he expounds on redefining Holiness, I think you’ll find it quite enlightening. Even if you do not agree with it, keep an open mind and let it spark up thought in you on these issues.

Till we meet again

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ continue to be with you

Hol

WHO ARE WE REALLY?

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him… (Colossians 2: 15-19)

Think about the scripture quoted above, I mean really think about it. When he says Jesus is the image of the invisible God and that all things were created in him: all things! That is mindboggling. Many times I see God as just this being that created Earth and everything in it. Sometimes we even bring him down to just an immortal father and we kind of underestimate his potency. We think he’s only there to give us moral support or to stabilize our emotions when we go through challenges (I think this is partly due to the romantic nature of God himself; he’s so loving) and then one day, he’ll take us home to a place where there will be no more sorrow.

However, the implications of the statements made about God and Jesus in the Epistles show us a different story. Jesus is infinitely more than just the High Priest with great empathy for us, he is more than the guy who comforts us in our sorrows, more than the God who will come and deliver us from this decaying world; he is the creator of the Universe. All the other things and life forms in all the other planets, galaxies and solar systems have no other God than Jesus. They all exist in him. Anything that exists in the physical AND in the spiritual realm dwells in him. “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible”. There is no other God but Jesus who embodies the fullness of the Godhead, there is nothing that exists without his consent, absolutely nothing, anywhere! Before anything appeared; before there was space, before there was time, before there was heaven, He has always existed and forever exists

Beloved, our God is bigger than we can ever imagine. Jesus is infinitely bigger than we can imagine. Flowing from this premise, when he says that we have been given his fullness; that we are exactly like him:

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. (Colossians 2:9-10)

In this [union and communion with Him] love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us, that we may have confidence for the Day of Judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him], because as He is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4:17 AMP)

This God, that not only created everything but has everything in him, everything!! He has made himself into a man and forever united himself to his creation. He has established in Christ’s body a vital union with humanity wherein we become partakers of his Divine nature (2 Peter 1:1-4). He has made us just like him.

When we begin to consider just how big and awesome and all encompassing Jesus really is, we will begin to comprehend that we will need an eternity to comprehend just what we really are. We cannot begin to know the depths of the New Creation. We have not even begun to really plumb the depths of who we really are. This, to me is the priority of the Church; learning together who we are, understanding what has changed and the implications of the Divine life that flows within our being. This seems like an impossible task, but like Paul, we will pray:

“that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. Amen.” ( Ephesians 1:18-23)

Grace be with you always

Delighted to have you

In my life, I have been around couples who have been earnestly expecting their babies. People who have been married for a long time; 2years, 3 years, 4 years, even 8 to 10 years. I have seen them live without having a baby. They go from month to month in hope and expectation. Months turn into years and some of them loose hope, others keep fighting. Then at last the conception comes to full term and a baby is born.

There is nothing more incredible to see than the joy on the faces of these couples when they finally have a baby. The way they light up when they talk about it, the gratefulness in their voice when they think of all they have been through and how God has resolved it. The way they look at the child; they love and cherish that child. At that moment, they are the happiest people in the world.

“Before the creation of the world, he chose us through Christ to be holy and perfect in his presence. Because of his love he had already decided to adopt us through Jesus Christ. He freely chose to do this” Ephesians 1: 4-5 (GWT)

Before anything that was made was made, before the beginning of time, the Father had purposed in his heart that humanity would be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ. Before he said the words that precipitated the Big Bang, God already decided that mankind would end up as his children. Sometimes we go off on all these various tangents on the will of God for our lives. We have reduced it to things that we have been created to do; heal the sick, evangelise, plant a Church, start a multi-million dollar corporation. The real will of God for us is adoption through Jesus Christ. All these things we do are a result of this one will of God; we do these things from our position of security and assurance of our adoption.

Now, just how long did it take for God to accomplish this goal in us? Four thousand years!!!!!! Since the creation of Adam till the birth of Christ, it was close to Four Thousand years. I personally don’t believe it had to be that long; if Adam had not taken a bite from the wrong tree, I don’t think it would have taken too long at all. But he did and the Trinity had to painstakingly work out their plan through the murk and the wreckage of a fallen humanity. Until thousands of years later, Jesus was born. When he was born, God had to wait another Thirty Three years for the Son to fully accomplish his ministry and go to the Cross to complete the work of atonement. Now, the Father had to watch him being shred to bits for our sake, he was beaten beyond recognition and killed in a most humiliating way; just to have us as his sons, just to have you as his son. Then after his death, the father had to wait another three days for him to rise again, marking the beginning of the New Creation. The first Adam was dead and the last Adam had emerged. Finally, the Father had to wait another fifty days for the Holy Spirit to descend on the One Hundred and Twenty disciples marking the beginning of the Church.

At last, God had his Children, we had been reconciled unto him, and we have become his sons. The idea of sonship here is not about making us one gender; it is about making us heirs with Christ, and bringing us close to himself. If Humans who have waited for years for their child to be born can be so ecstatic, how much more our God who had to wait thousands of years in order for him to send his Spirit into us, enabling us to at last call him “Abba, Father, Daddy, Papa” (Galatians 4:6)

Then you were born. You probably had no idea of what has happened to you. You were told by people whose minds were still in Adam that you are far away from God; that you are an abomination to him. That he would have nothing to do with you until you did this or did that. Maybe you believed that there is no God. Or you believed that there are many ways to God. Until one day, you came to realize one way or the other that Jesus is the Way to the one true God and that he loves you. At that point you acknowledged him in your heart; you decided to follow him, you prayed the prayer, you cried or whatever other ritual you engaged in, bottom line: you acknowledged him. You changed your mind about God and made a positive U-turn. This is what Jesus has to say about moments like that:

“In the same way, I tell you, there is joy IN THE PRESENCE of God’s angels over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10 NET)  

There is an important point here. Growing up, I was told that the angels had joy over the sinner’s repentance. That is not what he said; the joy is in the PRESENCE of the angels. My friend, the day you repented of your false vision of God, God rejoiced. He rejoiced that you were getting one step closer to understanding his heart towards you. He is not disappointed in you. He is pleased to have you. He has waited for over two thousand years to have you brought into existence and be in his presence, he wants you to enjoy him as much as he enjoys you. Neither is he surprised at your mistakes and pitfalls. Your sins are not coming as a shock to him. He knows all about it and he is working at making you shed off the skin that Adam has put you in and put on the image of his first born, Jesus; which is your true image (1 John 4:17)

He enjoys watching you play. He loves to watch you do your little hobbies. He loves it when you kiss your wife or hug your friends or relish a good meal. He has waited a long time to have you and he is happy that you are here. It is a joy to have you, and as you repent even more by reading this blog and realizing that the Father is happy to have you, you will feel joy in your heart. That joy is a reflection of the joy the Trinity feels about your mere presence and about your repentance; it is the Holy Spirit giving you a glimpse of how they feel about you.

Thank you Father, Son and Holy Spirit for loving us before we existed and making sure your love plan for us did not fail- Even when we tried to abort it