The Nation Newspaper

Category: Worship

  • How to make Easter counts, by cleric

    Senior Pastor of Kingdom Light Christian Centre, Jummy Adetoyese-Olagunju, has called on Christians to utilise the Easter season to reflect and appropriate the life and principles of Jesus Christ.

    Adetoyese-Olagunju spoke in an interview at the church Special Praise at La-reel Hotel VGC, Lagos.

    According to him, Easter is a season of transformation, rebirth and reflection on the death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the redemption of mankind from sin and its eternal consequences.

    He lamented many Christians only profess the person of Jesus but jettison the life and principles of Jesus in their daily lives, making the sacrifices of Jesus of no effect.

    The cleric said: ”Jesus remains the light of the world and his children are supposed to reflect his life, principles and values in all that they do.”

    He noted that the early disciples of Jesus were first called Christians in Antioch not because they were professing Jesus alone but because their lives, characters, dispositions, attitudes and values were replica of the values Jesus stood for.

    He asserted that developed nations of the world became great when they make the teaching of Jesus their watchwords and ways of life.

    ”It is not enough that Nigeria has so many churches and few people are truly living their lives in line with God’s word. That will only displease God,” he stressed.

    ”The world is looking up to the church for answers and solutions to economic, social and physical and mental problems, which the sacrifices of Jesus have borne. We must be alive to this reality and take responsibility as God’s children,” he challenged.

    He recalled that the death of the doctor who committed suicide recently on his way from the church gives lots of concerns as to the messages and teachings in some churches.

    He challenged church leaders to refocus their teachings by pointing members to God and his principles, which are sufficient to lead a better life.

  • ‘How to train growing, healthy pastors’

    ‘How to train growing, healthy pastors’

    Church Growth expert, Dr Francis Bola Akin-John, speaks with Sunday Oguntola on the imperatives of training for pastors ahead of a conference. Excerpts: 

    How did you conceive the idea of WATPRICO?

    I was in a conference in Thailand for pastoral trainers when the idea came that we need to do West Africa Pastoral Trainers Congress (WAPTRICO) where we can bring people training pastors or have the vision of training pastors.

    I discovered, with due respect to our bible colleges, seminaries, and schools of ministries, that we are not producing healthy pastors.

    How?

    The bible colleges and seminaries seem to give them too many theological issues that render them almost useless by the time they graduate and come to pastoral ministries.

    On their part, the informal sector has too many shallow, imbalanced and ephemeral teachings with nothing to do with preparing somebody to pastor a healthy church by the time they graduate.

    Sometimes those trainings are one-month or three-month such that by the time they graduate, they come hurting eternal souls. Leading the church becomes a big problem. So, the idea came that we should bring people from formal and informal set ups for standard procedures and arrive at some resources and materials that will equip anybody God calls to pastoral ministry.

     

    When he/she passes through those trainings, at least we can say that we have given them the basic and get them ready for a lifelong effective ministry.

    What is the kind of training that any pastor planning to be healthy should undergo?

    Healthy pastors should be trained on biblical interpretations, pulpit mannerism and pulpit delivery and communication. They should go through training on social media and internet. They should go through training on church planting, leadership, relationship, dispute resolution, crises management and the likes.

    Those are things that we have discovered if you want to make pastoral training relevant, they must undergo. Pastors planning to be healthy should go through trainings that will develop his character, knowledge, personality, communication, relationship and congregation.

    The health of the pastor is the health of the church and the health of the church is the health of the society. If the pastor is not healthy, the church will never be healthy. And if the church is not healthy, the society will never be healthy. Those are issues we want to deal with at WAPTRICO.

    Can we have perfect pastors?

    No, but we can have growing pastors. There are no perfect pastors because all of us are in the making but you can be properly trained, equipped, grounded, moulded in a way that you can help others without losing your life. Pastors are dealing with souls and destinies. They have many pressures and challenges. Being perfect is not possible but we can have holy, effective pastors.

    You can be a model and good example to others. You can make mistakes sometimes because you are human but you must be growing in character, measure and capacity.

    You can minister in such a way you get people ready for heaven. You be a good example for them. Unfortunately, almost 90% of pastors of today don’t fall into the picture.

    They are not healthy?

    They are not healthy because many of them didn’t go through trainings. They just wake up, say God has called them and open a church. You can only see that in the church. In major professions, can someone just wake up and say I am a pilot without being trained and certified?

    I have been reading a lot about aviation lately. Pilots go through training every three months. Like doctors, they go for training while practicing. Doctors read medical journals and attend medical conferences. They keep upgrading even years after graduation. It is the same with engineers.

    But when some pastors manage to graduate, they don’t go for training again. Yet, they are dealing with eternal souls. Those who embrace training don’t also get the best from the trainers. So, we want to build the bridge for this.

    Are healthy pastors made or born?

    They are made. Even if they were born, they must still go through training because pastoral work is a continuous learning process. You go for training for updating to interpret the scriptures, do the right things, handle issues, crises and souls.  Jesus says ‘I will make you fishers of men.’ He makes them by training them for three and half years.

    But the biggest pastors in the country didn’t go through pastoral training. How do you relate this to what you are saying?

    That is why we have lots of issues in our churches. That is why we have lot of issues with bible misinterpretations and misapplication. That is why we have a lot of errors being peddled about.

    The truth is we don’t need to copy bad examples and in the last 30 years there have been a lot of errors in the Nigerian church, especially by our so-called big pastors.  It is because we don’t go through trainings. If we don’t want these things to continue, we need to be properly trained on how the church should be run.

    We need to go through trainings. We need to check our trainings, and go for retraining in scriptures, in handling churches, in administering churches, in leading churches and sundry issues.

    We need to retrain on how to avoid issues, scandals, rumours and certain unpalatable issues in the ministry. So, for me, the key is we need to go back to basic fundamental trainings. Enough of people running ministries and jumping into church planting without passing through solid, sound trainings.

    For too long a time, the church in Nigeria has taken trainings for granted. You can’t be functional in the military if you don’t go for trainings and each promotion comes because you pass through a course. Pastors are also into spiritual military work. If you are not trained for it, you will be gunned down quickly.

    You’d become a casualty and that is why a lot of pastors are becoming casualties. They are falling by the way side because it is a spiritual battle.

    Does personal development make up for training?

    Of course personal development is good but it is not the final. Whoever wants to do this work must go for trainings. Pastoral and ministerial works require lot of trainings because we have issues with people and money. Most members you are handling are hurtful and injured. They have lost hope in life and it requires proper trainings for you to know how to handle them.

    What would be your advice to trained pastors who appear not to be doing so well compared to their untrained counterparts?

    Those ones should update their training. You might be properly trained, doing a good job but lack strategies to win your society. You may be concentrating inside your church to win the community. There are things you should do but which you are not doing.

    Those who seem to be doing well with crowd and money, they too should go and update their training because having a crowd does not say you are pleasing God. Crowd is not church. You can draw a crowd and yet you don’t draw people for heaven. You can have people that are in church yet they are not in Christ. So, everyone should ask himself: this crowd and money, are we taking them to heaven?

    You are targeting one million healthy local churches in ten years. Is that realisable?

    It is realisable if you have 500 pastoral trainers and each trains at least four, it is achievable. I am not saying I am going to do this alone. That is why we are calling this.

    We want to partner with formal and informal trainers to draw up standard trainings for pastors and each should run with the vision. If I can have 500 pastoral trainers who can take the resources and run with it, it is achievable.

  • Adeboye canvasses private-public partnership for job creation 

    Adeboye canvasses private-public partnership for job creation 

    General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has canvassed aggressive public- private partnership for job creation in the non-oil sector to tame the frightening youth unemployment.

    He spoke at the special prayer and thanksgiving service for singles and those waiting on the Lord for children at the church’s RCCG National Headquarters, Throne of Grace Parish, Ebute-Metta in Lagos.

    He said the issue of unemployment was becoming a hydra-headed monster all over the world.

    The solution, according to him, lies in aggressive and transparent government–private partnership.

    He said that governments cannot employ every employable citizen but should concentrate on creating the right environment for businesses to thrive.

    ‘’Government should create conducive environment for small and medium scale enterprise to thrive with provision of necessary facilities to sustain their growth,’’ Adeboye stressed.

    He noted that government-private sector investment can bring about huge capital flow, improvement in national gross domestic products, massive job creation and injection of new technology for better quality infrastructure.

    Adeboye, who spoke through his Special Assistant on Personnel and Administration, Pastor Johnson Odesola, also pointed out the need for government to plug all loopholes that drain scarce national resources and deploy them rapidly to infrastructure development.

    The cleric said: “We should also mobilise the society to invest massively in producing what we eat even as we discipline ourselves to eat only what we produce.”

    He argued that youths should understand that being graduates is not enough but must complement it with hand work for survival.

    ‘’The youth should learn to believe in themselves and make use of their families, friends and church network to start something small,’’ he said.

    He charged parents to be involved more in their children’s social, academic, emotional and psychological make-up through open discussion, friendship.

    Adeboye said that there will be no nation without families, pointing out that “those promoting homosexuality miss it because without families, those who are professing to be homosexuals will not be exist at all.”

  • Akinfenwa warns against extravagance at Easter

    The Bishop of Ibadan Anglican Diocese Most Reverend Joseph Akinfenwa has urged Christians to eschew all forms of extravagance and spend within their means during Easter period.

    Lamenting the high level of poverty in the nation, Akinfenwa in his Easter message said Christians should celebrate with modesty and avoid going into debt.

    According to him: “Instead, our surpluses should be channeled into providing succor to the needy.

    “Most importantly, let us all seize the occasion of this season to draw closer to God and to know Him better through His Son, Jesus Christ.

    Akinfenwa said modesty celebration was apt because Nigerians are in the midst of excruciating economic pain and under great anxiety over insecurity and political persecution.

    “Our nation is witnessing an economic downturn of monumental proportions, with a decline in the value of the Naira that is unprecedented in our history.

    “Nigerians needs to pray more. We admonish the three arms of government in this nation to urgently bury the hatchet and begin to work together in the overall interest of the masses.

    “For what the Nigerian masses can observe suggests that the executive, the legislature and the judiciary in Nigeria are presently having adversarial relationships.

    “As we celebrate Easter, therefore, we appeal to feuding elements in the three arms of government to consider the interests of poor Nigerians over and above their narrow personal interests,” he said.

    He said since Jesus Christ laid down his life for the salvation of our souls, “he left us an example of how leadership should be exercised for the pursuit of the good and wellbeing of others.

    “Let us all reflect on this lesson as we celebrate; and let both leaders and the led resolve to shun selfish, self-centered lives henceforth. A major lesson of Easter is that we must all learn to live “for others”.

  • The Strong Belt of Truth (7)

    Topic: The word of Truth

    “If you abide in My WORD, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the TRUTH, and the Truth shall make you free.” Jesus said this to the Jews who have started to believe in Him as He taught them. To abide is to obey, observe, follow, keep to, stick to, stand by, act in accordance, uphold, agree, accept, acknowledge, respect. God’s word is written for us in the Bible, we need to study it, believe it, and live by it. God Himself inspired the writing of the Bible, so it contains no error at all, it is infallible, and can be fully trusted. As you study with hunger to know God more, God will reveal Himself to you in deeper dimension. Not reading and studying the Bible is to neglect God’s word and in turn, you would be neglecting God Himself and the Truth He sent to set you free from sin and the kingdom of darkness- The Truth is Jesus.

    After I became saved, I began to have a hunger to know God more. God sent me to Nasarawa state for my NYSC. Before the end of our three weeks orientation camp, most Corpers through connections and bribery influenced their places of primary assignment, but I refused to do so. I had told God I wanted to honour Him in every area of my life. I knew that manipulating anything would be wrong and that I needed to trust God to take charge of my life. Although, I prayed and told God I wanted to be posted to the state capital but that didn’t happen, instead I was posted to Kwarra; a very remote village in Nasarawa for my one-year service to Nigeria.

    The long, arduous journey to the village, the isolated and deprived village itself got me a bit scared when we got there but I knew God was in control of my life. Many of us wept. We gathered together like refugees the night of our arrival lamenting, one of us said God sent us there as a punishment for our sins, but I knew this wasn’t true for me; this was a time I started seeking God with my whole heart. The village had no electricity, no market, no potable water, we lived in a mud house and used pit toilet, no frequent commercial vehicles, etc. We got to know that most corpers sent to that village don’t stay, some in our set also left but a few of us stayed. I rarely travelled for the whole service year.

    Those of us who believed God sent us to that village for a purpose have great testimonies to share about our experience; today, our testimonies are building young people.

    God sent me to that very quiet village in order to get my full attention and show Himself to me. If I had gone to the state capital that I prayed for; I would have been carried away by activities and missed out on God’s will. God wanted me to know Him deeper- an answer to the longing of my heart.

    God taught me QUIET TIME in that village; He wakes me early in the mornings to study His word. With the hunger I had in me, I found out I could study His word for hours without getting bored. I started to understand the word like never before, my eyes were opened, and I saw that the Bible was a very great book, full of wisdom and words that are so powerful to bring transformation- this marked the beginning of my intimate relationship with God. The word of God began to penetrate me, and I desired more and more to be like Jesus, I desired more and more to obey and honour God. The word showed me my true self; I discovered myself in that village and began to pray for a better me. What the Bible says about the word of God truly happened to me, the Bible says, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two- edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” I tell people that every letter in the Bible breathes; the words have life. In that village, we held the Christian corpers fellowship about four times every week; God hemmed me in. I thoroughly enjoyed my fellowship with the Lord and His dealings with me. Not to forget; in that village I discovered my purpose on earth. Sometimes I ask myself, what if I didn’t go to that village, what if I accepted the free offer to influence my primary place of assignment?. Hmm, I would have missed the beginning of a personal fellowship with God, His divine encounter and missed knowing my purpose on earth. I tell Christians, do not manipulate anything about you, leave things to God, allow Him have full control of your life. Know what God wants you to do and obey Him, most times; it will not be what you want. Let God’s Will be done in situations and at the end, you will be glad. Today, I am still reaping the fruit of that submission to His will.

    I will never forget an experience I had in that village. One fateful night, I was asleep but very conscious of my surrounding; I saw standing outside by our small window a woman with a very scary countenance, her face partly covered with a black cloth. In fact, she is the description of whom we call witch. I quickly sat up, very scared and confused; I didn’t know what to do. I picked up my Bible but did not know where to turn to; I hadn’t any part memorized, then God spoke to me in my heart Psalm 91. Honestly, I did not know about this psalm, later I got to know It’s a common psalm most people have memorized and can recite from beginning to the end.

    I read it and became dazed; I was amazed to know that God knew about my night terror. That chapter described and spoke to my situation. After reading I felt pressed to pee, I found myself go out of the room alone that night to urinate without fear. I came back and slept peacefully- The word of God is indeed powerful; it builds your faith.

    As I desired to know God more, He referred me to the Bible first. God’s word makes me remain saved. In the Bible David says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”

    The longest chapter of the Bible is psalm 119; this psalm from the beginning to the end centres on the excellences of the word of God.

    Are you abiding in God’s word?

    When Jesus sets you free from the kingdom of darkness, to remain free you need to study the word of God and live by it.

     

    TEXT: Ephesians 6:10-18, John 8:32, Hebrews 4:12, Psalm 119, Psalm 119:11.

    From: Faith Nwachukwu.

  • ‘Life as a full-time bible teacher for 40 years’

    ‘Life as a full-time bible teacher for 40 years’

    President of Koinonia Ministries Ibadan, Rev Emiko Amotsuka, has been in full-time teaching ministry for 40 years.  The highly respected minister speaks with Sunday Oguntola on his ministry and passion for Christianity 

    I am Itsekiri by tribe, married with five children and I came to study at the University of Ibadan and never left. I guess Ibadan is one of the best places in Nigeria though it is almost becoming crazy like Lagos.  I studied Agriculture Economics but never practiced for a day.

    I didn’t practice because I set up a ministry in the last few months of my time in UI. The Spirit of God began to widen the scope of what He had called me into. He made me know this is not something you can do with secular employment because if you ask your employer today to go on two-three day seminar, you come back a few weeks after to ask for permission again, your employer will tell you to decide exactly what you want to do.

    Taking off

    It is called Koinonia ministry. Koinonia is a Greek word for fellowship and sharing. Our mandate is primarily a teaching ministry. It sounded a little bit strange at the time because people were asking what a teaching ministry is.

    1. L. Osborne had been to Nigeria just a few years prior to 1974 and he had a Soul Winners Institute where he fired up everybody. Everybody was running on all fours for evangelism. So, when I came up saying this is a teaching ministry, that a bit struck a chord in a lot of people.

    I had served under the ministries of men like Kenneth Haggin, TL Osborne and a few people like that and something that impressed me about those men. They seemed to have a way of being in control of what happened in their lives.

    They were not at the mercy of circumstances. They seemed to have a way of using the word of God to dictate how things would turn out in their lives and that impressed me. That opened up to me a new vista in our redemption, which we never knew.

    We began to search. We began to study the word of God and by 1976, I began to say to people that we were born again with our name written in the book of lambs of life but we need to understand what is included in our experience of salvation.  I mean what package is handed to us in salvation. We need to understand it. We need to have a clearer understanding of what is involved. The ministry took off in 1977.

    40 years in full time ministry

    By November, I will be 40 years in full time ministry by the grace of God. I have never done anything else. This is the only work I know how to do. My wife is a medical director and she established a hospital.

    I manage the business of the hospital in terms of the non clinical aspect but I don’t get paid for doing that. A lot of people when they hear my wife owns the hospital believe we are sorted out. They assume we can take care of ourselves. But I can say to the glory of God that I do not depend on my wife’s hospital for our survival. I let the hospital sort its own matter out. I don’t lean heavily on the hospital for sustenance. The hospital doesn’t pay the bills but God does and He does it fine.

    When we were setting off, I knew we would last not because of me or anything in me. But I have found certain things in the bible that I have committed to and I know anyone that commits himself to those things that will last.

    I have never had any fear for my future because I had committed myself to living a life of obedience to God in every aspect of my life. I am committed to a life style of total consecration and total commitment to Him. I live in His will and purposes. I study His words and I am determined to live by His words.

    With all these commitments, I had a great confidence that the future will be good and great for me. I knew that God is faithful to His words and He does not lie. I knew He will fulfill His own part of the bargaining if I fulfill mine. So I had great confidence in the future and God has proved faithful.

    Temptations to float a church in the last 40 years

    That has come up at various points but as I sought God’s face about it, I didn’t have the release, the clearance to go into church work. I say to people, nobody can make any absolute statement about ministry work because it is not about you. It is God’s work.

    He can change your direction anytime. However as of today, I have not had any direction to go into church. I have had a lot of pressures from leading ministers of God. Some of my friends have actually come to plead with me to set up a church.

    Some have come to fight me for not setting up a church. There have been all kinds of pressures on me. But He’s the one who must give you your assignment. He is the one who calls you to give you a job and you don’t assign yourself assignments. He engages and assigns your responsibilities and that is virtually what has happened.

    Juicy overseas offers

    I describe myself as a public servant in the body of Christ. I am here to serve and that has given me a lot of platforms for service. In ministry, it is not about you. It is not about your interest; it is not about your benefit. It is not about your advantage. But it is about God, His agenda, His purposes and His direction.

    If we all look at it from that perspective, that will dictate how everything else will go. I have had pressures to leave Nigeria to go and settle abroad in UK or US for ministry. As a matter of fact, many Nigerians started to relocate to England, an old friend living in the UK came to me and said ‘we need people like you in England now to come up and set up your ministry.’

    In 1980, nobody was thinking of checking out of Nigeria. That time, I had a German friend who told me to relocate my ministry, that he was going to set up my wife properly so that I can go on in the ministry. I have had juicy offers abroad. But I say being in the ministry is like a policeman or a soldier deployed to guard a particular building from the supreme headquarters. It is the person who sent you who must relocate you. If we look at things from that angle, it is not about my advantage.

    I like it when I am abroad. But I know after spending some time I have to come back to the jungle. It isn’t about you or your agenda. It is about God’s agenda. If going to Lagos will enable me fulfill God’s agenda more effectively, of course why not? It is all about His leading, His direction, not about my advantages or benefits. If things were evaluated from that prism, it makes a lot of decision- making easier.

    Benefits from God in 40 years

    God is a good God. He is merciful, kind, loving and takes care of his children. As I say to people, if you see a wealthy man, if he is a good father, his wealth will be reflected in his children. His children will go to good schools, wear nice clothes and well fed because their father has the means and resources to take good care of them.

    God elects to look after His children as we walk with Him in the paths of obedience and faith. The blessings of redemption have to be accessed by faith and so if you honour God with your life by following His word in every area, you train yourself to develop your faith, the goodness of God will be evident in your life.

    To the glory of God, He has taken good care of me in serving Him for 40 years. I have peace that nothing else can give me in life. The joy I have in my life, the billionaires of this world don’t know anything about it. I have a roof over my head and I was able to put my children through schools. All of them are out of higher institutions and God helped me to do all that. My needs are met. When you are not greedy in life, when you are not out to compete, to measure up to anybody’s expectation, you are a very contented person.

    I am not under any pressure. So I am happy and thankful to God. I tell God that I want to have a lot of money in my life to be able to help people around me. I discover when you don’t have a lot of money to work with in your life, frustration of people around you soon become yours if you don’t have the material means to help them.

    I live a very simple and ordinary life. I have good taste for good things of this life. When God brings it my way, I enjoy it. I will not fight for it or manipulate anybody for it.

    Scandal-free ministry

    To the glory of God, there has been no scandal not because of anything in myself but a commitment to God and His words. The things that must be the foundation upon which everything in everybody spiritual life is built is a foundation of consecration and commitment to honour God in every of one’s life every day, no matter the inconveniencies.

    Unfortunately, we don’t emphasise teachings on consecration in our churches. All we talk about is breakthrough and miracle. We need all those things but the foundation must be consecration to Jesus Christ.

    Where are the teachers?

    It is a big problem. People who should be out there doing active crusades in different places have gone to church works and probably have been taken away from their primary callings. It may also be because they are evangelists by nature and do not have the spiritual personality or make up of a pastor.

    So either one aspect is suffering or one aspect there is suffering. The body of Christ suffers for all of these. However, there are some people who are able to combine pastoral works with some good degree of evangelism.

    Someone who is called as a pastor will normally be blessed with the ability to teach because a pastor is a resident person. He has to be able to nurture them and feed the sheep but not every teacher will be a pastor. But every pastor to a large extent should be a teacher.

    Everybody now is a prophet in Nigeria. I think there is too much noise being made about the prophetic; empty noise and it is very sad. Because of the elements of ego, arrogance and pride, God will really have a tough time building up a strong prophetic voice ministry from a major player in Nigeria.

    He will probably use and work through some small unknown people hidden in a corner, but there is too much of arrogance in the practice of Christianity in Nigeria.

    We have found a way of accommodating ego and arrogance as part of our spirituality and that is contrary to the scripture and so that will create a huge impediment in God being able to develop a strong prophetic voice.

    We have not heard prophetic voices in Nigeria that can bring the word of God to major national issues that everybody can put their hearts on. That is a big loss for us. Look at the last elections, we had discordant voices. People were talking in different directions. There was no solid voice that could bring clear word from God.

  • Prayer key to air safety, says NAMA chief

    Nigerians must support the aviation industry with prayers and verifiable intelligence report that will assist in keeping the nation’s airspace against attacks.

    This was the submission at the 20th Airspace Safety and Prayer programme by the African Children of Peace Club, an affiliate of African Foundation for Peace and Love Initiatives, recently.

    The prayer session held at the Nigerian Airport Management Authority (NAMA) and Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, (NCAA) Ikeja, Lagos.

    The event with the theme we declare peace against war on the Nigerian airspace featured prayers, bible teaching, prophetic ministration for the airspace.

    The General Manager Public Affairs, NAMA, Mrs. Adetona Oduntola, said that the place of God in ensuring safety of airspace cannot be overemphasised.

    Prayer, she said, remains the surest way against air tragedy anywhere in the world.

    She said since “God cannot fail, whatever we commit to His hands, He will keep.

    “Nigeria has been enjoying the staying power of prayer, we are sure that when we pray, God will answer our prayers.”

    Restating commitment of the agency to maintaining best global standards, Oduntola pointed out Nigerians must be willing to provide verifiable intelligence report and any information that will help the agency do its job well.

    She noted the security of the airspace is the responsibility of all Nigerians “because our lives, family members and the lives of our friends are involved and thus, we should support the agency by providing useful information when necessary to ensure safety of our airspace.”

    President of the foundation, Rev Titus Oyeyemi, charged Nigerians to desist from attitude and behaviours that can ignite war because no country or individual will ever wish to be without peace.

    He also called on Nigerians to continue to pray against wars, air strikes and bombings, smugglings of harmful weapons, animas and disease via airspace.

    “We are supposed to make peace our ultimate goal as we have been commanded.

    “As the aviation industry is the major inroad into the country, it is important that stakeholders work for peace and pray for peace at all times.

     

  • RCCG offers free project management training

    No fewer than 400 people penultimate weekend benefitted from free project management training by the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Province 58 in Ikorodu, Lagos.

    Province pastor, Godwin Obadan, said the training was in fulfilment of a mandate by general overseer of the church, Pastor Enoch Adeboye to engage in community and humanitarian services.

    He pointed out many people don’t know how to manage what they have whereas everything about life is a project.

    “Everything about life is a project. So, once you lean about project management, you can manage business, you can manage your life and you can manage your community.

    “So we feel that way we will be improving life and improving our society,” Obadan stated.

    Managing partner of Oak Interlink Company Limited, Seye Kolawole, was a key facilitator at the training.

    He said: “I think they’ve got sufficient knowledge. They were enlightened and educated and I think they’ve gained some useful project management knowledge and skills that they can immediately deploy on their businesses and jobs and in their carrier as well.”

    A project manager, he said, needs a mixed of experience knowledge and certifications.

    A participant Fumilola Dan-Agboola, said: “I may not be a project management expert but I am sure I can now stand by an expert and talk about project management.”

  • Accessing next levels through spiritual stewardship! (2)

    Last week, we began this teaching series with the understanding from scriptures that Spiritual stewardship, which entails serving God and the interest of His Kingdom, is key to all that life will ever demand. This is because serving God does not only pay, but it pays the best, pays supernaturally and offers incomparable returns. We also explore some returns that accrued to us when we engage Spiritual Stewardship. This week, I will conclude this series by examining “Next levels” as one of the returns on Kingdom stewardship.

    • Next Levels, in this context, connotes unending progress. As it is written: But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day (Proverbs 4:18).

    This means that every redeemed child of God is ordained for continuous and unending progress in the journey of life.

    Let’s examine three scriptures that validate this truth:

    • Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he (Matthew 11:11).

    From the above scripture, we understand that of all born of women, which includes all the Old Testament saints, there is none greater than John the Baptist. In other words, every child of God carries greater potentials than all the Old Testament saints, including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Daniel, Joseph, and other Kingdom giants in scriptures. Thus, we are ordained to be greater than them. That means we are destined for unending progress and there is no limit to the impact we are ordained to generate on the earth.

    • The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here (Matthew 12:42).

    Jesus speaking in the above scripture said that though the whole earth came to listen to the Wisdom of Solomon, His own (Jesus’) wisdom is greater. In another account, Jesus said, “As My Father has sent Me, so send I you.”  That means inside every believer lies the redemptive capacity to operate in the realm of a “greater than Solomon” (John 17:18; 20:21).

    • Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father (John 14:12).

    Every redeemed child of God is destined for greater works than Jesus ever did. That means we are ordained to produce greater exploits after the order of Christ; the kind that would keep speaking long after we are no longer here on earth, if Christ tarries.

    However, though “next levels” is the heritage of the redeemed, it is not accessible by wishing. Therefore, how do we access our realm of next levels?

    • Redemption: As stated earlier, redemption is our guaranteed access into realms of unending progress (Proverbs 4:18).
    • Revelation of the Word: Putting God’s Word to work is our guaranteed access to next levels. However, until we see unending progress as our portion, we cannot access or manifest it. Remember, no one ever arrives at a future he cannot see (Genesis 13:14-15; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Isaiah 60:1-3, 8, 22).
    • Obedience of Faith: When we are committed to obeying every of God’s commandment, we commit Him to keep changing our levels. For instance, obedience was the stronghold of Abraham’s faith. We understand from scriptures that every instruction God gave to him was executed with timely, delightsome and stress-free obedience. No wonder he was changing levels supernaturally (Genesis 12:1-4; 17: 1-14, 24; 22: 1-3 Philippians 2:8-9; Deuteronomy 28:1).

    Therefore, we need grace for timely and delightsome obedience for every instruction given to us by God.

    • Tireless Stewardship: Tireless and productive commitment to Kingdom stewardship is God’s ordained platform for the rise of giants. We must understand that we can never rise higher in life than our engagement in quality Kingdom stewardship. It is clear from scriptures that serving God and the interest of His Kingdom is a covenant platform that launches us into the realm of next levels.

    From the parable of the talents in scriptures, the servants traded with their “pound”, returned with results and they experienced change of levels. Similarly, when we engage in spiritual stewardship, our enlargement, advancement and change of levels is guaranteed. (Luke 19:13-19).

    Therefore, as you engage in serving God and His interest, I see you changing levels, and the giant in you rising supernaturally in the name of Jesus Christ!

    Are you born again? This means, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord? If you haven’t, you can do so as you say this prayer: “Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Deliver me from sin and satan to serve the Living God. Today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now I know I am born again!”

    For further reading, please get my books: Wisdom that Works, Walking in Wisdom, All you need to have all your needs met, Winning Wisdom and Excellency of Wisdom.

    I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. We have four services on Sundays, holding at 6:00 a.m., 7:50 a.m., 9:40 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. respectively.

    I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 7747546-8; or E-mail: feedback@lfcww.org

  • Nigeria on the way to greatness, says cleric

    Nigeria is going through restructuring that will bring about the much-desired greatness, General Overseer of Sanctuary of Faith and Worship Word Outreach Lagos, Pastor Williams Okoro, has declared.

    He called on Nigerians to remain calm and believe in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to take the nation to the Promised Land.

    Okoro spoke during a prayer summit for the body of Christ and nation at the church’s headquarters in Ikotun, a suburb of Lagos last week.

    According to him:  ”There would be chaos, there would be confusion but in all these there is direction for the nation to be able to find a way forward in all those confusion.

    “The way forward for the nation as at now is that God himself is restructuring and reconstructing the nation.

    ”If this can get to the government because anyhow that is what God has moved them to be doing so that we can sensitise the general public to be able to bear with the government knowing that something good is already in place for the nation.”

    He went on: “God himself is already sealing the holes in the economy of the nation. We can now see that they are investing and the result is open for us to see.

    “There will always be difficulties but all those difficulties will lead to our greatness. So the future of Nigeria is great and it is great in the sense that God is concerned about the affairs of this nation.

    “Whether any man likes it or not, God is interested in the affairs of Nigeria, so our future is bright.

    Presiding pastor of Victorious Word Outreach, Adebisi Williams, dispelled the notion there are plans to Islamise the nation.

    He said: “Firstly those people spreading such rumours are not being sincere and they are not in the know of history.

    “The Christians we are talking about is not the church, not the religion but the person that lives the life of Christ.

    “Most of these shouts are just politically motivated. There’s nobody Islamising Nigeria.”