Thursday 23 August 2012

Charles Azuwike: WHY WITNESS? PREACH CHRIST.


Have you ever asked yourself, "Why should I witness?" Several reasons should come to mind. 

First, because Jesus commands you to: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit," (Matt. 28:19). Also, Ezek. 3:11 says, "and go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or not..." 

Second, you must witness because you love the unsaved (if you don't, you should). The most loving thing you can do is present the gospel in hopes of bringing others to salvation. Galatians 5:22 lists love as one of the fruits of the Spirit. It is love's nature to give. Take for example John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." Love gives, and if you have only a small portion of His love, you will want to give to others. 

Third, witness because it is a wise thing to do. Prov. 11:30 says, "...he who is wise wins souls." Now, I know I am not a very wise person. But, since God says I'll be wise to win souls, or try to, then great, let me at it. I want to be wise in God's sight. 

Fourth, witness to keep people out of hell. Hell is a terrifying place of utter anguish and eternal separation from God. Those who are not saved go there. Witnessing is an attempt to keep them out of hell. 

Fifth, witness because it pleases God and brings glory to His name. 

Sixth, witness so people may find the love and fellowship of God (1John 1:3), the greatest of all treasures. I can think of no greater gift than salvation. It frees the sinner from sin, it delivers the lost from damnation, and it reveals the true and living God to those who don't know Him. 

The angels of heaven rejoice greatly when anyone passes from judgment into salvation (Luke 15:10). Shouldn't we as Christians rejoice too? Shouldn't we weep over the lost? Shouldn't we ask the Lord of the field to send laborers into His harvest (Luke 10:2)? Certainly! The salvation of others is the goal of your efforts. The love of God is your motive. Is there anything greater? So, give.

The devil has got men talking about everything but Christ, and Him crucified. You see in our preaching, if we don't get to the cross we have wasted our time - I firmly believe that! This is the totality of our job:” to preach Him”.

In one of Count Zinzendorf's letters he described the kind of preaching that was typical among the Moravians in their revival in 1727, and I quote him: 'Our method in proclaiming salvation is this: to point out to every heart the loving Lamb who died for us. Never, either in discourse or in argument, to digress even for a quarter of an hour from the loving Lamb!'.

Isn’t it scary, heart-rending and shameful to see/hear so much chaff, junk, self-gratifying, self-glorifying and self-centered messages today? Some of us preach church, others preach against church, some preach their pastors, others preach against pastors, leave everyone alone and “preach Christ”

That's what they did in the early church - at the very beginning of the church they preached Christ. My brothers and sisters, that's what we need now. An Ethiopian eunuch was coming from a festival of sacrifices, and God's Holy Spirit sent Philip the evangelist to speak to him. He heard him reading from Isaiah 53 about the cross: 'He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed'. Philip asked him: 'Do you understand what you're reading?'. He says: 'How can I understand, except someone explains it to me?'. Then Philip, the Bible says, opened his mouth at the same Scripture, Isaiah 53, and preached unto him Jesus!

This is what brings revival! I am hungry for revival, I badly need revival to come … when God comes in a very special sense, manifests His presence and His power among His own people, the Christian church; and that has an overflow that benefits unbelievers - not just unsaved people in our friends and families, but it touches whole communities and has been known in the past to, indeed, touch whole nations, lets pray for revival, lets create a platform for it … change your message, go back to the crux of the matter, PREACH CHRIST!


Timi Michael: SOLVED UNIVERSAL EQUATION FOR MAN'S LIBERATION.


The cross is God's matchless wisdom through which the devil was defeated. When you look at the cross, you'll see God's provision for man's complete liberation which was offered in Love despite man's wickedness; the Love of God made Him give all that He had (His only begotten Son- John 3:35, 16) just for man's deliverance. You would also see God's Righteousness in His judgment and hatred against Sin; He could not even spare His Son who was made sin for us.

His wrath was satisfied on the cross and His Love was displayed on the cross. Hence at the cross, Love = Justice and the greatest mathematical equation of the universe was solved. David was right when he said righteousness and grace has kissed each other. Wow! What Wisdom is this?

Outside the cross, there is no balance between God's Love and God's righteousness. If God's Love is greater than His Righteousness, the devil would question God's integrity. If His Righteousness is greater than His Love, man would question His Love and doubt it. In short two of His attributes would be in question and we would question His Godhood.

But I rejoice in the cross (though it is not my final place for we are ascended already) because there I saw His unfailing Love in equal proportion with His unwavering justice.

Muyiwa Ibigbami: 'A BEAUTIFUL PALACE DOES NOT MAKE A GREAT KING'


Josiah was one of Judah's great kings but his son, Jehoiakim was evil. Though he inherited Josiah's throne, but could not claim the blessings that comes through faith, when he had not followed his father's God. So also, we may inherit our parent’s money, but we cannot inherit their faith. 

A goodly heritage, good education, or a beautiful home doesn't guarantee moral character. We must have our own relationship with God. God calls every man into a personal relationship with Him. Have your own, & stay connected!

Saviour Kika: … BUT GOD IS FAITHFULL (PART 2) !!!


There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but god is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted beyond your capacity. But will with the temptation make a way of escape... 1Corinthians 10:13

IN PRAYER…
BELOVED, the exams of life are not abnormal to the one who is born of Christ Jesus. What is abnormal and unacceptable is defeat. What truly will distinguish every child of Jesus Christ in these days is in the way and manner by which the darkness that is taking its toll on the face of the earth will be literally consumed and eaten up by those who are carriers of the DIVINE NATURE.

I tell you dearly beloved, in these last days, natural laws are not just failing, THEY HAVE FAILED! Any child of God who will continue to depend on such laws are bound to face defeat. These are the days of riding on the wings of SUPERNATURAL LAWS: THE LAWS OF THE DIVINE LIFE.

You see beloved, the dove we see today are called the “birds of the air”. But actually they live on the earth. You can find them moving on the ground. But when a child wants to try to frustrate its movement on the earth, its abandons the Law of Gravity (natural laws) and takes on the LAW OF LIFT (Supernatural Laws). When the bird flies into the sky, the child becomes totally helpless and just looks on as the bird flies away: OPERATING A HIGHER LAW!

Beloved, the church has entered the last day of the last days, where natural laws will be frustrating to operate by. The Spirit of the Lord is beginning to call on the church, to a higher kind of life; THE GOD KIND OF LIFE!!! And just as every other kind of life, this kind also operates with Laws. Time will truly fail me to begin to mention such laws on this media, but I believe in due course, the Spirit will grant us liberty.

However, the operating of these laws comes with divine training and preparations. Hence we began by saying that challenges are not abnormal to the DIVINE LIFE, what is completely unacceptable and a taboo to the DIVINE LIFE is defeat! Yes, defeat is an abused-normality (abnormal) to the DIVINE LIFE, THE RESURRECTED LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS!

For instance, any student who hears that exam is coming and it sounds strange to him, needs proper orientation. Exams are normal in every learning environment; the earth is not an exemption. No matter how intelligent a student is, he must still take his exams to move to the next level. Everyone who drives is called a driver, the one who teaches is called a teacher, the one who preaches is called a preacher. Likewise, the one who is “studying” is called a student.

Therefore, every studying student must go through exams to examine the worth of his studying. Beloved, even Paul the apostle our father, admonished us not to “count it strange” when we face challenges. Everyone loves it when it is declared “I SEE YOU GOING TO THE NEXT LEVEL, SOMEBODY THAT BELIEVES THAT SHOUT A MULTIPLE, GROUND SHAKING, ROOF RENTING, SPEAKER DESTROYING, EARTH QUAKING AMEN”. Beautiful. But we quickly forget that next levels always come with next exams.

Beloved relax, heaven is on your side. Your nature is success, your nature-THE DIVINE NATURE – cannot fail. No, I didn’t say it WILL not fail, I said IT CANNOT FAIL. YOU ARE A CARRIER OF DIVINITY, THE CHALLENGES YOU FACE TODAY ARE YOUR PASSPORT TO YOUR NEXT LEVEL. JUST AS ELEPHANTS DON’T PRAY TO BE ELEPHANTS, BUT THEY MUST EAT ELEPHANTS’ FOOD TOO DEVELOP THE ELEPHANT STATURE. SAME WITH US, EAT THAT CHALLENGE, CHEW IT UP. IT IS YOUR FOOD! WHY? BECAUSE ON THE CROSS OF CALVARY, JESUS CHRIST THE KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS DEFEATED THE WORLD AND ITS CONSTITUENTS, AND GAVE US THE TROPHY TO DANGLE. YOU ARE A VICTOR BY NATURE!!!

How great it is beloved, to always remember that others FALL IN LOVE, But JESUS CHRIST DIED IN LOVE…FOR YOU!

Stay Strong, Stay Revived…LIVE RAPTURABLE!!!
Dan 11:32.
JESUS IS ALIVE…HE JUST SPOKE TO ME!

Friday 17 August 2012

Gbile Akanni: AS MANY AS ARE LED BY FEAR!


From time to time, you get one of those mails warning you not to stop on the road to help people who seem to be in need because it can be a trap set by hoodlums and robbers. There are stories of women who stopped to pick up a baby car seat covered with a blanket on the roadside in what appears to be an "abandoned baby" situation, only to be molested, raped, beaten and left for dead. Someone else stopped to help what appears to be a victim of a hit-and-run driver only to become the victim himself.

I admit that these mails often also contain helpful information on how to recognize such traps, yet, I usually have real conflict in forwarding them around . . . . even though I sometimes eventually do.

For one, I am never interested in spreading anything that will spread FEAR!

Fear is the age-old principal equipment of enslaving people . . . . and God is demobilized in any man's life once he gives in to fear. No matter how much God planned to achieve through any man or for any man, He cannot, once that man gives in to fear. Fear robs us of courage and renders us impotent in the things of God. That is why the most frequent single instruction in the Bible that God gives His servants is "Fear not". And God struggles to remove fear from the man He plans to use. Dealing with the fear of death is another principal reason that Jesus went to the Cross. (Heb. 2: 14-15).

This kind of fear-instilled carefulness is probably what prevented the Priest and the Levite from helping the man that fell among thieves on the way down to Jericho (in the story of the "Good Samaritan" which we have learn from Sunday school). It will keep us today from reaching out to those genuinely in need.

However and truly, these are difficult times . . . . Perilous times and many children of disobedience will stop at nothing to fulfill the will of their master. The checkmate, however, is never still to be moved, motivated or ruled by fear but to be led, motivated, moved and ruled by the Spirit. As many as are led by the Spirit, not by stories they have heard . . . are the sons of God.

True disciples are never afraid of death or bodily harm. They are more interested in doing the will of their Master than saving themselves from harm. They are also well assured and rested about their own personal safety . . . leaving it all in the capable hands of the Lord! They know that HE that keepeth Israel neither slumbers or sleep.

Even if they make a mistake in their discernment of the leading of the Spirit, their Lord never leaves them into the hands of evil . . . . UNLESS THERE IS A LESSON OR DISCIPLING EXPERIENCE TO GAIN THEREBY. Even then, the LORD never fails to give boundaries to the devil when He allows him to afflict HIS children (as in the case of Job) . . . . because God is ever, ultimately planning Good and not Evil!

A brother was driving a lonely bush path that leads to a relative's house to visit when he saw a lady tied to a tree beaten and half naked. He hesitated, stopping because of the many stories he had heard, but the Spirit kept nudging and impressing that she was a victim, so he stopped. He ended up rescuing a fellow sister who was about to be raped by a false brother who she carelessly followed after breaking an engagement with him. It was the approaching car that made him temporarily go into hiding.

So, next time you see a scenario that looks like someone needs your help, check with the Holy Spirit and do as He instructs . . . lest we become guilty of seeing the Lord in need and turning a blind eye.
Mat 25:44 - 46 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
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Yes, I do recommend that we apply all necessary checks to see that this is truly "an hungered" and this is truly "in need" but if we do not receive a check from the Lord, by all means do help.
Please pray deeply about this and may the Lord reveal His will to you.