WISDOM FOR TODAY 28.11.23 TO THE BOSY OF CHRIST

8.11.20 WISDOM FOR TODAY - TO THE BODY OF CHRIST

WHO TOLD THE CHURCH NOT TO DO THE RIGHT THINGS?

Prov 28:1

The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion. NKJV

Sis.Mrs Ruth Alfa, someone in our Christian fellowship, once described fleeing to be running as if you are flying. Fleeing is not just dodging something in a casual way. It is a frantic effort to catch or escape something. 

Someone may ask you to help him check whether his belt, worn under a gown, is okay. Only the man asking can say why he wanted help, seeing that nobody sees the belt under his clothes. But that is usually done casually. Ladies seek help about their head ties, about their make ups and about their dresses. Those are always casual requests.

The person we call the wicked is the sinner. Only God knows the sinner. Sometimes, that man or woman you consider as holy is a sinner in the sight of God. Sin is missing the mark (1 Jn 3:4), whether by not reaching it, or by going up, down, to the right or to the left. The day Moses was considered a sinner by God was the day the people were hailing him as a powerful man of God who got water for them out of the rock. No wonder nobody prayed to God to have mercy on Moses. Sin is a fleeing when God is not sending you.

    

Jer 23:21

21 "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran.

I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. NKJV

The early Church leaders had enough reason to run from the place of prayers and ministry of the word and begin to serve tables, but they knew that nobody was pursuing them. What of the complaints and murmurings? It was not enough push for them. What if the fact that some people were hungry in spite of their own best efforts? It was not enough push. What of the fact that some were accusing them of partiality? It was not a push at all. They requested that more workers be ordained to help them remain in the place of prayer. Let God speak to our apex Church leaders today for, like Ezra, this matter lies in their hands.

Ezra 10:4

Arise, for this matter is your responsibility. We also are with you. Be of good courage, and do it."NKJV

These matters before us as Church leaders are as serious as the matter of mixed marriages was in the days of Ezra. There are many areas that you should arise. Check the following areas and see if anyone or anything greater than God is pursuing us from doing the will of God. Check why the Church is fleeing from doing the right things. What is pursuing the members?

No One Is Pursing You From:

Preaching the Same Thing

Preaching the same thing is so important to the work of God in every generation as much as the trumpet must be clear before people can prepare for battle. I came across long 1 Cor. 1:10 long ago and I wonder why we are so hardhearted. 

1 Cor 1:10

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. NKJV

Why would God beg us and we are adamant? Paul urged Timothy to preach the same thing he was preaching.

2 Tim 2:2

And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. NKJV

Timothy preached the same thing Paul Preached. What is wrong with our generation? Is it that there are no  Pauls or that there are no Timothys? Are our Timothys striving to prove they are also wonderfully anointed? I have decided to preach what I heard my own Paul Preach. The Paul of the Bible has died. All the same, I see the spirit of Paul in one or two preachers in our generation. I have no option than to follow them. Or, young men in faith, can you not know those whose grace is ahead of yours? I cannot hear a preacher for five minutes without knowing whether I am to summit more to him more than I expect him to summit to me. Is it that these younger Timothys do not hear God their Father?

I had an experience I will never forget. Some years ago, a new Senior Pastor was sent to our Church branch where I also serve as an assistant Pastor. The first day, I went to greet him in the office, I must has despised him in my heart, for he was small in stature. As I was leaving him and going back to my house, I heard the Lord saying something like, “I need the two of you to serve Me here in this Church, but know that Rev. Philip Utaji is the leader of the work here. You are to work under him.” 

I said, “Yes, Sir!” 

You can ask any of the ministers I have worked under from the days I was a Pastor in Foursquare Gospel Church till today. I have never been unruly under any of them. 

Paul again made another passionate appeal to us to all be of the same mind.

Phil. 2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, 

2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 

3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 

4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 

There is nothing pushing us from preaching the same. Do you see anything? Is that thing bigger than God or His word? The wicked run when nobody is pursuing him. The Church must not flee from the principles of the early Church and expect things to be well.

Once we start preaching the same things, many things in the Church and in the society will fall into places. Preaching or speaking the same things will affect the following areas:

Contents of the Gospel

Ask ten persons what those who are called Christians believe. You may get ten different answers. A man of God, Bro. Gbile Akanni, brought out the contents of the gospel from the following scriptures and I have not been able to find a better alternative to it since the past six years.

1 Cor. 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 

2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 

4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 

5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 

6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 

7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 

8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time

What is it that a believer in Christ has believed? It is that he or she has accepted that:

a. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures v. 3

b. And that he was buried. V. 4

c. And that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. V.4

d. And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve (and many more as you read to verse 11).

These were the four basic things the people in Corinth believed and stood upon.  Apex leaders of the Church should tell us what to believe that is the minimum need for our standing in Christ. Some of our brothers and sisters are in Christ because they believe His power to multiply bread and some are here because of His miraculous works. Such were some believers in Jn 2:23-25 and Jesus did not trust them. 

Jn 2:23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. 

24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 

25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

This should serve as a warning to us.

2. Same Expectations of Lifestyles

After my conversion, I went to do something in Lagos and I came back with the impression that there are no Christians in Lagos. Why? Everyone I met, especially in Molue (public Bus) was rough. A student of Federal Polytechnic, Idah, and a member of our Church then, assured me that there are Christians in Lagos. The young man is from Lagos. 

Still within a year two of my conversion, I went with my new convert, Adamu, to Makurdi. I was in Makurdi earlier (1982-87) before I was transferred to Idah where I eventually got born again. While in Makurdi in those days, I was not converted and I did not go to Church. I was not a practicing Catholic. This time, I was there as a new being. The man that lived in sin in Makurdi before had died and I was now a brand new person. On a Sunday, we left the Hotel where we slept and started looking for a Church to attend. We saw a booming one, across the railway line from Wurukum Roundabout towards the GRA. We entered and we enjoyed the service till the preacher got up and started preaching. He would walk towards us and back to the altar. We saw something like a cap on the back of the man's head. My convert and I looked at each other in amazement. We asked each other whether that was not a cap. You see, we had already read in the Bible that man should not cover his head. So we knew what we must do. We just waited for him to back us one more time and we picked our Bibles and ran outside into our car and we left. The ushers couldn't stop us.

That was our understanding of  

1 Cor. 11:4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. 

There is need for agreement. New converts needs it to make them feel secure.

3. Holiness

What is pushing us from having a common understanding of holiness? Nothing, but I have been in a denomination where a priest is entitled to one bottle of beer per day with a packet of cigarettes. This is confusion. I know a denomination where divorcees are leaders. I have heard of churches that allow remarriage after divorce, especially if they see the other partner as the devil. We need agreement. I see no other point of agreement except to lift Jesus up so high that we all strive to be like Him and do like Him. I believe that is what the Master wants all to do by giving us the great commission in Mt 28:19-20.

Mt 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

4. Prayers

It is confusion to have some praying with candles, some with beads and some with anointing oil. There is nothing pushing us from being like Jesus in prayer. He spoke to His Father as a man speaks with a friend. He spoke to Him in private and in public. He spoke to God more about the kingdom than about what to eat and what to drink. One white man said that the way we pray in Nigeria is different from the way they pray in their own country. Let the Christian top leaders guide us so that we are not too different from brothers from the same Father.

Examples of Those who Ran

1. Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve missed the place where God put them. They came lower in everything. No man was pushing them. Even devil did not push them. He only pointed to the tree and explained the great benefits of eating its fruits. The devil told them that they will be like God. That was not a push. They were already like God. The devil told Eve that they will be wise. It was not a strong push because they were all wise already. Ability to know all names of all animals as God had for them was not a thing to be taken lightly. The devil is still offering the same temptations. Let our leaders teach us to maintain our estate. Therefore we should tell all those who preach and emphasize what God did not emphasize in His word to stop. We cannot know more than God, can we?  There is no way to be like God than to accept to be His sons and daughters and begin to grow into His image and likeness.

2. Cain

Cain was the first human being to have ever been born on earth. He was more mature than Abel when their parents told them about the lives they lived while in the Garden of God. Who pushed him from understanding it? When the opportunity came to make offerings to God, who pushed Cain from making his life the kind that God could accept his offerings? Who pushed him to kill his brother, Abel? Like the wicked, what pushed Cain was in him. May you not allow anything to make you flee from God's perfect will.

3. Noah Cursed His Grandson

No need for Noah to have cursed Canaan.

And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. (Genesis 9:25)

What pursued Noah was not powerful. If it was, it would have pushed him to curse Ham, who did the evil act. Why did he spare Ham and sent the curse to the man's son? It was because nothing powerful was pushing him. Cursing Ham would have devastated more of his descendants. That thing stopped Noah from becoming the father of nations that Abraham became and in the way Abraham became.

4. Gehazi Ran After Hamam

The wicked run when nobody is pursuing them. Gehazi ran after Naaman. What was pursuing him? It is his greed for Syrian clothes.

5. Judas Betrayed Jesus

Even though somebody must betray Jesus, Judas' name was not put as the one. It was his self, that thing in man that makes him run against God's will, that made Judah run to the religious leaders of the day to collect money in order to betray Jesus.

6. Peter Denied Jesus

There was nobody making Peter deny his Master. A little girl at the gate mentioned that Peter was one of them that followed Jesus. If Peter had agreed, what would have happened? I do not think, the situation was too tense. After all John the beloved was known in that house. It was John that helped peter to enter the big house. There was no other person tortured along with Jesus. In fact, the Jews were not looking for small followers like Peter. Remember that the soldiers had allowed the disciples to escape from that Garden. Machus, whose ear Peter had cut earlier, was healed by Jesus. They all heard when Jesus rebuked Peter for trying to defend Him. Was Peter fearful because of what he did to Machus? What happened to Peter is a common thing to men - we run when nobody is pursuing us. I thank God for Jesus. He quickly restored Peter after the resurrection. 

7. Demas Away From Paul

Demas was one of the disciples of Jesus Christ. He was being raised through Paul. A time came when Demas left Paul because He loved the world. Discipleship has its own apparent problems. It looks slow. Your freedom to follow the Lord looks sluggish because you have go into everything in agreement with your discipler. I do not know what made Demas leave Paul, but he left Paul. Was it the way that Paul used him? It was not a big push became all that we may suffer here on earth is light compared to what we are going to reap in eternity. Demas has done his and he has gone. It is our turn to stick to our own leaders or disciplers.

WHAT ARE YOU RUNNING FROM?

1. Your agreement with God on your Bible study? Perhaps you have promised God that you would cover the bible in a year, in two or three years. Who stopped you? It is likely to be wickedness within you. The devil never stopped you from waking up early in the morning. It was that you enjoy sleeping in those early hours. You disrespected the covenant you made with your God. You preferred to spend more hours browsing, watching that film or just browsing the internet. You ran when nobody pursued you. Laziness should not too strong for you. God is greater than laziness.

2. Check your prayer life. Does it tally with that of Jesus? Align yourself to prayer lifestyle. Otherwise, you are running when no one is pursing you.

3. Check your maintaining correct character. Is your character agreeing with what you preach or that of Jesus? Make it align. 

4. Monitor your visitation to the brethren. Study that of Jesus and measure your life with His. He is our example and our standard.

5. Measure the way you attend Christian fellowship. Compare it to that of the early church. They were meeting daily and from house to house. 

6. Also measure your pursuit of ministry. It was not food and food for Jesus. Archipus was told to fulfill it. May you fulfill yours too.

7. Wondering Thoughts?

Check your thought life. Joshua was told to meditate on the word of God day and night. Meditating on the word of God leads to having good success. Let us meditate on the word of God like those before us. That will give us good success.

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Alex Oguh (alexoguh@gmail.com; -+234 806 579 2749)