EXCUSES - Revd Oluwamuyiwa Okuseinde

Never let your mouth cause you to sin and don’t proclaim in the presence of the angel, “My promise was a mistake,” for why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy what you’ve undertaken?" (Ecclesiastes 5:6, International Standard Version). 

Excuses. That is something you don't need in your life at any point in time. But human beings love to present excuses for their laziness, errors, weaknesses, incompetence and failures. We give excuses to God, to fellow men and even to ourselves. Man, why don't you stop making excuses and giving needless explanations? Why don't you just get up for once and do something worthwhile with your time, energy and resources? God hates excuses and they make Him angry. If you will rid yourself of excuses, you will make a lot of progress in life and advance greatly in your relationship with God. 

APOSTOLIC PLEA TO BELIEVERS

"And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 

And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves" (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13). 

Here is an apostolic plea to believers, urging them to value their pastors and respect their spiritual leaders. Paul, writing by the Spirit of God enjoined Christians to love those who have spiritual oversight over them. The Bible says that you are to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. "For their work's sake"? What is it about their job? For those who are truly called of God, ministry is about the riskiest job a man could undertake in this life. You will never know how much attack your pastor receives in his attempt to fight your battles. You won't know what denials he goes through on a regular basis because of you. You will never know what your ministers go through in the course of their job of watching over your soul. 

THE COUNTRY GADARA PRT 2

"And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones" (Mark 5:5). 

One of our Christian hymns talks about God sending His Son whose name is Jesus Christ to the world. His whole purpose of coming was to save, heal and forgive mankind. He came to buy our pardon with His own life and set us free from the things from which we could not deliver ourselves. He came so that by reason of His coming and His abiding presence thereafter, we may live forever, free from the shackles of sin and Satan, free to serve the Lord our God in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives. That is the story of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.

THE NAMELESS MAN AT GADARA PRT 1

"But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him" (Mark 5:6). 

Today, we want to take another look at the story of the man of Gadara. I am particularly excited about how the story ended. Here was a man whose life was a complete mess and totally wrecked. But the coming of Jesus was a turning point that brought about a total, positive change in the life of that man. I love that! His chains were broken and he was permanently delivered from the unclean spirit that made him hurt himself and do things that were not convenient. This is precisely why Jesus came into this world: to set us free from the chains that bind us. The good news is that Jesus is still in the business of breaking chains and setting the captives free. 

In a sense, virtually all people are living in one type of Gadara or the other, and we need to be set free. But thank God that whosoever the Son of God shall set free shall be free indeed. Therefore, whatever may be the chains you are dealing with, whatever could be the oppression you are experiencing, and whatever may be the affliction that is tormenting you, I want you to know that the coming of Jesus is your sure hope of freedom. Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of the living God has come to bring you out of that Gadara wherein the enemy has shut you in. It is written, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). 

There are a number of things that we can observe from the story of the man of Gadara that led to the destruction of the works of the devil in his life. Let us quickly look at some of those things that helped this man obtain his deliverance and ensured that the coming of Jesus produced that great change in his life. First, when he cited Jesus, he ran toward Him, unlike many who are refusing and avoiding Him today. Next, he quickly acknowledged His divinity by worshipping Him. Then most importantly, the man acknowledged Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God. He had no time for all that meaningless debate as to whether God has a Son or not. 

The story of this nameless man of Gadara should challenge us because if such a hopeless case could be reversed, repaired, redeemed and restored by Jesus, then there is great hope for you. If you also will willingly run to Jesus, if you will worship Him and acknowledge Him as the Son of God who is able to save you, you shall surely be saved. All who run to Him in faith and acknowledge Him as the Son of God will always benefit immensely from His coming. All who worship Him never go away disappointed. For those who receive Jesus, His coming will never be in vain. Thank you God our Father for sending us your Son, Jesus Christ. 

MICHAEL PHELPS: HOW GOD RESCUED ME

If there’s one thing the Olympics can teach us, it’s that hard work and perseverance can pay off. If there’s one thing it can’t teach us, though, it’s how to measure your life. Surely if you’ve won an Olympic medal, you would feel accomplished, right? Surely if you’ve won as many as Michael Phelps you could feasibly ride that feeling of accomplishment the rest of your life.

However, this was not the case for Phelps. Even after winning eight gold medals in Beijing, “Phelps says he despised the image of perfection his success had created.”

DON'T INVITE COMEDIAN TO CHURCH

BY Andrew Adah Okpe

Popular Christian actor and president of Mount Zion Faith Ministries, Mike Bamiloye has openly condemned Nigerian men of God who invite comedians to perform at church events, adding that it was wrong to be entertained by comedians who use the Christian faith as a topic to make jokes.

Bamiloye, tackled the topic in a lengthy post on his official YouTube page on Monday, according to a report by Premium Times.

The actor, who is also a director for Mount Zion Films titled the article, As per COMEDY in Church Meetings and Events!!

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We do hope that in 2017, we will serve you better and that you will partner with us also to reach farther than we did this year.

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 A.T Joel
Team Leader