12072020 - Uzodinma, Ngige, Nnamani others meet, vow Igbo united front

PAGE 18—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 12, 2020
Expressions of Grace in the ministry
of Jesus (2)
Paul says: “By grace you have been saved
through faith,and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyoneshould
boast.” (Ephesians 2:8).
This agrees with Jesus’ expressions of grace.
He says: “No one can come to me unless the-
Father who sent me draws them to me.” (John
6:44-45). “People can't come to me unless the
Fathergives them to me.” (John 6:65). “The-
Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort
accomplishes nothing.” (John6:63).
That means the grace of God is unmerited.
“Who then can be saved?” asks His disciples
inbewilderment. Jesus says to them: “Withmen,
it is impossible, but not with God; for
with God all things are possible.”(Mark 10:26-
27).
So, when some Jews ask Him: “What shall
we do, that wemay work the works of God?”
Jesus says to them: “This is the work of God,
thatyou believe in Him whom He sent.” (John
6:28-29).
God’s grace is 100% the work of God. However,
we can only enter into this blessing byfaith.
That is why Paul says we aresaved by
grace through faith. (Ephesians 2:8). At its most
fundamental, God is not arespecter of persons.
(Acts 10:34). His grace is available to all men:
“The graceof God that brings salvation has
appeared to all men.” (Titus 2:11).
However, not all men receive it. Even some
who initially receive it fall fromgrace because
they fail to abide by the principles of God’s
grace. The grace of God that brings salvation
isreceived by faith without merit. But itis perfected
by works.
He that shall receive from
the Lord (1)
The grace of God that
bringssalvation is received by
faith without merit. But it is
perfected by works
Foundational elements for success: Faith
to succeed (13)
E shall press on with this,
Wbecause of it’s importance
in life and destiny. Moses,
that great man of God once said,
“If thy presence go not with me,
carry us not up hence.” (Exodus
33:15) He understood the importance
of God’s presence in
achieving anything meaningful
in life. He could not afford to
trade it off with anything, not
even the temporary comforts of
Egypt (The then known world
Pastor Akinola
superpower!). (Hebrews 11:25-26). Let’s explore
these two words further in this section.
May we truly enjoy both of these qualities from
God.
ENJOYING GOD’S PRESENCE ALL THE
TIME
If you prove your love to God by following
closely His Word, you will experience the presence
of God all the time. “Jesus answered and
said to him, “if anyone loves Me, he will keep
My word, and My Father will love him, and
We will come to him and make Our home with
him. ” (John 14: 23).
A man who has God’s presence is living in
peace, and he has things perfectly under control.
The Bible says, “Keep your heart with all
P
SALM 24:1-5 says: “The earth is the
LORD's, and the fullness thereof; the world,
and they that dwell therein; For he hath founded
it upon the seas, and established it upon the
floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the
LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He
that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who
hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn
deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from
the LORD, and righteousness from the God of
his salvation”.
Beloved, it is one thing to ask blessing and
favour from God but it is another thing to receive
from God. This is because our state of
righteousness as at the time we are expecting
answer from God will to a large extent determines
the degree and promptness of the answer
we will receive from God. Our attitude
Grace through faith
In the first place, God does not give grace
to thewicked. Isaiah says: “Though grace
isshown to the wicked, they do not learn
righteousness; even in a land ofuprightness
they go on doing evil.” (Isaiah 26:10).
Therefore, in order to show grace to a
man,God first has to give him the gift of
repentance from sin. (Acts 11:18). This
means even repentance is a gift of
God’sgrace.
This gift of repentance is one of the things
God promisedin the past that is now “Yea
and Amen” in Christ. He says: “I will pour
on the house of Davidand on the inhabitants
of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and
supplication; thenthey will look on Me
whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn
for Him as onemourns for his only son, and
grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”
(Zechariah12:10).
But God’s grace does not come to an end
after werepent. John the Baptist says Jesus
hascome to give us one grace after another.
(John 1:16-17). Through the way Jesus
made for us, we can nowcome again and
again to God’s throne of grace to receive
diligence, for out of it are the issues of life”
(Prov. 4:23). The heart is the control seat of
man’s personality, and hence his eventual
success. Those who are careless
with the condition of their hearts
may tend to have temporary success,
but at the end, it is not a good
success. (Joshua 1:8). God has offered
to take His place of abode in
our hearts according to the above
passages, so that His presence continually
with us will make all the
while waiting for God’s answer can mar
our chances of receiving an answer as we
expected. That is why the Psalmist is asking
who is qualified to receive God’s blessing.
Providing answer to the above contextual
Scriptural question, the Psalmist said,
they are such that keep themselves from all
the gross acts of sin. Those that have clean
hands, whose lives have not been stained
with the pollution of the world and the flesh.
Those that make conscience of being really
as good as they seem to be outwardly.
Those that have pure hearts, and have not
allowed themselves to be corrupted by secret
sins.
Those that will ascend to the Lord’s holy
place must be those that do not set their
affections upon the things of this world, that
do not lift their souls unto vanity, whose
hearts are not after the wealth of this world,
the praise of men, or who do not choose
these things for their portion, nor reach forth
after them, because they believe them to be
vanity. They are such as deal honestly both
with God and man. In their covenant with
God, and their contracts with men, they have
not sworn deceitfully, nor broken their
promises, nor taken any false oath. But
those that have no regard to the obligations
of truth or for the Sovereign God cannot
boastfully be assured to ascend to God’s
more and more grace: “Let us, therefore, come
boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy andfind grace to help in time of need.”
(Hebrews 4:16).
However, unlike the grace of God that brings
salvation,what we receive from the throne of
grace is not only accessed by faith, it mustbe
perfected by works. This grace ismerited because:
“God resists the proud, but gives grace to
the humble.” (James4:6). It is only given to those
whoagree to be: “created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God preparedbeforehand that we
should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10).
It is not given to those who despise the grace
of God andcontinue in sin. The psalmist says:
“TheLord will give grace and glory; no good
thing will He withhold from those whowalk
uprightly.” (Psalm 84:11). Believers who drawback
and are notupright can fall from grace.
(Galatians 5:4). But true believers grow in this
grace. (2Peter 3:18).
Grace with works
difference
FAILURE LAMENTATIONS FOR
SOME PROMINENT PEOPLE WHO
LACKED GOD’S PRESENCE
As human beings, our thinking has always
wired around physical success here
on earth. However, experiences of people
down the road of life has proved us wrong!
The Lord Jesus said that “…a man’s life
consisteth not in the abundance of the things
which he possesseth” Luke 12:15. Unfortunately,
today, even many Christians who
should have understood this better, have
also joined the people of the world in the rat
race of pursuing worldly possessions.
To underscore this fact, we shall see a few
end-of-life lamentations of some well
known, world-acclaimed ‘successful’ leaders
of their times, which shows that they did not
have good success afterall.
Sir Thomas Scott, one time President of English
Parliament. Just before he died, said:
“Up till this time, I thought there was no God,
neither Hell. Now I know and feel that there
are both, and I am delivered to perdition by the
righteous judgment of the Almighty”. And he
died! What a late hour for him to know! This
was no good success.
Sir Winston Churchill, English Statesman,
British Prime Minister during World War II,
former Freemason and Druid member: said,
“What a fool I have been! I’m bored with it
all.”
Immediately after this statement, Sir
Churchill slipped into coma and died nine days
later on January 24, 1965. Shall we call this
success? Certainly not! Going by his own words.
David Hume, the Atheist:
In his last minutes, he cried out, “I am in
flames!”. His desperation was a horrible scene!
Jean Paul Sartre, Existentialist philosopher:
His last words: “I failed!”. What a categorical
statement!
J.K. Akinola. (Senior Pastor)
The Gospel Faith Mission International
(GOFAMINT), Living Word Cathedral, Oluyole
Estate, beside Total Petrol Station, off Ring
Road, Ibadan. (Telephone: 08033376660,
08055405095)
holy place or receive from God except they repent.
Anyone who keeps to the above tenet and principle
shall be made truly and forever happy. He
shall be blessed with all the fruits and gifts of
God's favour, according to His promise and
above all he shall be justified and sanctified.
The person shall receive the reward of his righteousness,
the crown of righteousness which the
righteous Judge shall give. He shall be saved. If
you want to be sure of an answer to your prayer,
you must first seek God and His righteousness
in order to obtain His favour.
Some people that prayed without result may
be because of their negative attitude. Sometimes
they blame God and even Satan for their unanswered
prayers. What they do not know is that
their problem originates from them.
Isaiah 59:1-3 says: “Behold, the LORD's hand
is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his
ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities
have separated between you and your God,
and your sins have hid his face from you, that he
will not hear. For your hands are defiled with
blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips
have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered
perverseness”
Beloved, it is your sin and not God or the Pastor
or that man that is responsible for your problem.
The Scripture says it is your iniquities and
life that is not pleasing to God that are responsible
for your troubles.
That is why James cautions us saying: “But
do you want toknow, O foolish man, that faith
without works is dead? Was not Abraham ourfather
justified by works when he offered Isaac
his son on the altar? Do yousee that faith was
working together with his works, and by works
faith was madeperfect?” (James 2:20-22).
The example of Abraham is very instructive.
God called Abraham and made some promises
tohim entirely by grace. He told him: “Iwill
make you a great nation; I will bless you and
make your name great; andyou shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and I will
curse himwho curses you; and in you all the
families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis12:2-3).
Abraham did absolutely nothing to deserve
theseblessings. But: “He believed in theLord,
and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”
(Genesis 15:6).
However, much later, God tested Abraham by
telling him tosacrifice his only son, Isaac. When-
Abraham obeyed, God repeated to him the same
promises He had earlier made tohim by grace:
“By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because
you havedone this thing, and have not
withheld your son, your only son blessing I willbless
you, and multiplying I will multiply your
descendants as the stars of theheaven and as
the sand which is on the seashore; and your
descendants shallpossess the gate of their enemies.”
(Genesis 22:16-18).
In this manner, the same promise that was
made to Abrahamby grace that he received by
faith was now perfected by the works ofAbraham.
Word made flesh
In 1996, I had a video shop in Victoria Island,
Lagosthat was making, on average, 7,000
naira a day. But one day, God gave me a dream
where I opened the account book of the shopand
discovered to my surprise that it made
23,000 naira in one day. I immediately received
this prophecy by faithand then set out
to work.
The psalmist says: “Since we have the same
spirit offaith, according to what is written, ‘I
believed and therefore I spoke,’ wealso believe
and therefore speak.” (2 Corinthians 4:13).
Therefore, I told everybody that my VictoriaIsland
shop would make 23,000 naira in one
day. But Ernest, my assistant, did not believe.
However, I did more than just talk. I filled
the shop with goods far above the levelof business.
I did this so persistentlythat God spoke
to me. He said: “Femi, becauseyou believe
me, I will tell you when this prophecy will be
fulfilled. It will happen on 29th December
1996.”
On that appointed date, it was my unbelieving
assistantwho brought me the news.
But,paradoxically, the shop did not make
23,000 naira: it made 29,000. When I asked
the Lord the reason behind thediscrepancy, He
said to me: “Femi, you exceeded the prophecy.”
And so, this gift of grace also ended up with
asurprise. Although it was unmerited and Ireceived
it by faith, I perfected it by works (also
by God’s grace.) But it did not end there. I kept
going back for more and more grace andthe
income kept growing until it peaked at 55,000
naira a day in 2002.
*Ituah Ighodalo is the
Senior Pastor, Trinity
House, Trinity Avenue, Off
Ligali Ayorinde Street,
Victoria Island, Lagos.+234-
808-895-6162
info@trinityhouseng.org
A new season is here
Now upon the first day of the week,
very early in the morning, they came
unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices
which they had prepared, and certain others
with them. And they found the stone rolled
away from the sepulchre. And they entered in,
and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. Luke
24: 1-3 KJV
The story of our Lord Jesus Christ is true,
because everything about Jesus worked exactly
to perfection and there enough proofs to
evidence this.. The timing was perfect, the environment
was beautiful and everything went
per plan.
Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes as
would a lamb set aside for sacrifice. The second
thing was that where Jesus was born was
Bethlehem in a place where Lambs are reared
mostly for sacrifice. The Shepherds went in to
see Jesus and saw him wrapped like a lamb
set aside for slaughter. Then He was born in a
place where lambs are kept.
Jesus went through all the stages that the
lamb, unblemished, goes through before it is
sacrificed. Your belief in Christ and all that
He went through to connect us back to God
the father sets us on that part that leads to life
eternal. It also means that we as the new testament
of the death and resurrection do not need
to perform animal sacrifice because Christ
has done it once and finished the work at Calvary!
On the day of resurrection, it was the start of
a new season. The women went to the tomb
where Jesus was buried expecting to see a dead
body but they saw there a risen Jesus. And as
they were afraid, and bowed down their faces
to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye
the living among the dead? He is not here,
but is risen: remember how he spake unto you
when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son
of man must be delivered into the hands of
sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day
rise again. Luke 24: 5-7.
They met the stone that covered the tomb
rolled away and an angel waiting to tell them
the good news of Christ’s resurrection. This
news they took to the Disciples of Jesus Christ.