29112020

PAGE 18 —SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 29, 2020
sam.eyoboka@gmail.com
The wonders of freedom from sin (7)
He believed the Lord and
received the Saviour cheerfully
and Christ went to his
home so that he would be able
to go to the heavenly home of
Christ. If you do not take the
Saviour to the home of your
heart, He would not take you
to His home in heaven: it is a
two way thing!
John 14:2-3 "In my Father's
house are many mansions: if
it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a
place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will
come again, and receive you
unto myself; that where I am,
there ye may be also."
Let Jesus forgive your sins
so that all the guilt of sin would
be taken away too. Then, when
life is ended here on earth, He
would take you to heaven.
Where are you? The much
awaited time for your salvation
has arrived and the moment
when your name will
come into the record book of
God has finally arrived.
If you want Jesus to be your
Pastor William Kumuyi
Saviour today, bow your head
and let us pray together.
Father in the name of Jesus,
I pray for all these my friends
who have come to give their
lives to Jesus Christ. According
to your promise that cannot
fail, set them free from sin.
Forgive their sins, change their
lives and give them your redemption
and let there be the
witness of your Spirit in their
hearts that their sins are forgiven,
their lives turned around
and their names written in the
book of life.
Thank you LORD because I
know that you have answered.
In Jesus name I pray! Amen!
Temperance: Regaining the
mastery over the unruly self
DISCIPLINE is the Di
vine instrument that
tames, tampers, moderates
and instills temperance,
“...God’s discipline is always
good for us, so that we might
share in his holiness.” Hebrews
12:10. Discipline
makes us do what we do not
want to or enjoy, in order for
us to achieve what we have
ever dreamed of in life. Temperance
is the Godly quality
we acquire through the discipline
He gives in His Word; it
ensures proper behavior. It is
the practice or method of
training that God adopts to
enforce acceptable patterns of
behavior for our good or advantage;
“...God uses it to prepare
and equip his people to
do every good work.” 2 Timothy
3:16-17.
There is a terrible vice in the
human nature, a spiritual
monstrosity; even the holiest
believer must each moment
agree and confess that he has
sin within his fleshly members,
as was the realization of
the apostle Paul who exclaimed,
“...I know that in me
(that is, in my flesh) nothing
Rev. Emmanuel Awazie
*Assemblies of God Church
Nigeria, 111 Clegg Street,
Surulere, Lagos.
good dwells;....” Romans 7:18.
At the fall of Adam and Eve,
our primal parents, the human
nature acquired the nature
of Satan and assumed a
monstrous dimension that led
to their expulsion from the
Garden. That was the same
disposition that expelled Lucifer
from Heaven, Scriptures
record “...you are fallen from
heaven, O Lucifer,...you are cut
down to the ground,... you have
said in your heart: ‘I will...exalt
my throne above the stars of
God;....’” Isaiah 14:12-13. This
prideful nature remains within
us even after conversion and
continues in rebellion, opposition
and sabotage against
God’s purpose, “...For the sinful
nature is always hostile to
God. It never did obey God’s
laws, and it never will....” Romans
8:6-8, also read Gal.
5:17.
God is however, never intimidated
by our wild and riotous
nature because He has put
in place a spiritual system and
technology that can checkmate
and overrule our sinful
human nature, this He
achieves by His love and
Made in His image
TEXT: Genesis 1:26-27
These are very interesting
times, times when technological
advancement have come
to stay and have advanced the
course of the average human
life.
We seem to forget that there
was an era when wood technology
was principal. Then,
everything man built revolved
around the use of wood. I once
read the story of a farmer who
And it came to pass,
when Moses came down
from mount Sinai with
the two tables of testimony
in Moses’ hand, when
he came down from the
mount, that Moses wist
not that the skin of his
face shone while he
talked with him. Exodus
34:29 KJV
Why do you come to
church? A lot of people
come to church for different
reasons. Some people
come to church to do business,
some come because they are
on the look-out for a spouse,
others come to worship, and
lots of other reasons.
The bible says the face of
Moses shone, why? His face
Success in life and ministry: The knowledge of God (7)
INTRODUCTION
It had been an interesting
adventure in previous serials
learning about the success
of Moses the Man of God
in life and ministry. Last week,
we considered the Rod of
Moses as God’s strategy for
turning an ordinary fugitive
herdsman into an extraordinary
instrument for performing
miracles, signs and wonders
towards the deliverance
of Israel from Egyptian bondage.
In today’s episode, we
shall be considering some of
the other feats performed
through the Rod of Moses. It
must be borne in mind at this
point that Moses had known
now that it was the Rod of God
in his hands and not just Rod
of Moses (Exod. 4:20). Let
God take over that thing He
had put in your hands, and it
will become an instrument for
miracles, breakthroughs,
signs and wonders. Remember
that it was also when Peter
gave Jesus Christ His boat to
preach, that he caught the largest
quantity of fish ever in his
history! Turn that thing over to
Jesus, and you can smile your
way into the good success
promised by God. (Joshua 1:8)
THE ROD OF MOSES
AND THE RODS OF THE
EGYPTIANS
The first assignment to be
carried out by the Rod of
Moses was to confront the
worldly rods or staffs. We can
call these rods the worldly standards
and value systems,
which are many and varied.
However, God’s Standard is
only one – Holiness! (2 Tim
2:19). At God’s instruction,
Moses was to cast down his
Rod first, and it became a serpent.
The essence of this is to
lay the foundation and standard
for others. That is our
calling as Christians. We are
to set the standards and value
systems for the society to follow.
Not surprisingly, the Egyp-
08023145567 (sms only)
We are not meant to eat more than twice a day —Adeboye
By Sam Eyoboka
Pastor Akinola
tians too have their own several
standards through their
“wise men and sorcerers”,
which they also cast down.
To God’s glory, the single Rod
of Moses swallowed up all the
rods of the Egyptian sorcerers!
The implication of this for us
is that we should boldly confront
the society’s value systems
with the Word of God,
which has been delivered to us.
These worldly values and standards
will surely capitulate
before God’s Word!
God’s Standard or wisdom
is far above the world’s own.
The Bible says that God’s wisdom
had made foolish the wisdom
of this world (1 Cor. 1:20).
The Bible states further that
THE General Overseer of
the Redeemed Christian
Church of God, RCCG, Pastor
Enoch Adejare Adeboye
has said if we are to follow the
Bible example of how God fed
Elijah, we are not meant to
eat more than two times a day.
Pastor Adeboye gave the
opinion during a live broadcast
on his Facebook wall.
Making reference to the Bible
story of Elijah and how he
was fed by the bird at the east
of Jordan, he stated that God
would have commanded the
birds to feed Elijah seven or
more times because there was
no indication that the bird
could be tired of bringing food
to him.
In his words: “From what
we saw, the birds fed Elijah
twice. So, if we are to follow
By Pastor G.C. Osuigbo
CAC Madaiyese Regional Headquaters
Plot 701/702 Durumi District
P.O. BOX 2577
Garki, Abuja.
Contact us on: 08155555048, like us on
facebook @cacdurumi
*Ituah Ighodalo is the
Senior Pastor, Trinity
House, Trinity Avenue, Off
Ligali Ayorinde Street,
Victoria Island, Lagos.+234-
808-895-6162
info@trinityhouseng.org
was doing some cleanup work
on his farm land. He saw a
log of wood lying carelessly
which was of little or no value
to him. He had decided to burn
it when a woodcarver who was
passing by saw the wood and
appealed to the farmer to give
him the wood.
The farmer told him to take
it. When the wood carver got
to his workshop. He began to
work on the wood and for
about a week he chopped and
carved at the wood as if there
was a great eagle trapped within
it that he wanted to let out.
After very tedious work, he had
sculptured out an eagle which
he put on display for passersby
to see.
A week later the same farmer
was passing by the wood
carver’s workshop when he
saw the bird. He loved and
approached the wood carver.
The carver told him the price,
which the farmer paid for
gladly and carried away his
prized possession.
The farmer did not know
that the wood from which the
eagle was carved was at one
time a log of wood condemned
to be burnt on his
farm. God sees in you what
no other person sees. Man
was made out of very precious
material.
His Spirit and Soul bear
Gods likeness and nature and
man is designed to act and
Do you need a makeover/ (where
is your shine?
shined because he had an encounter
with God. When we
have an encounter with God,
we have a shine that is visible
for everyone to see. Just as the
children of Israel were not able
to look at the glory of God that
shone on Moses’s face, we
would also have that shine of
God reflected in all we do that
none of the princes (wise men)
of this world know this wisdom
of God, because if they knew,
they would not have crucified
the Lord of Glory. (1 Cor. 2:8).
If God allows them to harden
their hearts, it is because He
wants to show more of His glory.
TEN TIMES BETTER
IN a rare display of divine
intelligence versus worldly
wisdom, Daniel demonstrated
that with God’s wisdom, which
sounds foolish to the world, he
would be ten times better than
his contemporary Babylonian
magicians and astrologers
(Dan. 1:20).
Continues on
www.vanguardngr.com
darkness would
not be able to
have its way in
our life.
Is your face
shining? Can
people see the
glory of God
reflected in
your life?
Why do you come to church?
Basically, we have come to
church to seek God for ourselves.
We are supposed to seek
God by ourselves, whether the
choir sings well or not, whether
the minister’s sermon is
good or not. We must have a
personal relationship with
God, spend time with God. We
need to learn how to spend
Magistrates and judges are ministers of God unto men
The most High God, rules
in the kingdom of men
and gives it to whomsoever
He wills-Daniel 4:17. Hence
he sets up governments, to enforce
law and order in the
kingdom of men, so that the
kingdom of men will not be
like animal kingdom. The
most important arm of the
Government, in the sight of
God, are the HIGHER POW-
ERS, that are made up of
magistrates and judges. All
souls are commanded to be
subject to these magistrates
and judges, because they are
ordained of God-ROMANS
13:1. Every judge or magistrate
bears the sword of God,
to execute judgment upon the
evil doers in the society.
For every judge or magistrate
is the minister of God to
the people, for their good. But
if they do that which is evil, then
they should be afraid; for the
judge or magistrate beareth
J.K. Akinola. (Senior
Pastor) The Gospel Faith
Mission International (GO-
FAMINT), Ibadan, Nigeria.
(Telephone: 08033376660,
08055405095)
Pastor (Dr). E.O. Abina –
General Overseer
not the sword in vain: for he is
a revenger to execute wrath
upon anyone that doeth evil-
ROMANS 13:4-5.
Therefore, any government
in Power, or the citizenry, who
refuse to obey any court injunction,
are resisting the ordinance
of God, and shall receive
to themselves, greater
that example, we should be
eating twice a day.”
He said further that believers
should cultivate the
habit of fasting and praying
noting that when one is fasting
and the person feels like
going to eat to break the fast,
the person should understand
that it is time to pray.
“When you are fasting and
you feel like going to eat, it
shows it is time to pray. Fasting
without praying is like going
on a hunger strike.”
Beyond fasting, the RCCG
leader counseled that food
should not be a controlling
factor in the life of the believer.
Quoting Paul in the Bible he
said, anybody who is being
controlled by his stomach is
an enemy of the cross: “People
should learn to keep their
stomach under check”, he
said.
work like God. The ignorant
do not know this and so have
allowed sin and this world to
degrade their true value. Like
the log waiting to be burnt, the
end of such people is destruction.
Like the wood carver
passing by, Jesus sees in each
of us what we don’t not see in
our selves. His greatest desire
is bring out the beauty in us
and to make us a spectacle
before all of God’s creation.
Do you know that you were
made in Gods image? Do you
know that you are fearfully
and wonderfully made? Do
you know that you have the
life of God in you? Do you
know that even the angels are
envious of what constitutes
you? To bring out the real you,
you must accept and acknowledge
Jesus as your lord
and Saviour. Choose him today
and live.
time with God.
Seeking God for yourself ensures
that we are internally regenerated,
and the glory of
God in us is eternally proclaimed.
As you come out everybody
would know you have
had an encounter with God.
Why is it important to spend
so much time with God? To get
answers to questions that are
bothering us and seems difficult
for us. To worship God. To
have a focal point in life, so
that we can achieve much, succeed,
and excel in life. Spending
time with God gives us
control and puts us in a place
of dominion.
Do you know that God is
waiting for you?
He wants you to have an encounter
with him, so that you
can have that change you desire
from the inside of you.
damnation from God- Romans
13:2.
Judges and magistrates, on
their own part, are warned to
take heed what they do, for
they judge not for man but for
the lord who is with them in
any judgment.
Continues on
www.vanguardngr.com
Knights of St. Mulumba inaugurates
youth arm
By Cynthia Alo
he Knight of St. Mulum
Tba, Lagos Metropolitan
Council has inaugurated the
Youths of St. Mulumba (YSM)
group.
Speaking at the inauguration
ceremony in Lagos recently,
Deputy Metropolitan
Grand Knight, Sir. Don Ezeh,
said the formation of YSM was
informed by the need to keep
the church strong, vibrant and
resilient through the coming
years.
According to him, the decline
of Catholic Church in the
United Kingdom and Europe
from where the missionaries
came with the holy gospel to
Nigeria 150 years ago, holds
great lessons for the catholic
youths.
He said, “Thinking about the
future of the church and our
society, we must invest time
and treasure in our youths of
today. We will nurture and
groom them to take over from
us and continue the laudable
journey of providing strong
leadership in various Catholic
Laity organisations, supporting
in a special way the
Catholic Church and the Society.”
He enjoined the youths to see
the YSM initiative a worthy
mission that needs strong commitment
and sacrifice to make
it work.
He disclosed the mission’s
commitment to the spiritual
formation and growth of
youths, saying, “we plan to ensure
by design that our YSM
programme activities will reinforce
spiritual formation and
growth in a manner that will
prove spiritually enriching for
our youths.
“Spiritual formation/growth
activities and focus on reinforcing
strong morals and ethics,
and key catholic training perennial
habits such as mastery
of the Rosary/Mysteries and
regular Catholic prayers and
songs, the habit of visitation to
the Blessed Sacrament, active
participation in Adoration,
Station of the Cross, Confessions,
informed dialogue and
the search for inspiration in
meditation and the exemplary
lives of the saints and the lives
of iconic world leaders that
have impacted and inspired
humanity.”