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PAGE 18—SUNDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 28, 2021
The sure mercies of David (3)
Earthquakes can be disastrous, and they
are even more lethal when combined
with tsunamis. Earthquakes bring
down buildings. To escape, you must run out.
But with tsunamis, the flood confronts those
who manage to run out of collapsing buildings.
Earthquakes take place in earthquake zones.
There are some parts of the world that are sitting
on what is called a fault. It is like sitting
on a crack. The crack can expand or enlarge
at any time, leading to earthquakes.
Here in Nigeria, we are sitting on a fault.
There is a fault between Nigeria and Cameroun.
That is why there is a high incidence of
land erosion in eastern Nigeria. In short, earthquakes
and tsunamis can easily take place in
Nigeria.
Victoria Island, Lagos and the whole Lekki/
Ajah axis is reclaimed land. It is practically
below sea level. That is why the beaches often
washing ashore. You just wake up one morning
and find water all over. So, if you have a
tsunami in Lagos, parts of Lagos might disappear.
There but for the grace of God. By the grace
of God, all that happens is that we merely read
about earthquakes and tsunamis in the newspapers.
They hardly happen in Nigeria.
Whatever happens, we must never lose sight
of the mercy of God in Nigeria. Remember
this, if we continue in His word, God’s mercy
in our lives endures forever. That is the covenant
of the sure mercies of David.
Merciful God
David came back to Ziklag and discovered
that the Amalekites had burnt the city to the
ground. They had taken everything take-able
Let the dead bury their dead
THUS SAITH THE LORD!Jesus warned
one of His disciples, who was to bury his
late father, to allow the spiritually dead bury
their own dead--MATTHEW 8:21-22. Jesus
knew that the conduct of that burial would be
a snare to his soul, hence the warning!Eating
drinking and dancing at any ceremony, especially
burial ceremonies, is nothing but idolatry,
against which the people of God are warned
by the Spirit of God in 1 CORINTHIANS 10:7.
Burial is not a time of feasting, but a time of
mourning. But the heart of fools is in the house
of feasting, while the heart of the wise is in the
house of mourning. Therefore, it is better to go
When you are at your wit’s
end, don’t be at your
faith’s end
and carried away captive all the wives, sons,
and daughters of the people. So, what happened
to the sure mercies of David?
The people wept until they had no more
power to weep. They blamed David for
their adversity and some even wanted to
stone him. But David encouraged himself
in the Lord. He remembered that God is
merciful.
Have you ever been discouraged? Encourage
yourself in the Lord. His mercy
endures forever. It does not matter if Lazarus
is dead. It does not matter if he has
been dead for four days. It does not matter
if he smells already. God’s mercy endures
forever, even in death.
God brings light out of darkness. He
brings peace out of trouble. He brings good
out of evil. He works all things together for
good for those who love him and for those
who are called according to His purpose.
Therefore, when you are at your wit’s end,
don’t be at your faith’s end.
The mercy of God had not departed from
David, for His mercy endures forever. The
mercy of God never departs, no matter the
situation or circumstance. God told David
to pursue the enemy and assured him that
he would overtake and recover all.
But David had only 600 men. By the time
he got to the Brook Besor, 200 of them said
The wonders of freedom from sin
Pastor William Kumuyi
Do not wait until the slip
pery slope sinful lifestyle you have been
used to all these while become your downfall
because at that time you would regret the expensive
decision of relegating the offer of God.
Now that it is free and the hustle and bustle of
the consequences of sinful pleasure has not
caught up with you. That is why Jesus is calling
you to come out from the sin inflicted life of
wasted years!
Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
and to day, and for ever."
God has never seen a sinner that He cannot
forgive his or her mountainous trespasses. Even
if your sin is as tall as Mount Everest and wide
as the Great Wall of China, the blood of Jesus
will watch it all away. If Jesus did it for others in
time past, not forgetting the notoriously vile
thief at the cross, then nothing stops Him from
doing it for you too. In fact, the sole business of
God is to save sinners, which you happen to be
one amongst many.
I believe that you can still recall that our
first parents on earth Adam and Eve were
not born as you and I were born, but were
created by God in His glorious image while
the rest of us were born by a woman.
In that case, I want to inform you that
there is something peculiar about anybody
and everybody born of a woman. Whether
it is Cain or Abel, yourself or myself, the
Caucasian, Hispanic, or the African. That
thing is sin. The problem of sin has been the
bane and headache of man kind for thousands
of years gone by.
Psalms 51:5 "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;
and in sin did my mother conceive
me."
The sinful act of disobedience on the part
of Adam and Eve not only caused their excommunication,
but also had them expunged
from the nature of God; and in exile,
outside the Garden of Eden, they began
procreating and multiplying the seed of sin,
and that is how you and I came into this
world. Psalms 58:3 "The wicked are estranged
from the womb: they go astray as
soon as they be born, speaking lies."
When you arrived into this world together
with Cain and Abel, sin accompanied your
entrance.
Have you noticed that cunning character
trait of that little boy or girl? The truth
remains that there is no formal place where
they are schooled at such early stage of life
the course of disobedience. No one teaches
anybody how to tell lies, pretend or become
hypocritical. It is just innate and inbred
within the subconsciousness of the mind of
the person.
to the house of mourning than to go to the
house of feasting—ECCLESIASTES 7:2,
4.In PSALM 106:28-29, it is written, “They
(the children of Israel) joined themselves to
BAAL-PEOR and ate the sacrifices of the
dead. Thus they provoked Him to anger
with their inventions and the plague brake
in upon them.” Animals slaughtered for
food during burial ceremonies, are sacrifices
to demons, and not to God—1 CORIN-
THIANS 10:22-23. Eating such food is
eating sacrifices of the dead, which provokes
the Lord God to anger. The conduct
of “burials” by the spiritually dead is usually
worldly and bedeviled with the traditions
they were too tired to continue and he had to
leave them behind. But “nothing restrains the
Lord from saving by many or by few.” (1 Samuel
14:6). Then they found an Egyptian in the
field. The man was sick and dying. He had not
eaten for three days and three nights.
He who has received mercy has mercy to give.
David had mercy on the man. He gave him
bread to eat and water to drink. He also gave
him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of
raisins. And that was the man who God used to
reveal to David the location of the Amalekite
raiders. For His mercy endures forever.
David launched a surprise attack on the Amalekites
and routed them. And he recovered all
that they looted from Ziklag. Moreover, David
led captivity captive and received gifts. Remember
the same thing happened to Abraham when
his nephew, Lot, was taken captive. Abraham
chased the enemy, routed them, and came back
with spoils.
This was repeated with David, and it was repeated
with Jesus. They led captivity captive
and gave gifts to men. It will be repeated with
you. You are the seed of Abraham, of the House
of David, and are predestined to be conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ.
Plenteous redemption
of the land, which transgress the commandment
of God—MATTHEW 15:3. Through worldly
and ungodly burial ceremonies, majority of the
people of God have been captured by the devil,
and if no true repentance, they will find themselves
in hell—ISAIAH 5:11-14.The minds of
majority of the people of God have been corrupted,
by the devil, from the simplicity that is in
Christ Jesus—2 CORINTHIANS 11:3. Therefore,
they have no knowledge of Christ’s doctrine
of simplicity in burial, and of allowing the
dead to bury their dead.The sentimental honour
given to “corpses” by loved ones is nothing but
Necrolatry, which is a branch of idolatry! Saints
of God are warned to flee from idolatry—1
CORINTHIANS 10:14. They are also warned
“Thus says the LORD: ‘Even the captives of
the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of
the terrible be delivered; for I will contend with
him who contends with you, and I will save your
children. I will feed those who oppress you with
their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with
their own blood as with sweet wine. All flesh
shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.’”
(Isaiah 49:25-26).
Although the Amalekites burnt everything in
Ziklag to the ground, God made sure they killed
no one. David himself had attacked the Amalekites
(1 Samuel 27) and killed everyone he found.
Yet God ensured that the Amalekites did not kill
any of David’s people. For His mercy endures
forever.
This means everything that will happen to you
will be for your correction and not your destruction.
For God’s mercy endures forever.
The Amalekites were nomadic people. They
did not live in one place. They moved around,
living wherever they found themselves at any
given time. That means even when they go to
war, they carry along their jewelry and their
“television sets.” They bring along with them
everything they have, including their cattle,
their sheep, and their goats.
So, by the time that David pursued and overtook
them, he got back far more than he lost.
He got all the property the Amalekites carried
around with them. He got all their flock
and herds. When he came back to Ziklag, the
people who had spoken of stoning him now
started hailing him, saying: “This is David’s
spoil.” But it came from God’s sure mercies
of David.
Gift of God
Some of David’s men insisted that the 200
who stayed behind should not be included in
the division of the spoils. They felt it would be
unfair to include them, after all, they did not
fight. But an extreme concern for fairness is
often a camouflage for greed.
David understood that a man can receive
nothing unless God gives it to him. He understood
that it is not of him that wills or runs but
of God that shows mercy. Therefore, he knew
that it was not because some fought that they
got the booty. It was because God fought for
them. It was because the Lord was on their
side.
Therefore, whether they fought or not, David
included everyone in the division of the
spoils. He even sent some to friends in Israel
who had nothing to do with the matter, saying
this is a present from the Lord.
David made this protocol into a statute and
an ordinance in Israel. In the kingdom, you
must be ready and willing to share with others.
And so, God says: “Incline your ear, and
come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live;
and I will make an everlasting covenant with
you, even the sure mercies of David.” (Isaiah
55:3).
Success in life, ministry: The knowledge of God
INTRODUCTION
IN the last discourse, we men
tioned about renewing our mind
if we want it to be synchronized with
God’s will. We must therefore understand
the destination mind we are to
be renewed to. This is God’s mind, or
the mind of Christ. We shall be treating
this in this article, giving us the
needed stimulus to desire and have
God’s mind.
HAVING THE MIND OF GOD Pastor Akinola
For “who has know the mind of the Lord that
he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of
Christ (I Corinthian 2:16). When you have the
mind of Christ, you will be able to hear the voice
of God and appraise all spiritual matters (I
Corinthian 2:15).
Henry Blackaby, the author of Experiencing
God, has said, ”Find out where God is at work
and what God is doing and join Him”. Even
there is a Yoruba adage that says, It is only what
God backs that goes easy, but difficulties pervade
the ways of those things that do not have
God’s backing”.
This is all that is required in having the mind
of God. Then it will be easy for you to know His
mind and subsequently follow Him all the way.
This is the pathway to true success. Some people
of great faith in the scripture could perceive
the mind of God and obtained favor from Him.
ABRAHAM KNEW GOD’S MIND
Then the men rose from there and looked
toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them
to send them on the way. And the LORD said,
shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing ,
since Abraham shall surely become a great and
mighty nation, and all the nation of the earth
shall be blessed in him?” (Genesis 18:16-18).
Abraham knew that God was going to judge
Sodom, although He did not
reveal this plan to him. Abraham’s
spirit was so sensitive
that he could pick up the spiritual
realm and he was accurate.
Are you not our God, who
drove the inhabitants of this
land before your people Israel,
and gave it to the descendant
of Abraham your friend forever?
(II Chronicles 20:7). His
spiritual sensitivity was due to
his close walk with God, like a
man relating to his best friend.
Also, God called Abraham, “My Friend” in
Isaiah 41:8. In the following chapter, God
spared Lot and his family from His wrath.
God adjusted His plan of destroying Sodom
completely because of one man’s request. Abraham
knew the mind of God. He gained the
favor of God to ask for a change in His plan.
YOU CAN ALSO BECOME A FRIEND OF
GOD TODAY
You too can become a friend to the Lord
today, if you can have His mind. (John 15:14-
15). The starting point to becoming a friend
of God is to be His child. When you repent of
your sins, confess and turn away from them,
and accept the Lord Jesus Christ into your
heart as Lord and Saviour, He washes you
clean with His atoning Blood, and makes you
a child of God. (John 1:12).
From this point onwards, the Spirit of God
leads and guides you as God’s dear child. He
takes over control, because you were born
J.K. Akinola. (Senior Pastor)
The Gospel Faith Mission International
(GOFAMINT), Ibadan, Nigeria. (Telephone:
08033376660, 08055405095)
Pastor (Dr). E.O. Abina – General Overseer
not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers in
the conduct of the burial of their dead—2
CORINTHIANS 6:14.Christ’s Doctrine on
burial is exemplified by the conduct of His
own burial—Matthew 27:57-60. And by the
conduct of the burial of Moses by God—DEU-
TERONOMY 34:5-6.
CHRISTIAN GOSPEL CHURCH
(The Truth Centre) 4, Christian Gospel
Avenue, Besides Psychiatric Hospital,
Uselu, Benin City, Edo State.
Email:cgc.com.ng@gmail.com
Telephone :+234(0)7052061135,
+234(0)9030731406
Website: www.cgc.com.ng