Thursday 25th August 2016 Faith Clinic Service From Calvary Army Bible Church (Warfare Tent), Ejigbo Lagos.

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God bless you as you read...
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Text: I Corinthians 15:12-19
12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

I check up the life of faith biblically and scripturally and have discovered that the world has taken the word of faith one-sided and not balanced. There are those who maintain one-side ignorantly and foolishly while others take the other side ignorantly and foolishly but the two sides must be maintained in a balanced manner for the glory of God to fall. When the glory of God falls, it is not to showcase the man whom the Lord manifested His glory through. He is just a pipe whose function is to ensure the thorough passage of the water flow.

In the New Testament, when Paul the Apostle weighed the glory of God in him, he said, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” (2nd Corinthians 4:7). The treasure of heaven is what God targets that should be displayed on earth through man if that man maintains God’s standard. However, from generation to generation, man has continued to make mistakes and take wrong steps in the pursuit of the manifestation of God’s glory. Every supernatural manifestation of God is to make the glory of God known and not the vessel God uses. When your priorities are not set right, you will run the race in a wrong way and it will not pay you here or in eternity.

“Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.” (Isaiah 64:1-3)

In the above book of Isaiah, the prophet (Isaiah) was remembering the past deeds of God and His mighty acts which were no more happening and manifesting as at the time he was speaking. Isaiah 64:4 – “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.”

That “waiting for God” is what we do not want. The “I want it now” is what has now created questionable opportunities. These questionable opportunities are what can close the doors of eternity in heaven against you. There are volumes of opportunities that are open to us every second, minute, hour and day – you need to take your eyes off them for it might belong to another person. The opportunity which is yours will directly knock at your door.

People say “An opportunity once lost can never be regained.” However if an opportunity that comes directly from God is yours, it will not come only once, it will stay with you. When there is a flood, the river, sea or ocean does not need to run helter skelter, it knows that the flood will eventually come to settle in it. Allow divine treasure to settle with you, don’t carry bucket looking for water up and down. Be patient, the rain is going to fall upon you.

It is foolish comparison when we compare spiritual things with material things.

God gave Adam and Eve the opportunity to rule the global earth. When they abused it and were chased out of the garden, they began to rear children with the birth of Cain and Abel after their own nature. Abel gave a lively sacrifice which cost him the shedding of the blood of a lamb but Cain gave a dead sacrifice, a dead offering which had no life in it. When your service to God does not risk your blood, conveniences and comfort, it is no longer a service. Faith is about risk. Jesus also risked His life, He risked His soul and left all His conveniences in heaven even as God reserved His glory which He went back to after He concluded His ministry as recorded in Mark 16.

You will never lose anything when you don’t serve God with all your heart. Whatever you abandon to serve God, you will surely gain it back.

Our faith – your faith, my faith and the faith of whoever wants to follow God will be of no equal value for it cost Jesus His life. If you cannot risk your life to serve Jesus, forget about it, it has no eternal value. You are just living your life for the material benefits of this life. Value goes for value – it’s because your life and my life is of eternal value to God hence He gave His only eternal Son. Jesus sacrificed His majestic throne to come in here and all the thirty three and a half years He spent here in the flesh was a risk – satan could have struck him dead at any time.

A militant accuser requires a victorious captain of salvation who could be seen as little in the eyes of men. A little David was needed to defeat and remove the head of the giant Goliath. Jesus abandoned all His glory and came into the world into an unknown poor family such that when He was to be born and no place was found for his mother as she went into labour during the national census, He was born in a manger. This is to show you the earthly degradation Jesus suffered in order to save you from your sins.

Now, you say the salvation Jesus came to give you is all about dollars and pounds, material prosperity and financial prosperity such that human souls are no longer valuable to you as a preacher of, and listener to the gospel. This makes sinners – prostitutes and criminals comfortable in church making them grow thick skin as the true word of God that will make them tremble and fall on their knees is not preached to them at all.

When man recovers his original position in God, material things answer to him. The bible says it is “God who giveth thee power to get wealth.”

Some people’s glory will come during their early periods of their lives because they have the power to control it at that period, some will have their glory manifest during their mid-ages because they have the power to control it then while the glory of some will come to limelight at the evening period of their lives because God wants them to wine, dine and also die in that glory.

Life does not belong to you and I. We found ourselves in this world and hence we need to look at the divine manual (THE BIBLE) to learn the principles of living live profitably and within our own time so that we don’t run another person’s race. God is the creator of heaven and earth before man ever existed and He will continue to exist after man is no more.

You shouldn’t be inside the church and suffer the same thing that the unbelievers out there are suffering.

Mark 16:19-20
19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

The apostles weren’t preaching materialism or prosperity; they were preaching repentance, and the kingdom of God. You would now be asking, what about the preaching of prosperity? The gospel is a complete package of divine arrangement restoring man to his original divine abilities. A king who is enthroned is in control of the resources in his domain. Every lost sinner has lost his throne and has therefore lost his possession. Every lost sinner has lost the key to divine resources, possession and treasures. No matter how religious a sinner is, the promises of the kingdom of God are not for him but for children of the kingdom of God.

Don’t lose your kingly position at the pursuit of material things. I have seen a lot of churches pursuing material things and abandoning spiritual things. Such a calamity! All they gather is for the flames of fire. This earth cannot withstand the judgment of God as recorded in 2nd Peter 3. Everything will be folded up like a scroll. Once the trumpet sounds, those who qualify will be entertained by Jesus. Everything God gives you now is for the propagation of the gospel and not for personal gratification. Seven (7) years after the rapture, Revelation 1:7 will now come to fulfillment, “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” During the period of the seven years after the rapture, reward will be handed out to every believer based on his or her labour while here on earth. I don’t want to reign over a city. I want to reign over continents.

If you don’t labour for a place, the benefit of that place can never be yours. It is a place that you labour for that you’ll actually be expecting your profits from. Many of us have our hearts busy saying, “I cannot allow any pastor to cajole me. I will become what no one has become in my father’s compound.” Why should you pursue earthly things to the detriment of your soul – your eternity?

Every of my daily labour is with eternity in view. I have my mind on where they don’t count time and number. That is where my mind is. I don’t mind sacrificing the best thing I own for the advancement of that place I am going. Anyone whose eyes are always down cannot see the glory that is up there in eternity. Once you always look up and catch a glimpse of your eternal glory, you will lose the passion and cravings for everything earthly.

Many people come to Christ but the first taste of miracle given to them by Christ is what they sit with and do not strive to ensure they get the heavenly treasures. The things of this earth have no eternal value and have no eternal glory while the things of heaven have eternal value and likewise eternal glory. Eternal life is life without end but we have to choose whether our eternal life will be with God or satan.

John 21:3
Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee.

When you lose sight of heaven, material things will take over your heart. The more sensitive your position in a church, the more sensitive influence your life has upon followers. The upward you go, the more influential your life becomes. The lifestyle of the leader influences the followers a lot. If your life is deteriorating, those who are your followers will also drown alongside with you. In the absence of your pastor, do you maintain and hold on to your faith? If there’s no pastor, no worker or brother to checkmate you, do you still stand and maintain your faith?

Backsliders’ ways are downward. Anytime you shift your face away from Jesus Christ – the true representation of faith, your journey downward into destruction has just begun.

Life is not weighed or measured on the platter of material things acquired. If you measure your worth on material things acquired, it means your sense of worth is flawed.

What is the purpose of faith? The purpose of faith is to bridge us and link us up with our creator – When this takes place, we occupy our divine allocation and authority. To flow at the realm of faith, flesh MUST DAILY DIE. It is by faith we can achieve every divine promise given to us

John 21:15
15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?

It is when your faith is shifted away from God and focused on material things (prosperity, miracles, etc), that you begin to scramble for resources that you ought to possess on the platform of faith. This is the point of derailment for the youths of this generation who want to be rich at all costs – even those who are even in the church. That is why pastors cannot preach against cultism, witches and wizards because they are also part and parcel of the same evil societies.

A good leader is not a greedy man, he is not a covetous man, and he is a giver. Once you are able to sacrifice your personal needs for the benefit of others, you’ll discover that your faith will provide for you on a daily basis such that people will be surprised at how you are being provided for daily.

15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

If God calls you into an office and you don’t value it, the devil will take it off you quickly.

Do you also labour for this double profit? For your faith to profit you here and in heaven, you must be committed to the body of Christ. There are millions of people in the church today who are there not because they want to get to heaven but because of the temporary enjoyment of this present world they want to have.

After you display glory here on earth, the glory continues in eternity. If you base your life on earthly things, you are done for!

Salvation is not a ticket to poverty neither is holiness a license to live a life of penury. The more you move closer to God, the more things should become clearer to you. Silver and Gold belongs to God but you’ve got to seek God’s kingdom first before other things are added to you.

PRAYERS
- God, I need a glory that doesn’t expire – a glory that is valuable here and in eternity, a glory that is valid here and also in eternity.
- God, help me to focus on your kingdom, to pull off the weight and yokes of this present world so that my life will be wholly dedicated to knowing you more and more.
- God help me so that every mountain will bow before me as a result of my faith
- Every nature of sin and doubt, die. Let faith rise up in me.
- God, I need faith to go through this time, the faith that will swim against the tide of this evil generation.