BUILDING A DIFFERENCE

Life and Ministry

Sharing with Pastor Dapo Adeniyi

Building a difference

Reading randomly in the book of Nehemiah, the first lesson to learn there is that, anyone can make a difference.

The problem is that, we often think only a big difference is good enough.

The walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt one block at a time.

The Bible generally gives many examples of people who made a little difference where they were.

The important thing is to yield one’s self as a vessel in God’s hand to make a difference that can be felt.

A small difference is made that can be felt by someone and then it grows to affect a nation.

The Shunamite woman gave Elisha a little more than a cup of water and it brought miracles that were reported to the king, II Kings 4:37, 8:1-6.

David made a difference to the sheep he served in the field, and it led to his becoming the shepherd of all Israel.

Everyone is in a position to make a difference.

The most unlikely people, in the worst conditions of life, made a difference in the Bible.

Joseph was only a slave yet he made a little difference through a faithful spirit in Portiphar’s home.

He became a condemned inmate yet he continued to make a difference.

Over time, God used his faithfulness to turn the tide, and he became the Premier of all Egypt.

We also have the case of 4 lepers of Samaria in II Kings 7.

Among the fascinating examples is that of the little boy with 5 loaves and 2 little fishes at the crusade ground in Mat. 6:32-44.

He could have refused to go forward with his lunch pack because it was so little.

Also, one of the worst examples of missed opportunities is that of the man who buried his single talent in the parable that Jesus gave.

The book of Nehemiah begins with the author receiving news of the state of things in Jerusalem

His reaction produced a burden.

That burden drove him to pray

Prayer in turn opens one’s eyes to how we can begin to make a little difference.

We must always remember that things are never too late for a remedy.

Meaningful change begins with little things, especially when you are not in a position to take a big step.

It can look like a long way off but we can begin to do what we can.

The ruin or pile up of generations can thus begin to be rectified.

The walls of Jerusalem was rebuilt one stone at a time.

This is the irony of life: you can pull down in one day but it takes a step, a layer at a time, to build up.

MAKING FRIENDS WITH GOD IN ADVANCE

Life and Ministry

Sharing with Pastor Dapo Adeniyi

Making friends with God in advance

I believe that the best time to make friends with people is when you don’t really need them to intervene in your cause.

Someone who befriends you for the sole purpose of drawing something from you may not be a good material for friendship.

He or she is not the type you want to trust.

The problem is that they are likely to disappear once what they needed you for is no longer there.

I am not sure you should make friends simply because you will need them eventually, but you surely will.

As the saying goes, no man is an island.

Sooner or later, everyone comes to a mountain that is higher than them.

Hezekiah became king over Judah and set himself to spiritual reforms that had not been seen since the days of David and Solomon.

The Bible says, that it was because he had a perfect heart.

I think we will all need to ask God for this kind of heart.

Someone with this kind of heart comes to God because he or she loves God and not because they need Him to meet a material need.

They are also the kind that God answers quickly in the day of need or trouble (Heb 4:16)

Hezekiah loved, honoured and served God long before crises broke out in his life.

He had formidable enemies at a later stage in his life

Senacherib king of Assyria was a terrible enemy but God saved Hezekiah out of his hand.

Hezekiah also contracted a sickness that was going to kill him but he called God and he saved/healed him.

The errors of a lot of church-going people are worth noting.

They don’t start taking God serious until serious problems arise.

That is like a builder hurriedly trying to put a foundation in place when the floods have already come.

Some have never loved the word of God but they expect the word of God to comfort and heal them when trouble looms.

The only people who can gain confidence from God in the face of a storm are those who had treasures of God’s word in their hearts, long before.

How the devil prepares some for a fall.

By injecting an apathy for the word of God and fellowship long before crisis time.

Those who never gave themselves to the service of anyone when they were strong have deprived God of instruments to use to help them when they are weak.

The devil also blocks the blessing of many good people by blocking them from being a blessing with their finances.

Blessing actually means you sow and get more than you deserve.

A curse means you sow much but get less than you put in.

 We need to cry to God for a pure and a right spirit today.

ROSES AND THORNS

Life and Ministry

Sharing with Pastor Dapo Adeniyi

Impact and trials

Acts 18:11-17

Here is a rather strident evidence that wherever the word of God has an impact, trouble from hell looms.

The devil may try to mobilise his dormant agents within the church itself.

The serpent in Act 28 when Paul landed from the wreckage on the island of Melita is an example.

 If you are always an instrument for stirring trouble in the church, you are informing yourself about whose you really are.

The devil also has a lot of people he rules over out there in the world.

Let’s now quickly examine some types of impact the word of God may have that would provoke reaction from hell.

The first is the fruit of a healthy and united church or fellowship.

The second is salvation of souls.

The third is the growth of the influence of the word of God.

This passage also reveals that God has influence over everyone both saved and unsaved in the world.

The action of Gallio who was a sort of ruler over the province of Corinth confirms the promise given to Paul in Verse 10. The heart of Gallio was clearly in God’s hands. Instead of Paul, the wicked people vented their anger on Sosthenes, the ruler of the Synagogue.

 Historically, religious but unsaved people are ever ready tools in Satan’s hands.

It was Jews that moved against Paul at Corinth.

Similarly, looking way back, it was Doeg the Edomite who claimed to have been detained before God who slew the whole city of the priests in I Sam 22.

In the parable of Jesus on the good Samaritan, priests walked by as the slain man lay dying on the road.

Even in the case of 10 lepers that Jesus healed, there were 9 Jews and 1 Samaritan, yet, it was the Samaritan that came back to give thanks.

Gallio was a type that helps the gospel but may have no part in it.

He did not allow Paul to open his mouth to speak even though he had been instrumental in saving Paul from his avowed enemies, Verse 14.

Those who do all the talking don’t hear from God.

THE PARABLE OF THE FALLEN AXE HEAD

Life and Ministry

Sharing with Pastor Dapo Adeniyi

2 Kings 6:1-7

 The Lord says I should tell somebody in this place that the axe head that you lost shall he restored.

The story of the axe head that fell into the river in 2 Kings 6:1-7 is a parable.

Most of us, if not all of us, have something that we hold very dear.

One of the facts that we confront in life is that, what was there may not be there anymore.

This is the reason we counsel that we should not cling to anything that we received by grace as if they are more important to us than God.

He is the only one who has the power to help us to keep that which we have received.

We should honour Him with our lives while we still have our being

We should honour Him with our substance because He is the giver of all things.

We should honour Him with our relationships: children, husband, wives.

Some follow the opinions of their friends and honour them above God.

Most of those friends are there because God gave you an axe head that can cut down trees in order provide food, shelter and clothes for your loved ones and much more.

You will also do well to remember that your very life was borrowed.

The very big question is: what will you do when the axe head is gone?

Only those with a real relationship with God can find their axe when it falls into the river.

A lot of people do not realize that they cannot cope with life all alone without God until the day of evil comes.

Three ways in which God retrieves lost axe head:

He can cause a new one to grow on the handle.

He can cause the fallen axe head to swim.

He can also cause the loss of the axe to be forgiven.

Your relationship with God is the foundation for a miracle.

Begin by learning how to call upon the name of the Lord.

You have to surrender your life, your mind and your heart to God.

You can even call upon Him right now.

THE LORD OF THE HARVEST

Life and Ministry

Sharing with Pastor Dapo Adeniyi

  It is impossible for Him to be the Lord of harvest without also being the Lord of the seedtime.

He is Lord all the way.

Who cultivated the land is the one with the right to take the harvest

The harvest is plentiful but there are no workmen?

This implies that harvest time is asking for greater grace than was needed during cultivation.

The earth must have given in its strength.

Harvest time is a season and things have to be done in haste before the season is past.

The harvest can be lost unless they are quickly gathered into a good barn.

This means that work in the field cannot be delayed without serious consequence.

What happens during the seed time of any life?

Great efforts are greeted with little results.

But for the help of God, the spirit of discouragement would have reigned.

This is the reason the Bible says that “he that weepeth going forth bearing precious seeds shall return with gladness.”

There is gladness in the day of harvest because every little effort receives a just reward.

In  seedtime, fallow grounds are broken.

This can require the building up of spiritual assets in a virgin land.

Introducing new and strange but powerful ideas fail almost every single time.

Someone recently quoted Sir Winston Churchill as saying “success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm”.

Seedtime is a time when great lessons are learnt and paid for painfully.

Precious lessons learnt then will regulate our behaviours during harvest time.

The problem of many of us (especially Christian churches) is that they forgot they once failed.

It is noble to fail again and again and still keep going forward.

What we often call failure is when results fall below what we expect.

A harvest is a period when results are greater by far than what we deserve.

The Living church, what it is.

Life and Ministry

Sharing with Pastor Dapo Adeniyi

 If the enemy had his way, there would be no church.

But since he tried and tried and failed, he wants us to have churches that have no light.

Through which the world cannot see God

Through which a sinner cannot see himself and his or her sinful ways.

 Jesus Himself said, if we are careless we can have church that has not salt.

It will be fit for nothing other than to be cast in the ground where men will trample over it.

In other words, a church that men will laugh and scoff at.

 How does the devil begin to move against the church of God?

First, it is by distorting the image of the living church.

This is why many people think a church is a place you merely visit.

Many people also imagine that a church is a place where the popular will of people is done.

Kings in days of old never did their own will.

A lot of people also consider God’s church as a thrift society.

 Three things that the living church is:

 A Place where trees of righteousness are planted and watered.

God plants people in particular assemblies

The devil also tries to plant his own (Mat 13)

When a good tree tries to lock roots with evil trees, the good can no longer bear fruit

 The living church is a place where the Father dwells.

In the book of Revelation, we see Jesus walking up and down in the midst of 7 golden candle sticks.

Whatever you do or don’t do in a living church, remember that God is there.

God was in Shiloh, Samuel heard his foot steps behind the curtains.

 Thirdly, a living church is place where things are settled.

Decrees are made in righteousness.

Things on the earth are settled in heaven.

Preys are taken out of the jaws of the predator.

WE MUST NOT HOLD OUR PEACE

Life and Ministry

Sharing with Pastor Dapo Adeniyi

Text:Acts 18, 7-11

 Two lessons we can learn about the hazardous waters of ministry:

There will always be those who hate God out there in the field that will never receive the word of God.

They are also in the church (our ministries are often run in ways that make room and make the atmosphere comfortable for such).

We often tie them down with positions and other incentives.

People whose hearts are not open to the word of God.

They cannot be blessed by God’s word.

They neither honour nor treasure the word of God.

NB: Those who publish the word and stand with God receive all the hatred that evil men have for God.

Also Note: The word must be published despite those who hate God’s word and work against Him.

We must stand our ground.That is what the Father expects from us.

 The second lesson has to do with the blessing of making utterances in the word of God see Verse 9-10

The devil wants the righteous to hold his peace.

We can speak against the mountains.

We can speak to part the rivers.

We can decree a thing and it shall stand.

 But only if we are filled with God’s word.

 God has men in the place His work is planted.

 As we continue faithfully, they will manifest.

 Many of such are waiting for our words of preaching to enter the kingdom of God,

Therefore we must not hold our peace.