A Fertile Ground for the Gospel

A Fertile Ground for the Gospel

Life And Ministry

Sharing with Pastor Dapo Adeniyi

 

Acts 18: 18-28

 

Corinth was a place where the gospel through Paul gained a firm foothold, after much battle.

The word that God gave Paul earlier at Corinth brought much fruit.

Only the Holy Spirit can tell where the seeds of God’s word would do well.

Certain kinds of grounds are a lot more resistant to God’s word.

Even though opposition seems to persist everywhere, the word thrives in a place if we allow God to send us there in His own timing.

The pattern of Paul’s work seems to be to break new grounds for the gospel in new places.

He breaks the fallow grounds, introduces the seed of the gospel and leaves while it springs forth in his absence.

Corinth was a success story to the extent that, Priscilla and Aquilla could leave with him to Ephesus.

Paul clears a little space for the word also in Syria but quickly moves on.

The case of Ephesus is very interesting indeed.

This is the same region where God forbade Paul from entering to preach the word in Chap. 16: 6-7.

It proves that the issue was one of timing even at that period.

It could also be a question of divine priority – maybe God wanted them in Macedonia first.

The city of Ephesus was thirsty for God’s word but Paul could not wait now for personal reasons

The passage says Paul had a vow

This implies that Paul made a vow, most probably a vow of thanksgiving, before reaching the region of Syria and Ephesus.

Paul seems to live above a common pitfall of public ministry.

Ministers tend to spend much time attending to other people without working on their own relationship in a private place with God.

Paul seems not to be ignoring his own spiritual life.

We need to study for ourselves, apart from studying to teach others.

We must spend time praying to edify ourselves, apart from when we pray for others.

There are times when we have to leave God’s business in God’s hands when they prove to be too much for us to handle.

The hunger and the need in Ephesus notwithstanding, Paul dropped the work at Ephesus to continue back to Jerusalem for reasons of his own edification.

 

 

SOVEREIGN AND SUPERNATURAL ACTS OF GOD

SOVEREIGN AND SUPERNATURAL ACTS OF GOD

 

Life and Ministry

Sharing With Pastor Dapo Adeniyi

  It is very important for us as believers, to remember that God is not only our Father but a king in heaven.

 As such, He does as He pleases in the firmament of heaven.

We cannot call His acts to question.

Fortunately for us he is both good and all wise.     

 People do not query God because they feel they know better than God but rather because a spirit     of rebellion is in them. 

Very many times, the wisdom behind God’s sovereign acts become visible to us later on.

David for example never could understand why it took so long to remove King Saul from office after   God had rejected him. It must have been later on that David realized that Lord preserved Saul for his   sake.

God was using Saul to train David and reveal himself to David as the great savior. The proof of this was that Nabal the Carmelite insulted David and was a dead man in 10 days!

 I think it was Pastor E.A Adeboye who once said that it is the wisdom of God that controls the power of God. In other words, there are many things that God’s power can do but which His wisdom will not allow Him to do.

His power could save Joseph from the hands of his brothers, but his wisdom released him to go down in chains to Egypt.

His wisdom also transferred Joseph from serving in Portiphars house to the prison lest Joseph should escape back to Canaan before the word of Pharaoh called for him.

One of the many reasons the Bible is precious to us is that it is a record of the judgments of God.   

 His judgments are things He considers as right in His sight.

Some things that God will decide are right may be appalling to some people.

The sentencing of the Canaanites to mass killing under the hand of Israel has appalled some.

A commentator even said that it confirmed to him that the God of the Old Testament was not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Unfortunately for them, none can question the King of heaven in His judgments.

They perhaps will also need to remember that it was to give the Canaanites room to mend their ways that God kept Israel in Egypt for 400 years.

We see a lot of the judgments or sovereign acts of God in the area of divine healing.

Healing is likened to rain.

God can decide to send His rain on the wicked. No one is qualified in the real sense for God rain, they are a rain of His mercy.

Those used of God in the healing ministry must also realize that they are God’s witnesses only.

He is the doer of it, not us

The baptism in the Holy Spirit that may seem to us to be commonplace is also a rain of God’s mercy.

To take glory for a sovereign act of God and to give His glory or credit to graven images are the same.

We also see God’s judgments at work when we call for His help.

Spiritual babies think their prayers are answered because of the quality of their cry to God.

The heathen for their own part think they are heard by God because of their much speaking or fasting.

The mature Christian however understands that every answer to prayer is a sovereign act of God.

God is not compelled to prove anything to us by answering our prayer.

We can always call on God and trust in His goodness.

SOVEREIGN AND SUPERNATURAL SIGNS OF GOD

LIFE AND MINISTRY
SHARING WITH PASTOR DAPO ADENIYI

 

SOVEREIGN AND SUPERNATURAL SIGNS OF GOD

God uses His sovereign and supernatural signs to speak to someone related directly to Him.

He can also use His supernatural signs to testify concerning someone dear to Him.

He uses signs to confirm a ministry in addition to using it to help someone in need.

Sovereign and supernatural signs of God are understood today in the church as “signs and wonders”.

They can be as real as someone writing in a chalkboard.

They can also be as simple as someone planting a sign post by the road side.

They can be used by God for direction.

They can be used for correction.

They can also be a mark of divine approval or open heaven.

God can set forth one or many landmarks.

That can be a major or distinct revelation that tells of a distant future.

A landmark from God can take the form of divine assurance to someone who will go through a tempest. God will use the landmark to say to him or her that the tempest will not consume him or her.

Sovereign and supernatural signs of God are often rare and far between.

That means they don’t happen every day.

Abraham and Moses did not see angels and heavenly beings every day.

We have been created and placed in this season in the natural world.

God uses His voice as well as natural signs to speak to us in our current natural context.

The Psalmist in Psalm 19: 1-3 says,

“The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament showeth His handiwork, day unto day uttering speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.

“There is no speech nor language in which their voice is not heard”.

Other occasions when God works through sovereign and supernatural signs are as follows:

To deliver someone he really loves.

Also someone who is His potential vessel.

PICTURES FROM JOSEPH COMPANY AUGUST 2012 CONCERT

WELL KITTED FOR THE RACE

Life and Ministry

Sharing with Pastor Dapo Adeniyi

Well kitted for the race

 Acts 19: 1-7

 Disciples that Paul met at Ephesus were not kitted with the whole armour of God.

But they prove that sincerity is the most significant consideration in the business of the kingdom.

Like Apollos, they ran with and for God with what was available to them.

Which was the baptism of John without that of the Holy Ghost.

John’s baptism was unto repentance.

I think with sincerity, we will come eventually into the fullness of the sons of God.

Sincerity takes us over and above doctrines and teachings which deny aspects of God’s power and promises for His people.

Like Apollos, the 12 men were open to receive.

The basic witness in a believer proves and confirms the word of God to His saints even where there was little prior knowledge in that regard.

The Holy Ghost is given to those who are open.

Unbelief sets up a barrier to God’s blessings.

Unbelief which is deliberate is rebellion and enmity against God.

The Holy Ghost falls like rain upon God’s people.

It is one of the great signs of an open heaven over a person.

It confirms that other blessings can and will flow if we  press on to believe for them.

The passage says that they spake in tongues and prophesied, v6.

That proves that one who is filled is dangerous.

They can say something with authority and it will come to pass, (that is what prophecy means).

They will pray with the intensity of fire because they will speak with power.

They will speak out of the well of the Father’s will.

In prayer, they will smite accurately even in the midst of great or total darkness.

LIGHT IN THE MIDST OF DARKNESS

Life and Ministry

Sharing with Pastor Dapo Adeniyi

Light in the midst of darkness

 The Bible loudly declares that we are the light of the world.

By contrast the whole world lieth in darkness.

By this contrast we can see clearly why there is an epic struggle between the light and the darkness.

The light is destined and called to undo the darkness.

We are also informed by God’s word that the darkness that is in the world will grow (Is. 60:2)

“Behold the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people…”.

Isaiah also gives us to understand that darkness, especially gross darkness, is an opportunity for the light to shine.

To shine can also mean to grow in influence.

Let’s quickly examine the things that happen even as the darkness in the world grows.

Fear will grow.

The hearts of men will fail them.

Wickedness rules in the midst of darkness and wickedness will grow.

Sin is convenient in the midst of darkness and sin will also grow.

As sin grows, sin will become more fashionable and godliness will appear and sound obsolete.

Uncertainty is also an attribute of darkness and uncertainty will grow too.

Everything men leaned upon for support will give way.

No one needs to stretch his or her imagination to see all these happening in our world today.

The Lord however promises to rise on His people and His glory on them shall be seen.

Another lesson I want us to learn is that, true light evolves in order to gain more power.

John 1 alone defines the true light in two ways.

Number 1, it has life v4

Jesus the light of God is life and that is why He is the light of all men.

Number 2, it is the marvelous light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

And true light spreads.

As it passes from age to age, it grows in power because it evolves with the time.

Light went from roaring naked fire to candlelights.

Quiet but lively candlelights are dangerous to darkness.

It is shared fast.

Light also went from candlelight to electric bulbs.

Today, electric energy can be generated through nuclear power.

The dispensation of church communications must change even as our own city evolves.

We may not be able to paste posters on walls any longer but we can post them on the walls of facebook.

As the potentials of light grows in a dark world, the conspiracy to put out the light in the midst of darkness grows too. John 1:5

One of many ways in which darkness tries to overpower the light is by the spread of demonic doctrines.

One of the most injurious to faith are the lies about fellowship relationships.

Also modern day failures of marriages did not come out of a void.

There are demonic influences on modern culture which snuff out traditional notions of commitment in relationships and promote selfishness and sensuousness.

FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD

Life and Ministry

Sharing with Pastor Dapo Adeniyi


People are friends with God by choice.
We can draw near Him.
Some pull as far away from God as possible.
Some cannot be God’s friends simply because they are already engaged to His enemy.
The Bible stipulates one of the conditions for incurring God’s enmity.
It is to destroy God’s Temple.
It can be an actual place of worship.
It is most often a house in which God dwells, which is the life of a man.
Another temple or house in which God delights to dwell in is the praise of His people.
He is of course an eternal friend of those who cultivate the habit of giving thanks.
God is also friends with those who thank their own fellows who have been a blessing to them.
Needless to say that God cannot be reconciled to those who blaspheme His name, particularly His power (embodied by the Holy Ghost).

The Bible even gives us to understand that the worst kind of thanklessness is not to discern Christ’s body which was broken on the cross for our sake.
Particularly because it was for our sakes that His flesh was broken and He died.
To be God’s close friends, we have to build for Him.
His best friends in the Bible were builders.
Abraham looked for a city whose maker and builder was God.
To live in a house, or city for that matter, God has to have an input in the design and its very location.
Abraham got His wish: Jerusalem became God’s home forever.
David conceived the plan for a house for God.
Solomon, one of God’s best friends, actualized the building of the Temple.
King Josiah repaired the Temple’s breaches.
Nehemiah supervised the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.
Ezra rebuilt the Temple.
The walls before the temple?
That symbolizes that security comes before prosperity.
How are you and I building for God?
We cannot afford to allow the devil to destroy the temple of our own lives.
There are many, many temples around us, and in our city, in which God, the omnipresent God, desires to dwell.