APOSTLES ARE CHANGE AGENTS AND NOT TITLE HOLDERS!

The truth of the matter is this; an apostle, just like every other ministry gift (5-fold ministries), is not a title; it is an office with a function. It is a gift that possesses certain attributes and functionalities.

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” Eph 4:11-12 NLT (emphasis mine)

 "And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?" - 1 Cor 12:28-30 (emphasis mine)

And unless those attributes and functional signs are there, anybody's titular claim to the office of an apostle is spurious! Some naive or funny people easily take apostolic glory and honor upon themselves with no understanding whatsoever of the responsibilities and job description of the office of an apostle. They take the title but you can never see the character of an apostle in their lives. They keep causing confusion and friction in the body of Christ because they're out of their place.

“But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches.” – 1Cor 7:17 NKJV
“Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called” – 1Cor 7:20 NKJV

They know nothing about the sufferings of an apostle. The signs of an apostle are alien to them, yet they are not afraid to lay claim to the dreaded and awesome office of an apostle. Apostles are change agents. These charlatans have not known that you don't need more than one apostle in a nation to cause spiritual, social, and economic revolutions. But we have thousands of self-styled apostles in a region and no revolution at all! I think there is the need to investigate into that. God only needed Brother Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ to cause global and continental revolutions. Think about that! Aside from the finished work of Christ on the cross, the entire gentile world owes their righteousness and spiritual blessings to that true apostle, even Paul! Don’t get me wrong here, I am not saying God cannot bless a nation with more than one apostles. The point I am making is this: true apostles don’t go around with the tag, their works speak for them!

Holy brothers and sisters, let us abide in our callings from God and produce the corresponding fruits of our individual callings. Let us stop breaking ranks!

“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God  If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Pet 4: 10-11

When you leave your calling, you begin to transgress and infringe on other people’s territory of assignments. And of course the results of that are confusion and frictions in the body. Remember, God will only reward you for what He called you to do that you are doing. And He will judge you based on what He gave you, and not what He did not give you.

If there is the need for it, I may have to write a follow up on the signs of an apostle. This is important so you can receive true apostles and shut your door against charlatans and impostors.
If this has blessed you, please share it with others. God bless you.

REIGNING IN LIFE

REIGNING IN LIFE

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” – Rom6:14

When God made man in His image and after His likeness, one of the blessings bestowed upon man was dominion—ability to rule and be master over life! Unfortunately, Satan conned man out of his dominion blessing by causing man to fall. But thanks to God! What the first Adam lost, the second and the last Adam restored. What the first Adam failed to do, the last Adam succeeded to do.

Before Jesus came, men have lived under the dominion of sin, with a few exceptions of men like Enoch who walked with God, Joseph, and Daniel. All men who lived under the law lived under the dominion of sin. It was not their fault really but the limitation imposed on them by the dispensation to which they belonged—dispensation of law. For it is written that law made nothing perfect (Heb 9:17). God never designed law to make anybody perfect. Law was given to remind man of the fall; law brings sin to the forefront! For without law, there would never have been any knowledge of sin. So we see that law gives strength to sin.

“The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.” – 1Cor 15:56

So, to break the strength, the power, and the cruel dominion of sin, the law must be out of the way. For it has been given to those who are under the law to be under the dominion of sin. On the other hand, it has been given to those who live under grace to have dominion over sin (Rom6:14). Therefore, it is an aberration for sin to have dominion over those who are under grace.

“For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh” – Rom8:3

So we see that the law failed, so also those who lived under it. If the law had not failed, there would not have been any need for Jesus! But unfortunately, there are many who claimed to be under grace that are still mastered by sin. Now something is wrong with such claim! A close examination of such people will reveal that they are still under the law—they are still functioning with the Old Testament paradigm! They have not embraced the fullness of the grace of our Lord Jesus.

It is important to know this; while the law demanded so much but it gave no strength to do. Grace on the other hand, demanded much more than the law but gives the strength to do. Halleluyah! So, to break free from the dominion of sin, you must submit under grace. It takes the abundance of grace to reign in life (Rom5:17). To reign means to have dominion. If you have not gained freedom from sin, don’t even talk about reigning in life. To reign in life, you must have dominion over sin—that is what Jesus offers! The choice is yours today. You may choose to live under the law and be under the dominion of sin every other day of your life. Or choose to be under grace and reign in life.

We should not think this message is for sinners; on the contrary, it is for saints who are still living under the law. God bless you!

IN ALL THINGS GIVE THANKS!

IN ALL THINGS GIVE THANKS

When realities and expectations are the same, there is a sense of fulfillment; invariably, sense of fulfillment fills us with gladness. Every human being is made happy whenever progress happens! That is the way God made us. So, to a large extent, we can safely deduce that a man’s sense of happiness is in direct proportion to his sense of progress. When set goals are being achieved, visions are being realized, and dreams are being fulfilled. When there is no miscarriage of vision, no abortion of purpose, and dreams are not becoming nightmares; joy, gladness, and happiness will be the order of the day!  All the conditions above cannot but give a man a sense of fulfillment and ultimately make him happy. Success is sweet and pleasant especially when you succeed in the right thing—I mean succeeding in the reason for which you were born! I know that succeeding in the purpose for which we were born does not happen overnight; it is success in daily and short term goals that culminates in success in destiny.

 12 That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; That our daughters may be as pillars, Sculptured in palace style;
 13 That our barns may be full, Supplying all kinds of produce; That our sheep may bring forth thousands And ten thousands in our fields;
 14 That our oxen may be well-laden; That there be no breaking in or going out; That there be no outcry in our streets.
 15 Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the LORD! Psalm 144:12-15 (NKJV)

People who are in the conditions and state described above will easily praise God, give Him thanks, and be greatly encouraged and motivated to dream more and have new visions.

TEMPTATIONS TO WATCH FOR

However, if your conditions in life right now are nothing but the opposite of the conditions described above; you may fall into some temptations. You are most vulnerable to discouragement, hopelessness, envy, jealousy, critical and judgmental spirit, moodiness, and the worst of all, unthankfulness.

My intention for writing this is not to justify our failures and shortcomings; rather my intention is to encourage and let us see that though we might have failed to achieve certain goals, and things might not have really happened as expected, yet that has not made us failures. God is not through with you, so don’t write yourself off and give up. Truly, there may be a number of reasons for failure; but that is not my focus in this message.

Even when we fail in anything we set to do, to have, or to accomplish; we must still have right and positive attitudes or else we will become darkened and vain in our thinking. And one of the positive attitudes we need to possess is thankfulness to God. Thankfulness to God opens you up to God’s grace and favor to succeed in life. I’m not saying you should be celebrating your failures; investigate into your failures as they happen, make corrections and adjustments that are necessary, and move on. But if you become unthankful because you fail, your mind will become darkened and you will be grounded—unable to move forward anymore!

“because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened” – Rom1: 21 (NKJV)

“Thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live”.  1Thes5:22 (MSG)

I love this! Thank God no matter what happens. This may be a difficult thing for a natural and carnal man to do—to thank God when expectations are not matched with realities. A natural and carnal man will react, agitate, complain, murmur against God, and be frustrated. However, there is a way God wants those who belong to Christ to live in adversity and failure—that is thankfulness!

THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS

Jesus demonstrated thankfulness at the tomb of Lazarus! He didn’t go there to celebrate death, rather, He went there to teach us that God is able to make all things (including our failures, disappointments, and all the negatives) to work together for our good provided we possess right attitudes. Provided we love God enough to thank Him even when things are going awry! Jesus stood at the tomb of Lazarus and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me”. He said this even when Lazarus was still dead and stinking in the tomb. What an attitude of faith and confidence in God! Thankfulness is a demonstration of living faith and confidence in God’s Person and ability to turn unpalatable situation around for our good.

Don’t ever believe the lies of the devil; he loves to paints bad pictures of your situation, and makes it appear hopeless and irredeemable. Remember what devil spoke to Patriarch Job through his own wife, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die” – Job 2:9. Don’t curse God no matter what happens. If you curse God you will truly die; but if you bless God you will live and tell the story of God’s faithfulness.

Let us learn how to give thanks to God in all things and at all times, and praise our way out of logjams and setbacks of life. We can learn a lot about thanking and praising God in adversity from this short prophetic poem and psalm of Prophet Habakkuk.

17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls;
 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
 19 The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills. Hab.3:17-19

Dear friend, as you cultivate this positive attitude of thanking God all through life, I see you succeeding where you have failed before, I see your sorrow turned to joy, your mourning turned to dancing, your lack turned to abundance; I see you moving forward and thanking God in Jesus mighty name. Amen!

If this message blesses you, first give thanks to God, then give us your feedback, and forward the same message to your friends, families, and enemies.