Category: Pastor’s blog

  Hope In The Lord – Psalm 146:5 “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God,” This is month no 7 of the year widely refer to as the month of perfection, my prayer to all is that God will perfect all that concerns you in Jesus name. No wonder, God is asking us to hope in Him alone i.e. to lean on Him and trust Him as He makes all things perfect according to His Word. Our text for the month reads “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the Lord his God,” The man that seek help from God will forever be in joy. Hope is faith is action. Hope is what gets you through the night when darkness closes in on you. Hope is the belief that you are not permanently in the dark and boxed in with no way out. As you move on in the month especially knowing that the second part of the year has started and you are moving to the next stage of 2014, I encourage you to hope in the Lord. God has a plan for your life. His plan is to give you hope. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” ‘declares the Lord,’ “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” There is no doubt that our faith will be tested and we would go through trials yet we can overcome all of them regardless of our feelings for His truth is unshakable and certain. No matter how bleak or discouraging our circumstances may appear, there are always grounds for hope, because we are not alone. God is with us. And He is not merely present, but watchful and active. God is present in our lives, not merely as a passive observer, but as the active, sovereign ruler of the universe and the loving Lord of our lives. Our hope must be anchored in the promises of God, the promises concerning His goodness, wisdom, love and power. We must hold fast to these, even as the storms of life are raging if we’re to keep our grip on hope and keep the ship of our life on course. We must believe regardless of our circumstances that God is working out all things in our life for good and we do that by continually reminding ourselves of the promises of God. Our God is the God of hope, He always bring hope into our hopeless lives. Hope is one of the gifts God gives to every believer and He wants us to overflow in it.   Pastor Yemisi Onanuga  

Nehemiah 10:29 “These joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes.” Welcome to the year of Great Shepherd, my prayer is that the Great Shepherd will carry you and burdens in Jesus name. Therefore this first month of the year I want to encourage everyone to make a new commitment to walk with God as a sheep and Him as the Shepherd. The people of Jerusalem made a commitment to radically change how they were living; this was a radical commitment to serve God in a greater way than they ever had before this time. Prior to this, the prophets had come and warned the people, but the people had not listened. However, it seems that this time God had their attention and they seem to be serious about their commitment to God. This commitment took their focus off of themselves and placed it on their God. A commitment like this is needed for believers to fully focus on God and His plan for them and this type of commitment forces believers to focus more on how they live rather than what they say. Commitment is what we need today. It reflects the character of Christ and it is a virtue. It is a characteristic of God, who is always faithful and true. Commitment starts not with us, but with God. He has committed himself toward us, to call us and save us and build us up and give us an eternal inheritance in Christ Jesus. Commitment is the basis of our relationship with God. It is the basis of our faith in God. And it is the basis of any good relationships with people. Relationships break down when commitment is absent, when we start to find it difficult to trust. These people wanted to make sure that they will stay on course, and their children and children after them will do the same and so they made the oath to commit themselves to the service of God in unity. If we do not commit, we will find it easy not to do what is pleasing to God. When everything around you crumbles, commit on o the Lord and He will reflect His beauty on you. Make a commitment today to be on the Lord’s side no matter how rough the road may be and it will help you keep on the right track of God. How marvelous it is to be in the care of the One who provides for us so wonderfully. The shepherd does not take the sheep into barren places, but pastures that have sufficient supply. “May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20. Pastor Yemisi  

“I cried out to the LORD in the middle of my troubles; I cried out to my God. He listened to my voice from his sanctuary, and my call for help was heard.” Very often, we find ourselves in very serious situation and get so caught up in the situation that we lose sight of what we are supposed to do as believers. But that is not the case with David as we read in this passage. The first thing that David did was to call out to the Lord right in the middle of his troubles. He called out to the Lord because he knew for a fact that man could not help; he knew for a fact that he could not help himself; he knew for a fact that all his weapons could not help him. So he called to the Lord because he remembered vividly what the word of God has said concerning him: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.” So he called unto God, not out of fear, but with boldness and the full assurance that God is able; willing and ready to deliver him from all his trouble – cp. Isa. 49:15-16. God will only respond to righteousness; holiness; purity of heart; clean hands. In the midst of his troubles, David had all these qualities – 2 Sam. 22:21. Do you have these qualities today? The second thing that David did was to cry out to his God – who do you cry to in the midst of distress? David said: “I cried out to my God”. Is God Almighty your God? – Dan 11:32. Do you know God the way David did? If so, rest assured that this is your season of Overflowing Deliverance in the mighty name of Jesus. Before the end of June, God Almighty will deliver you from all your troubles. God responded to David’s dedication to the word of God, and his complete obedience of what the word says. God will always respond to your total commitment to HIS way and your complete adherence to HIS precepts – because HE will never compromise on HIS standards. David knew this and he was able to present his case to God – 2 Sam. 22:22-24. I challenge you this season: adopt David’s approach – strive for righteousness; desire a pure heart towards God and man; strive for holiness; stay away from the congregation of the scornful; walk not in the way of sinners; be fully committed to the word of God; obey completely what the word of God prescribes; above all, love God with all your heart and I guarantee you will surely enter your season of Overflowing Deliverance this month of June in Jesus name. God bless you richly. Pastor Edmund Abekhe

“Little children, we must stop expressing love merely by our words and manner of speech; we must love also in action and in truth. This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and how we will be able to keep ourselves strong in his presence. If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God. Whatever we request we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is the confidence that we have in him: if we ask for anything according to his will, he listens to us. And if we know that he listens to our requests, we can be sure that we have what we ask him for.” – 1 John 3:18-22; 5:14-15 (ISV). Prayer is one of the greatest privileges we have as children of God. The Hymn Writer – Joseph Medicott Scriven – in his hymn titled ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus’ penned these two lines: “Oh what peace we often forfeit; oh what needless pain we bear All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer” In other words, whenever we fail to make use of this great privilege, we stand to miss out of so many good things that God has prepared for those that truly love HIM. According to Apostle Paul in his first letter to the church at Corinth, there are three things that are vital for every true believer – Faith, Hope and Love – and he said also that the most important is love and I am persuaded that Apostle John is also drawing from what Paul has said in his letter when he wrote this first Epistle to the entire church of God. Apostle John mentions the fact that love must go beyond words; love must be demonstrated by action; and in truth. This demonstration will give the believer a confidence that can only be described as supernatural. It is this confidence that fires the believer’s faith and gives the believer assurance that every issue brought before God, will receive the desired result. So Faith; Hope (or Expectation); and Love are all at work because love is the foundation. What the Beloved Apostle John is saying here is that when these three elements come together, we receive a key that will always unlock the heart of God to us at the place of prayer. When this happens, our prayers will be unselfish; they will change our character; and we will always pray for God’s will (“May your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” – Matt. 6:10). Welcome to the month of Answered Prayers.

Revelation 3:8 “I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it.” The God we serve is a God who opens doors for us and when He opens a door no man can shut it, and so as He has lifted us He is promising us this month an open door to His plan and purpose for our lives which is better and greater than our thought. We may try to open doors in our own strength and fail because they are too strong for us. Sometimes we may succeed in opening a door in our own strength only to find that somebody has closed it again. When we face such situations we should allow the Lord to open these doors. His mighty strength and power will open doors so that no one can shut them again. He will go before us and break down every hindrance and break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. We should not struggle in vain in our own strength against these strong barriers, but instead allow the Lord to open the doors for us. The doors that the Lord opens for us cannot be used by our enemies. The way of escape for us will become a way of destruction for our enemies in Jesus name. When God opens a door for us we do not have to fear whether anybody will close the door that God has opened for us unless you do. Sometimes we live in fear of men and of the devil even after the Lord has opened a door for us, we live in constant fear and worry whether the door will be closed again by anyone and we begin to suspect everyone that they might do something harmful to us. God wants us to live in assurance and confidence that the door He has opened for us cannot be closed by anyone. Remember, He has not given us the spirit to fear but the spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. On the other hand when the Lord opens a way for us, we should not try to close it. Sometimes the Lord may lead us in a difficult path; at such times we should not try to escape from it. When Jesus faced the cross, He did not run away from it. Jesus was willing to drink the cup which His Father had given Him. He did not call the cross as a cup given by the devil or His enemies, He called it a cup which His Father had given him. He was willing to follow the path in which His Father was leading him. Even in our own lives we should not try to escape from the path of suffering when the Lord leads us through it. We should not close a door that the Lord has opened for us. Through disobedience to His will and commandments, we can close the door but my prayer for everyone is that the Lord will grant us the grace to walk in His path holding on to Him at every step of life in Jesus mighty name. Extracts from: Dr. Stanley Vasu’s sermon.

1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
We live in a world that is filled with despair and hopelessness. Unemployment, weapons of mass destruction, confused government, sniper terror, travel crisis and even trouble in the church. With all these, an average man needs a bright hope for the future.
Hope in the bible has multiple meanings. It is a favorable and confident expectation. It has to do with the unseen and the future, a living hope that will sustain us. Living hope is the constant expectation of attainment. It is a virtue which leads us to expect the things which God has promised us. It looks to God as its principal object.
There is no hope without faith. Faith apprehends the promises and hope expects what is promised. The natural fruit of a living hope is joy and delight in God. When in this world our vision is impaired with sorrow, hope reminds us that our greatest joy is in the unseen world.
The more we experience God’s power, the greater our hope. Hope looks to the grace of God, while fear looks to the wages of sin. Our living hope is based on the mercy of God. Christian believers have a living hope because Jesus is alive. Our hope is based on the solid evidence of Jesus’ resurrection.

Those who have been born again have a living hope through their new life in Christ; my friends, we have a promise not only of living again, but also of a better tomorrow. We have the hope of a future inheritance. Because of our living hope we can place our faith in God’s protection, God has promised to shield us with His power as we walk in faith with Him.
What greater hope could be given to those undergoing persecution than the knowledge that God’s power guards them from within, to preserve them for an inheritance of salvation that will be completely revealed to them in God’s presence.
To those who are feeling discouraged, displaced, depressed, or in danger, I want to encourage you that we have a living hope based upon the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour. The believer’s hope is sure, certain, and real, as opposed to the deceptive, empty, false hope the world offers. The living Christ is the source of our new birth and our living hope.

Do you have this hope? If not, would you like to have it? God the Father offers you a hope that you can have and maintain by faith. He has done all the impossible part so that all you must do is surrender your life to Him, entrusting yourself and committing yourself to the truth of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.

Pastor Yemisi Onanuga