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*This being the text of my speech delivered at my Church in Nigeria.
Let me start this talk by thanking our Daddy here in the House and the entire Wisemen of DCI Churches of Marara for giving me this great opportunity to address us today on the issue of Practical Christianity in Today’s World: Accessing your true position in Christendom.
I must confess that I had difficulties writing on this topic for a number of reasons, firstly in Yorubaland, an adage says “eni toba ma daso fun eniyan, torun e lawo”. Now, the easiest explanation I can give this is that you may not take a man who promises to buy you a car serious if he is a perpetual trekker or pedestrian himself. However, that is one of the greatest mistakes one can make in life because the man may be able to give the idea of how, what, when and where you can get the resources for it. What I am saying in essence is that the Holy Spirit sometimes can bless you through a means that is meaningless by your own understanding.
Let us attempt to conceptualize our topic. The salient issues there are “Christianity” – the faith of the greatest people in this life and in the life to come. We are associated with success, glory, blessing, good-health, uplifting, progress and promotion. By the words of our mouth, mountains move, dry land become stream, poverty disappears and as you know, we are gods. The word “practical” in this context can rather be explained with questions: Do you enjoy the benefits of being a Christian? Do you have dominion over the issues of life? Needless to say, we all know how many failures we have encountered even in the last once year alone as individuals, as a family, as a church and as a nation.
“Today’s world” means different things to different people, to the poor, it is a time of suffering and struggling; to the rich, it is an era of plenty and fulfillment of God word that the land is flowing with milk and honey. I am asking sincerely, what is today’s world to you as a Christian. Are God’s promises fulfilled in you life, family, destiny, church, home and in our nations? Can you genuinely say you have succeeded in your chosen area of endeavour? Are you a failure, yet a Christian or to turn it around, are you a Christian, yet a failure? The simple issues we are attempting to establish is why do Christians fail in today’s world despite believing wholeheartedly in God and the unbelievers have all the goods things of life? Why for instance must we be suffering and smiling? Where are His promises in our life?
The answers to these questions have always been there with us; we have always heard it from His servants, seen it in His word and experienced it in our hearts.
For the benefit of this forum, I have attempted to put them in 4 sub-titles
§ The Certificates to Greatness/Glory
§ IEC and Growth in Christian Home
§ Knowledge economies
§ Building Blocks.
The Certificates to Greatness/Glory
Now, I believe you must have heard about certificate before. It is a credential given to you after a study or training in a field of endeavour. For instance GCE certificate, OND/HND certificate, Hairdressing/Tailoring Certificate, Pastoral certificate and Computer Appreciation Certificate. They are countless in today’s world. The truth is you cannot succeed without up to date certificates in your field of endeavour. Now, you may be wondering what I mean by this. What has a certificate got to do with power of God when Mark told us "…with God; all things are possible" (Mark 11:27). Let me tell us that God may not give victory to a man without the certificates or qualifications, therefore, a man may be a Christian by association or by attending church’s programmes, yet not qualified for glorification, just as you may not become a medical doctor or an engineer without training and qualifications (certificates).
The very first certificate God requires of you is you BA; this, to a learned fellow, may mean Bachelor of Arts. In our talk today it simply means Born Again. If we are not genuinely born again we are already a big failure. What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and lose his life. (Matthew 16:26, Mark 8: 36, Luke 9:25). Born again means being obedient to the word of God, He said it all in John 1:13 “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God”. Once you are born of God, you can only fail when God fails. I am saying you can never fail. Preaching! You may say to yourself, I have been defeated severely in the past. Then, let me announce to you that there is a vast difference between failure and temporary defeat.
A man who has a Bachelor of Arts in History would one day aspire to obtain a higher degree so as to be promoted. He may register for an M.Sc (Master of Science) course in maybe International Relations etc. Likewise, God wants us to acquire his M.Sc after all. Here, we are talking about Master of Situations and Circumstances (M.Sc). With this qualification, God wants you to become a master of every situations and circumstances around you. When you are born of Him, He strengthens you because He is never tired or weary. (Isaiah 40:28-31). God already knew you would encounter difficulties that will make you feel like giving up. Let’s see what the book of II Corinthians 12:8-10 says. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. In like manner, He saw the red sea before the Children of Israel and knew they are capable of walking over it. You too can walk over every situation if you believe, and stop your lamentations.
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Olumide Olaniyan
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