THE MESSAGE NOW
Vol. 2, No. 2 – Monday, 9th January, 2017
(Dan.12:1-4, Eph.5:15-17, Mat.24, Is.58:1-2, Ezek.3:18-21)
THE PAINS OF CHRIST AND THE PASSIONATE AND INTENSE RACE AGAINST TIME
In the thick of my afflictions and almost endless battles years ago, I had this vision. Suddenly, I saw myself sitting down on a t-junction which leads directly to the centre of my alma mater back in the UK.
As I sat, I discovered vividly that waves of attacks were routing themselves up and charging towards my direction and indeed at me. In the revelation, I saw also that my spiritual father (the man who preached salvation to me) was sitting quietly to my left.
In response to the waves of attack, I threw something the size of a small boulder at them. I repeated the action but the waves kept coming at me. Each of the boulders I threw at them had different spiritual names ranging from fasting, prayer, etc.
Suddenly, my spiritual father who had been all the while sitting speechless, burst out softly. He said to me, ‘throw evangelism at them’. I remember that as soon as he spoke, a boulder by the name evangelism came into my hands. I threw it at them. The waves of attack immediately retreated from me and the vision ended.
Permit me dearly beloved to reiterate the fact that what you have just read is not a fable. It is a true account; it happened to me, not to another. At the time and even now, a number of starkling lessons are still discernable and derivable from this vision. The most important of all is the relevance and power of evangelism.
Christians! whatever our turn of attitude is in relation to evangelism, there is a basic and unchanging truth. This foremost truth is: There is no such rewarding service or spiritual weapon as potent as service to God through evangelism.
The Holy Scripture says in Matthew chapter 6 verse 33 that: ‘seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all other things shall be added unto you’. There is no denying the obvious; personal evangelism after genuine conversion is the fastest key to unlocking God’s richest riches.
Did you just read that? If this is the case, the question is why do Christians shy away from this heavenly-ordained and most rewarding service?
There is but only one reason why Christians so woefully fail God in carrying out evangelism. That one and only one reason is we think we are doing God a favour. The obvious truth is we are doing ourselves the favour for a number of reasons.
For one, by carrying out evangelism, we enroll ourselves in divine assignment which in turn gets divinity involved in ours compulsorily. The other reason is personal deliverance. Personal deliverance! How?! Here, the Lord wants to expouse a mystery to us.
There are about seven tools engaged in evangelism: (a) the speaker (who is the carrier of the word of God), (b) the tongue of the speaker, (c) the saliva from the tongue of the speaker, (d) the voice of the speaker, (e) the spoken word from within (rhema), (f) the written word (through tracts or Bible), and (g) the hearer of the word.
Basically, there are two mysteries subtly embedded here: the obvious and the hidden. The obvious mystery is that the word of God spoken at any time (be it during evangelism or not) is full of enormous and uncontestable power. The hidden mystery is that the uncontestable power flowing from the word of God instantly performs miracles to the two parties involved in evangelism i.e. the hearer and the speaker.
To the hearer, the word and its power ignites faith, conviction, penitence and resolve (see Rom.10:17, Acts 23:1-5, 2 Sam.12:7-13). To the speaker, the word and its power sanctifies, purifies more and more and of course carries out serious internal deliverance. Do I hear you say, How?
For every word spoken by man (whether positive or negative), there is an instant unseen but effective result within the spirit, the soul, the body and indeed, in the atmosphere outside of the man. Do I still hear you say, how? Here then is the deeper mystery.
The tongue of every man engaged in one conversation or the other performs three major activities. First is rotation. The tongue is constantly engaged in rotational movement during conversation for the purpose of ease of speech and understanding.
Second is subtle or salient discharge of saliva. Whether advertently or inadvertently, the tongue discharges saliva outwardly during conversation. The third function of the tongue is inward discharge of saliva.
This third function of the tongue has far reaching implications. Since every movement of the tongue during conversation deposits consequential saliva within and without, it means in part that for every word that a man speaks (positive or negative), a portion of it flows or bounces back into his internal system.
Hmmm! Dearly beloved, what word(s) are spoken by you? It further means that for every evil word expressed against others, there is a consequential damage of the same word on you. More painful is the fact that most of us don’t know how to remove or reverse such internally damaging words.
Tempered to evangelism terms, the implication of the spoken word during soul-winning exercise is that great deliverance is being wrought in our internal body, soul and spirit through the power in the word spoken by our tongue and conveyed into our inner being by our saliva (see Heb.10:22, Eph.5:26).
Have you ever thought of this mystery? Think of it and see the great good in evangelism, soul-winning and follow-up. Permit me to share my personal experience in evangelism to drive the point home.
By the grace of God which was (and yet is) well-invested by God in me, I gave myself over to evangelism throughout my years in the UK. On one occasion, I returned from evangelism in very cold winter. As I approached my Ph.D office, I heard the Lord say to me: ‘you have done my will. I will do your work’.
Dearly beloved, when the Lord began to fulfill this promise, it was unbelievable. My Ph.D thesis over which I struggled so much at the start was completed within eleven months. Did you see that clearly? I mean, I completed the writing of my Ph.D thesis within 11 (eleven) months.
Ah! what miracle can God not perform, especially when you serve Him through evangelism. Hear what my spiritual daughter in London told me this week that she heard from the transnational prophet and one of God’s generals of our time, Baba, Enoch Adejaire Adeboye. According to her, Baba said during the yearly-God-ordained prophecy on the eve of 2017 that ‘those who are given to evangelism this year shall enjoy the fruits of prophecy i.e. when they prophesy any good thing this year, it shall come to pass’.
Wow! Isn’t that marvelous? Dearly beloved, are you interested in the blessings that evangelism gives? Do you want to win in the battles of life? Do you want to have your crowns filled with many stars when you get to glory? Do you have an internal infirmity of any kind? Are you trusting the Lord for financial and material blessings this year?
Then, evangelism carried out with the genuine love of God in the soul is the key to accessing the blessings of God. Make it a daily routine. No tract is too expensive. No one soul is too much to speak to per day.
That word spoken being ‘instant in season’ of evangelism washes your soul and spirit within. That same word has the power to heal your body of any infirmities within and without.
Finally, dearly beloved, irrespective of the Degrees and material wealth that you have and will acquire, you will never be fulfilled in life and in glory as a Christian without partaking in evangelism. Witness Christ, His love, power, suffering, death, resurrection and return again to at least a soul today and daily. Your soul and life will be transformed.
The clarion call for evangelism is a passionate one. It is intense; and any Christian who feels the pains of Christ knows that it is a race against time. The blunt truth is: in the battle for soul-winning, Christ is not on the winning side because of the failure of you and I.
Satan is by far with the winning strick. More souls are heading in the direction of hell. More converts are now being made for Satan more than ever before. Can you guess the population of pastors who are genuinely born-again in Nigeria? You will be gottedly shocked at the number.
We are too late already in carrying out our Lord and Master’s heart-beat assignment. Unfortunately, Satan and his cohort have so swiftly gone too far already. Or are you doubting this?
If you are in doubt, just think of the latest satanic waves dressed in political garment by the name of Financial Regulations’ Council. Is this not a political Boko Haram? Indirectly, it is now Federal Government in the driving seat of who sits as church leader in Nigeria, no longer god or even at God’s own time.
You doubt it or not, the authority of the church is being eroded (taken away) already by unbelievers. What do you still say?! Still in doubt?! Therefore, individually and collectively, let us arise and ‘throw out the lifeline (because) someone is drifting away’.
Hymn: Throw Out The Lifeline
Pray now:
Pray as you are led on the message today.
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O God, anoint me with special grace to market you daily.
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O God, deliver me from every unseen enemy preventing me from evangelizing you.
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O God, in 2017, the words of my mouth shall matter in great places.
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O God, throughout this year, help me to think less of myself but more of you, your love, your suffering and your power.
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I just heard the Spirit of God say to me: ‘anger’. So, dearly beloved, I urge you to change the motion of your prayer to a violent one now: say, Father, by the strength with which you are known to be God, empty me of all anger.
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I decree, the enemy within and the enemy without shall not inherit our good portion this year, in Jesus name, Amen.
Pastor Mike
