Today, I conclude the messages I delivered last month during the retreat of the Scripture Union, Lagos Region at Ijede, It is on, “Take heed to thy Ministry”. Please, read on:
One day, during our meeting in my farm, our Oga, my Manager, was echoing in excitement, what I was saying, until I said that his employment would end that day. And it did! Our relationship had been very cordial until we became age mates. He started to take my words for granted, a man I trusted, with the privilege of dispensing huge sums of money for the work. That day, all crumbled like cookies. May it not be our portion with God! May we not be too familiar with Him, to be taking Him for granted! That could be the reason the Holy Spirit is telling us, “Take heed to thy ministry”
As the journey of God’s people from Egypt to the Promised Land continued, pointing to Canaan, God said to Moses, “This is Canaan, the Promised Land, the place you have been toiling to reach for the past forty years. This is that land I promised Abraham and his seed. I have allowed you to see it but you will not enter there.” [Deut 34:4]. May you never hear such a death sentence, even in the dream! May God never tell us: “This is Heaven, you desire, and have been praying and fasting for, but you will not enter there”.
Imagine, the members of the Regional Exco doing dry fasting for three days. That morning it will be broken, the air is filled with the aroma of the goat-meat pepper soup and food, being prepared for the members. The food is served, prayers offered and when you want to eat, someone removes your plate, muttering that you are not to eat! That was Uncle Moses’ experience, looking at Canaan he had toiled for, but was denied access! May it not happen to your worst enemy!
Moses, not entering Canaan! My God! For sure, there will be surprises in Heaven. We will see some people we had written off because of their sinful lifestyle, but unknown to us, they had given their lives to Jesus on their deathbeds. That will be good news. There will be also, some brethren, we were too sure that they would make it, but who will not!
Why did our God, Who has ever been known to be the God of Mercy, not have mercy on Moses? Why did He not forgive him? Well, during an examination, will the loveliest and kindest Christian invigilators, help some students to answer questions, even where a student is an orphan? There is time for everything, time to teach and time to conduct examinations. And also, there is time to take God for granted and time, when He can stop one from entering Heaven. A good coin has two sides, the head and the tail. And so, is our God. He is the God of love and also, a consuming fire! [Heb 12:29]. That was why Apostle Paul, in Rom 11:22, pointed out the ‘Goodness and severity of God’. To avoid His severity, Paul told Rev. Archippus, “Take heed to thy ministry” [Col. 4:27]. He is giving us the same message. Had Moses done so, he would have entered the Promised Land.
God forgives sin, if the individual dealt with it before the expiring time. God had been very patient with Moses and his people. Now, they were at the end of their journey. Thank God that it was not that of life. Moses made Heaven but not Canaan. Our God is a God of justice, and will fulfill His Word, not minding persons. To do otherwise is to be unjust.
Samson, as I have been reminding us since Friday, was made holy from the womb. As a Nazarite from birth, he was not to cut his hair, drink alcohol, and touch a dead body. He was distracted by women, and was defiled the day he touched the carcass of the lion he had killed, when getting honey from it. He did not confess it to his parents and did not go to the priest for purification. God was patient with him all through. It was a great tragedy the day he thought that God would still use him for the miraculous, not knowing that His Spirit had left him. Our lesson is, “Take heed to thy Ministry”.
Satan fights hard to hinder us from entering Heaven. This explains why ministration today about the Rapture is a forgotten message! It is unfortunate that today, some people, including our celebrated Pastors, in various Churches, preach what will excite their members, but not about the Rapture. Jesus preached it. Peter did. Paul did. In fact, all the Apostles did and we followed them, and then stopped. The implication is that many Christians are left to live in the manner that pleases them and at the end, they will not make Heaven.
The Lord Jesus narrated, how Lazarus, a beggar, made Heaven but a rich man, he was living near his palace, did not. On earth, that VIP, whose name was not important in Heaven to be mentioned, had no time for God. In hell he lifted up his eyes and saw Lazarus, no longer poor, but enjoying himself with Daddy Abraham. His plea for Lazarus to bring him a drop of pure water was rejected and so was his plea for missionaries from Heaven to be sent to his hard-hearted brothers. Prayers are not answered there! Do not take God for granted. A Whiteman came to minister in a programme in one of our States, and when someone went to the hotel to collect him, he met him soaked in alcohol! May God help you, if you tell him or his likes, to define holiness for you!
“What did Moses do that made God to refuse him to enter Canaan?” – Anger! In Num. 20:8-11, God told him to speak to the rock before all Israel, for water to come out. He did it in his own way, in anger! Some believers justify their anger, detailing how it runs in their family or the gravity of the offence done to them. Water still came out, since, “The gift and calling of God are without repentance” [Rom. 11:29]. He also cursed God’s people, calling them, ‘Rebels’. Some Christians, in anger, call people, ‘Idiot’, even their children. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” [Prov. 18:21]. What you call yourself or even your children shall be so.
God does not rationalize sin. “There shall in no wise enter into it [Heaven] anything that is defiled, works abomination or makes a lie” [Rev. 21:27]. Robbers, liars and indeed, all sinners, will inhabit hell. Without holiness nobody will enter Heaven. This is why we should take heed to our Ministry.
How do you handle the things God has given you to do? Where are the new converts you are given to follow up? “As thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone,” was the excuse someone gave for negligence. The penalty was, “Life for life” [1Kgs 20:40]. May we take heed to our personal life, that of our family members and how we make our money!
For further comment, Please contact: Osondu Anyalechi: 0802 3002-471; [email protected]