Category: Uncategorized

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

Familiarisation and Contempt of God!

Malachi 1:6-7 “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty. “It is you priests who show contempt for my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’ “By offering defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ “By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible.” – NIV

Prophet Malachi was rebuking the unprecedented levels of dishonor that the people had shown to God. God used day to day examples of a son honouring the father and a servant honouring his master. But to God Almighty who deserved all the honour from His people, even the priests had led the way in disrespecting Him. And God asks, ‘Where is the honour due to me as your God and Master?’ This contempt of God manifested through defiling the altar with animals not worth for sacrifice; the blind and lame.

It has been said familiarisation breeds contempt. To familiarise someone is to take them unseriously, despise them, ignore them, disobey with ease and have no priority for them. This happens when God’s people seem to treat God like their equal, dont take His commands seriously, disobey and ignore Him, don’t tremble at His words and take His corrections, rebukes and warnings lightly. There is no reverent fear of God in their hearts any more. Like Samson, they engage in willful sin and think God will always be there for them despite their stubbornness! (Judges 16:20).

Even today, some of those who profess God’s name show utmost disrespect to His holy name without remorse! Some treat God like their servant whom they can just order around to do whatever they want Him to do! Even with full knowledge of God’s word, will and instruction, they easily disobey to defend and protect their egos and selfish interests. They steal, murder, hate, abuse and pull others down, use the altar to manipulate and destroy others, even while calling on the name of God! May God heal us from this! While there is opportunity, let’s repent and return to God!

Exodus 20:7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”

Jeremiah 5:22-23 Should you not fear me?” declares the Lord. “Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail;  they may roar, but they cannot cross it. But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away.”

Shalom children of God.

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

I know and have these things…

Revelation 3:15-17 “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” – NIV

They felt they had arrived. They told themselves that they were now rich and wealthy and didn’t need anything anymore. They lost their thirst and hunger after God and saw no need to seek Him. But in God’s eyes, they were wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked! Because of that, the church in Laodicea became detestably lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, to their Master who would best spit them out unless they repented of this attitude. They developed the attitude of the rich young fool in Jesus’ parable who thought material wealth was everything (Luke 12:18-21).

A clear sign that one is retrogressing rather than progress is to think they now know and have it all and despise or refuse to learn. They criticise others, seeing how he is better than them, and settle for what they already have and in the process, lose even the little they had got. Their pride blinds them to anything new God is doing, ideally cutting them off a living relationship with God. They dwell on, and boast about their past glory and achievements with no new experiences with God. Now blind!

How often the experienced, older, knowledgeable, famous fall into this trap! Escape comes from the realisation that no one knows everything alone. God is ever doing new and better things. We can never exhaust His vast treasures, however great revelations you have so far acquired. Acknowledging this in humility always keeps us at the feet of Jesus, going deeper as we learn from Him Who is meek and lowly in heart. It also gives the right attitude of love and respect, never despising others. May God help us!

Isaiah 43:18-19 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

Shalom children of God.

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

Back to the vomit!

2 Peter 2:20-22 “If people have escaped from the corrupting forces of the world through their knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and then are again caught and conquered by them, such people are in a worse state at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been much better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and then turn away from the sacred command that was given them. What happened to them shows that the proverbs are true: “A dog goes back to what it has vomited” and “A pig that has been washed goes back to roll in the mud.” – GNB

Being in Christ makes one escape the corruption of the world, all its evils and ways. But Peter addressed false teachers who had had known the Lord, but turned back from Him and were in a more dangerous state than they were before they came to Christ. They went back to their former ways as a dog goes back to its vomit or a washed pig going back to wallow in the mud.

As Jesus pointed out, whoever turns from God gets more demons than they had before, making their state worse than it was (Matt 12:43-45). All this is brought about by the decisions people make to continue in the Lord or not. God has made every provision for us to stand in the faith and not fall away regardless of the magnitude of the trials we face. To give in and be lured back into the world is a choice. God’s grace is sufficient to sustain even in most painful situations of life.

Choose to remain in the Lord and not go back to the detestable wicked ways of the world. Paul stated that nothing in all creation shall be able to separate us from the love of Christ(Rom 8:38-39). Should you fall victim, return to the Lord. He promised to forgive and heal our backsliding. He committed not to lose any who are in Him. He prayed and continues to interceed for us to stand. We can stand till the end.

Hebrews 10:38-39 “My righteous people, however, will believe and live; but if any of them turns back,  I will not be pleased with him.” We are not people who turn back and are lost. Instead, we have faith and are saved.”

Shalom children of God.

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

Romans 2:4-5 “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.” – NIV

Paul had in no uncertain terms expressed God’s anger towards those who deliberately reject and pervert the gospel, given themselves to gross evil despite being fully aware about the truth, and were judging others and yet practicing the same things. He let them know it was God’s unprecedented kindness, tolerance and patience which had sustained them before His judgement fell. God was patient, giving them time to repent and change their ways.

But they instead showed contempt for this grace of God by remaining sturbon and unrepentant. Certain judgement awaited them. When God seems quiet as men continue in evil, despise His kindness and patience, and doesn’t seem to react to their hardness of heart, it may be taken for weakness. But in His mercy and grace, God is instead giving people time to realise their fallennes, repent of their wicked ways and turn to Him.

May we not be tempted to take God’s patience, grace and kindness for granted and assume He has ignored our disobedience. Remember Samson! Let’s heed His loving correction and restoration as He brings us back to righteousness and holiness. When we stumble, allow Him raise us back to our feet. He is a gracious compassionate God, not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance and be saved.

Revelation 2:21-22 “I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways.”

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Shalom children of God.

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

Acts 17:30-31 “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” – NIV

Paul was in Athens. As he preached the good news, he brought to their attention a day God has set to judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed, Jesus Christ. He further noted that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the undeniable proof of this fact. Jesus Himself had earlier stated that the Father had entrusted all judgment to Him (John 5:22).

All mankind has sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and standard. Sin must be judged. But God in His great mercy and love, so loved the world of lost sinners, that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus, that whoever believes in Him will not perish. Jesus bore the punishment for our sin. The basis of God’s judgment for man, will primarily be on what we did with the Son He sent to save us; whether we accepted Him as Lord and Savior to reconcile as with God, or we rejected Him and continued in our wicked ways. The second line of judgment will be what we did for His glory, and so be rewarded accordingly.

The very Person softly and tenderly calling us to Himself now, is going to be the Judge later. Today He is the sweet gentle Savior. On the judgment throne, He will be the Lion of Judah, the Judge from Whom people will want to flee! While there is still time and opportunity to make peace with the Judge of the universe, do it now, by repentance from sin, believing in Him as Lord and Savior and serving Him. He is just a short prayer away. You can invite Jesus now into your life. Make prior peace with the Judge before it’s too late!

John 3:18 “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Shalom children of God.

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

Luke:19.41-44  “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace– but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” (NIV)

It was Jesus’ last visit to Jerusalem. He had been around for three years, doing all the great things He did to demonstrate He was the expected Messiah. But the majority of His own people didn’t recognise Him as the Messiah sent from God to save them. God was in their midst. He had visited them in His mercy, to save and reconcile them to Himself, but they failed to discern God’s visitation to them. Their leaders ourightly rejected Him and mobilised the people to do the same. This was despite the fact that they were waiting for His coming! As a result, judgment was the only alternative.

God visits individuals, families,  groups, communities or even whole nations of people in two ways. First, to show mercy, intervene and save His people. If they fail to recognise it over time, or take lightly, abuse and squander the opportunity of favour and mercy of God, He returns in visitation of judgement. And that’s dreadful! Various people are at different levels of the mercy – judgment trajectory. I pray each discerns where they fall and respond to God accordingly. And while there is still time to benefit from His great mercies and love in this dispensation of grace, please receive it.

Hebrews 2:2-4 “For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”

Shalom children of God.

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

Revelation 20:12-13,15 “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done…. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” – NIV

There is coming a day after this life, when we shall all appear before God’s judgement seat. Every human being who ever lived from creation to that time, and their different statuses, great and small alike, will be there. All the dead will rise up to face judgment, regardless of where they died – land or sea. None will miss, whether they believed in God or not. Life does not end on earth at the point of death.

We also note that there are books on which everyone’s life record of the things done in the present life is contained. Everything we do while here on earth;  why we  do it, how we do it, in secret or in the open, counts and is captured in the books except what was repented of and forgiven. To us, they may pass as simple insignificant episodes of life. But God takes it seriously. Those records form the basis of judgement on that day and we cannot deny them, because they will be a true reflection of our life’s journey on earth, whether to the glory of our Creator or not. 

Then the bible talks of a book of life. And whoever was not found in that book was cast into hell, the lake of fire. It should be everyone’s concern to seek to be included in that book. And this happens when we individually make conscious decisions to accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour. It’s only while in Jesus, the Mediator between man and God, and abiding in Him, that we have the blessed assurance of our names being in that book. Don’t wait until it’s too late! You can make that decision NOW by accepting Him as Lord and Savior.

Hebrews 4:13 “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

Shalom children of God.

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

1 Corinthians 9:25-27 “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” – NIV

Paul uses the example of athletes who undergo strict discipline in training to win the prize in a game. Such training restricts the body from some of its leisurely desires, things that make the body disciplined to a particular cause. Excelling and winning a prize is an outcome of alot of hard work for a long time behind the scenes. The public victory is only the climax. That’s true for spiritual success as well.

Relating this to spiritual disciplines, Paul states how he beats his body in order to win the prize for his service in the gospel. The body and its desires can be a source of downfall in ministry. So many have gone down the drain, fallen from the heights and eventually been disqualified for the prize because they could not resist the drives of the body. The uncontrolled lusts of the flesh, of the eyes, the quest for fame, coupled with the cares of this life, led them off track.

The Christian life requires self discipline in devotion. That is hard work. We have to learn to say no to bodily desires contrary to God’s will for us. We have to learn obedience, humility and living in holiness to God despite the evil around us. Those who will recieve the ‘weldone good and faithful servant’ reception must, of necessity, be overcomers. And overcomers are fighters, including disciplining their own bodies and bringing them under subjection lest they be disqualified for the prize.

Romans 8:13 “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”

Shalom children of God.

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

Luke 22:41-42 “He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”NIV

Well knowing the amount of pain and suffering that lay ahead of Him, and being human with feelings, Jesus was so overwhelmed emotionally. He had earlier expressed the weight of the burden to the disciples saying, “… My soul is overwhelmed  with sorrow to the point if death. Stay here and keep watch with me”(Matt 26:38). His disciples unfortunately failed. He was in such agony that He did not only sweat in prayer in that cold night, but His sweat even turned to drops of blood!(Luke 22:44). Such was the untold intensity!

One part of Him felt it was too much to bear that pain and wished it could be taken away. He even said He had power to call for more than 12 legions of angels to come to His rescue, but didn’t. Yet He knew the will of the Father was for Him to go through it to accomplish the purpose of saving man. So, Jesus surrendered His will to that of the Father — all for our salvation. He was faithful to His Father to death!

The accomplishment of our God given purpose in this life will many times require that we surrender our human will and take on God’s. It takes commitment, loyalty to do it. Jesus urged us to be faitful even to death, if we are to recieve the crown of life (Rev 2:10). He is telling us to do what He Himself did. This may not be easy on our own, but He supplies the grace to do it.
 
Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Shalom children of God.

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

John 16:13-15 “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.””_ – NIV Another key ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reveal what lies ahead and is yet to come. In the scripture above, Jesus connects what the Spirit will say to what the Father and the Son say. The Spirit hears and recieves from them and relays only that to the saints. Part of what He relays concerning the future. This is what makes Him the Spirit of prophecy. He has done this from the begining.Why does God reveal what is yet to come? Because He doesn’t want us to be taken unawares by what will happen. He wants us to know and prepare ourselves accordingly. Unfortunately, even after this, many ignore the word of the Lord. He also wants to glorify Himself as God Who knows the end from the begining. And that His purposes remain regardless of what Satan and his human and demonic cohorts do in attempt to overthrow Him. He is in control of the future.The Holy Spirit accomplishes this ministry through those He gifts with prophetic ministry. But extra caution needs to be taken to avoid the counterfeit prophecies Jesus warned us about. Some of what is given as prophecy from God is not from God, but divination coming in the name of God. Jesus said you will know them by their fruit (Matt 7:15-20). A true prophet from God will carry God’s character, seek entirely to glorify God and direct all glory to God as the Spirit does. But where attention, glory and worship is directed to the prophet more than God, and the prophet enjoys it, something has gone wrong! The Holy Spirit speaks only as directed, and gives all glory to God. So should the vessel of the prophet!_2 Peter 1:20-21 “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”_Shalom children of God.