What decisions are you making?

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Colossians 3: 1-2

There is a system failure in Nigeria. We have challenges that are open opportunities that we can all leverage on around us. We need to pray for the leadership that they know where they are taking us. If you are a leader yourself, raise yourself up so that you would know where you are going.

Very quickly this morning I want us to look at 4 things and 4 critical decisions that we must take as a people. In Colossians 3, Paul writing to a confused world said if you are living in Christ, we are to set our affections on things above not on things in the world. Then he says we are to mortify your flesh which dwells with things on the earth. What are those things you should mortify? Covetousness, inordinate affection, fornication which is idolatry. Idolatry these days in not only those who worship idols, it is the people who fornicate do evil concupiscence and covet what belongs to their fellow man.

God is angry because He does not tolerate any kind of unrighteousness. He says we must put off the old man and put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge through the Christ that lives in us. Today ladies and gentlemen e live in a confused world. I stumbled on the American election campaign and the topical issue is what they were going to do with the LGBTQ community. They were asking the candidates how they would treat the people in this community. They asking about the people who are confused about their sexual affection an act which the bible called idolatry.
Now in the USA if you go to the hospital and you say your hand is bad and they should cut it off they say no hold on let’s see what we can do before we cut it off. If you take a child to the hospital who says she thinks she is a boy and doesn’t want the breast, they will cut it off immediately. Somebody was saying that they had a boy who says he thinks he thinks he is a girl. When they researched this boy and began to find out what he thinks he is a boy. They found out that they boy used to have a sister who had issues at child birth, the boy thought that if he is a girl his parents would love him more.

The whole world is upside down. There are some things that the world leaders need to decide on. In Nigeria and in individual lives there are some 4 things we need to make up our mind about. Today it is all about self, personal interest, selfishness, focus only on what benefits us alone as a human being. This is what is happening with our leadership, they are focused only on what is beneficial to them alone as a person.

For the first time in my life I was afraid to return to my home town because of what would happen. Few weeks ago, a friend of mine arrived in Benin and within minutes of arrival she had being captured and kidnapped. She was starved and deprived of water for 15 days.

The challenge we face in Nigeria today is where the common man has no hope. Nigerians as well as people all over the world are being victimized and terrorized because they are Christians. In the northern part of Nigeria and some other parts of the world people are imprisoned or killed if they convert to Christianity.

We need to decide 4 things in Nigeria

1. We need to make up our mind whether God exists or not. Jeremiah 10:23
2. The world needs to decide whether they are going to serve this God or not. Jeremiah 10: 20-22. The Lord is not doing what the church should do. Pastors have become selfish, self-centered and not teaching the people the way of the Lord. Some pastors have private jets that even their ministers cannot enter their jet.
3. The world needs to decide what their vision for their nations are; what do you want God to do for your nation, the church needs to decide what its vision for the nation is, you need to decide what God’s vision for your life is. We go around our lives not remembering that there is a God, God has a plan, God has a vision for nations and a vision for your life. We use God as a demand responding God and yardstick to meet our demands without giving Him the respect that He deserves. Where there is no respect of God there can be no rule of law and no direction for life. 
4. We need to decide what we will leave behind and what we will be remembered for. Nigerians need to decide what they are going to leave behind and people and the world will remember them for. 

As a people we must come together and fight the common enemy. We need to decide what we are going to become, and you need to decide in your own life what you are going to become.
If you have read these words today and you are undecided about where your life is heading, decide today and allow Christ to help you walk in the purpose that God has created you to accomplish.

Are you doing your part?

39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. 43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44 Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. 

Whatsoever you can do and should do, God will not do it. God will do that which He alone can do and you as a person must do that which you should be able to do (for yourself and for others around you). For this reason God created man in His image after His likeness and gave man the ability to create, reason, invent, decide, and chose.

For example when Christ went to raise Lazarus from the dead, He told them to roll away the stone before He raised Lazarus from the dead by calling out to him that he come out. Afterwards He told them to remove his covering. The miracle did not occur until the people had done their part.  Jesus said, Take ye away the stone…. Loose him, and let him go. John 11: 39, 44 KJV

We must understand this concept and know what our role is and God’s role is. It is important for us to know that we have a part to play in the whole scheme of our own success.

What are some of the stones we must remove from our life?

1. Unbelief
2. Prayerlessness
3. Sin
4. Anger
5. Unforgiveness
6. Pride (God resists the proud)

These are stones that blocks the power of miracles and breakthrough in our lives.

We must be persistent - employ shameless persistence - to get to that place where we want to be in our life. Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. Like 18: 5 KJV. Doing this without destroying our values. We must be ready to keep on asking for what we want until we get it in humility and patience.

What is the return on Christ's Investment?

These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:

6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.  Matthew 10: 5-8 KJV

God is waiting to influence every sector of the economy and communities using you and I as a vessel to reach out to the people. The return on God's investment is to spread the gospel and as we do this everything that we lay our hands upon to do will prosper. God is set to use us as the performance measure needed to evaluate the efficiency of His investment in the life of man which He gave to us through His son Jesus Christ. How is he going to use us? He will be doing this through our adherence to his word "to go out and preach the good news". Hence, he would hold us accountable on that last day and even right from here on earth.

God is asking us today to examine our ways. We are to begin from where we are; a person at a time and to share the love of Christ and God's investment into buying the freedom of man from the clutches of sin and death.

Christ said this to his disciples and he is saying it to you today too; "And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?" Luke 12:42. If you keep quiet when you are meant to talk; we are in a dangerous zone. We must be faithful and wise to be able to lead people. We lead them to Christ through the Holy Spirit who actually does the work of the leading using us as a vessel.

We must not be caught unawares when the time of the Lord's coming arrives. We will all give account on Christ's investment upon our lives. There is no room for excuses because we would not be doing the work of God by our own power.  All the work of God we are doing is done by the power of God that works in us. God has an accountability structure.

Evangelism is an intentional decision made by every believer to speak of the goodness of God and what God has done to man and us as individuals. "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8 KJV
When the power of God comes into our lives we are to be a witness and tell people about the kingdom of God; we are to witness so that our friends and people around us who live in the kingdom of men and the kingdom of the devil can be aware of God's kingdom and be renewed into it.

God is love and because of this he wants us to exemplify this love by showing God to all through the sacrifice God made through Christ Jesus. For God to get a return on this investment we as Christians must ensure that the flow and sacrifice of Christ's blood yields a profit. God is expecting us to share the good news everywhere we go, first in our immediate environment, and people we meet along the way through our journey of life; about Christ and the investment that God has made for man.

To get this job done, the spirit of the lord is available for us. "And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;" Isaiah 11:2 KJV. As we are here God expects us to arise; and as we go about our daily living, God is expecting us to speak to people about the goodness of God. We are to be involved in the lives of the people in our lives and we are to not only speak to them but we are also to pray for them. How often do we pray for the people around us? How often do we pray for people we do not know; praying for the people who are not a member of our family?

God is still on the throne and no one can limit him. He has called and he is waiting for you. If you are ready to be accountable we must live the lifestyle of a person that has been bought at a price. Our behaviour must be Christ-like. As you go, tell people about Christ; Jesus Christ is your identity. Evangelism is not meeting a person and inviting them to your church. When the Spirit of God leads us to a child of his we are to follow the 8 - I's that ensures that each soul God leads you to is won over for Christ.

1. Interest ( show interest in the person you are speaking to)
2. Inquire about the person
3. Intercede for the person God has directed you to
4. Insight concerning the life you are speaking to
5. Instruction to engage the soul 
6. Illumination of the life of person
7. Introduce them to Jesus first and foremost and not your church
8. Invite them to your church

Evangelism must be a way of life for you. Winning souls to the kingdom of God is the Return-on-Christ's-Investment upon the life of man. As a worker in God's vineyard we must ensure that we are part of this work to yield a bountiful return.