What makes a people great? Pt. 2

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Deuteronomy 6: 5 & 12 KJV

What makes a people great? How are you going to make sure you are great in your own right and sustain it? How are you going to make sure that your children are great and live a life of greatness?

What makes it possible for a man to boast about 6 million people? What makes USA, United Kingdom, Singapore great? A lot of this nations were not great initially but over time they have achieved greatness.

1.     A united people with a common vision, one voice and a common goal

2.     A people must agree on their understanding and their basis for religious service. An agreement to believe in a common deity. USA – in God we trust; Singapore – no deity; Israel – Jehovah; United Kingdom – Christianity; these nations were built upon one common agreement in religious service.

3.     A nation that is going to be great must be teachable, educated and knowledgeable; its people must be exposed to the knowledge to be great

4.     A great people with a great heart that think beyond themselves; who care for other people, who love their neighbor more than themselves.

5.     A great nation is made up of people with a willingness to work hard to use to the best of our abilities the favours and gifts we have been endowed with by God.

Nigeria was a nation designed to fail. The leaders where given a plan that would not work. But Nigeria can be great! Coming together to one people and the nation is greater than the people living in Nigeria.

A great nation is built upon a common goal. The great countries, china, United Kingdom, United States of America, Singapore are nations that have a common voice; one that is greater as a unit than the people.

There is no feeling of nationality, togetherness and living as one in Nigeria. We still think as individual tribes, language, culture instead of as a nation. Moses said, “Hear o Israel”; In Israel it was the nation first before the tribes.

Unless we can get rid of those things that separate us, we will continue to be ruled by the leaders that will keep separating us.

This is why Moses said, “Hear O Israel”. God spoke to one man – Abraham in Genesis 12 verse 1. God spoke to him and said, I will make of thee a great nation.

Everywhere we have great nations, its people have agreed to have one believe and to be united in their belief. What are you going to leave behind to make sure your children are enlightened? 

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14: 34 (NKJV). If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear. 2 Chronicles 7: 14 (KJV).

Lands cannot be healed and in peace if we do not agree on a common goal. This is why the bible says to not be unequally yoked.

A nation that will be great must be made up of people who have skills that are relevant, people who are informed and intellectually empowered to start their own business or are employable. A nation that will be great will have an enabling environment that provides it citizens a platform to thrive.

What makes a people great? Pt. 1

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Deuteronomy 6: 5 & 12 KJV

Text: Deuteronomy 6: 4 – 12

What makes a nation great? What makes a people great? What makes a nation great again? A lot of us will look at me and say, What is my own concern with the nation? But the truth of the matter is that if you don’t sort out the nation you will find it out to sort out yourself. The second is that you yourself are a nation and are not independent or separate from the people in your nation.

Recently I visited my home town – Oke Igbo here in Nigeria. As I drove through the town to visit the traditional leaders, I was surprised to see how much the town had grown over the years. Yesterday on my visit to my hometown, I began to ruminate on the thoughts “what makes a people/nation great?”

Deuteronomy 6: 4 says Nationalism starts from the heart. This words which I have shown you or said to you; you shall put it in your heart; teach it to your children; talk of them when you walk, sit down and lie down. Every single time in your life you shall talk of them as a nation, you shall think as a nation. You will fear God and serve Him.

What makes a nation great? A lot of disgruntled people in Nigeria especially due to the lack of infrastructure, amenities blame the lack of greatness to a deficiency in the leadership. However, what makes a nation great is the collective effort of the people. Moses spoke to the people of Israel and not a selected few about what will make the nation great. One of the challenges of Nigeria today is that we have not been able to speak to ourselves and agree on what makes Nigeria great.

A lot of us do not go back to the beginning to see what has resulted in bringing about the tension that exists in Nigeria. Before the year 1914 there was nothing like Nigeria, what you have was a collection of different states and establishment and they were all great people in their rights.

Even till today when you go to an Israeli house you will find inscription on their door post. When you see them you see them doing those things Moses commanded them over thousands of years ago.

We keep fighting and arguing and bothering ourselves that Nigeria is not doing well. We keep talking and talking and many at times we blame our leaders. But a man cannot give what he does not have.

What truth do you accept and speak? Part 2

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. John 1: 1-5 KJV

I was talking about dichotomy between generations. The enemy tells the old ones that the young man doesn’t have experience while it tells the young man that the old man is too rigid and stuck in his ways.

In the book of Acts of the Apostles chapter 5 from verse 1 to 11 we read the truth of a couple Ananias and his wife Saphira and the lies the enemy told to them. In verse 6 it says, “And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him”. 

When the wife came in and lied, Peter says the people that bore your husband are by the door. What does that say, the young men where no longer seen as young by the second time, they were people ready and willing to take responsibility. Therefore, when truth abides there is synergy between generations. When truth abides there is empathy. The church is the ground and pillar of truth. Yes, truth has different expression and all those expressions has to be played by the leaders, one of those expression is love.

1 Timothy 5: 17, Apostle Paul says that men who labour in word and doctrine should be given double honour. We must honour our leaders in our very own little way. In our closet we must honour the people leading us. Do we speak with honour about our leaders, do we pray for them?

A lot of people find it easy to speak against and dishonour a leader who is above a lot of people but cannot lead their own family of 3 individuals. The man who is leading over a thousand people needs your love, honour and respect. Our leaders are not our enemies, we are all children of God. It doesn’t matter what we know about each other it is what God sees in us. We need to learn to love ourselves by seeing each other from the lenses of the truth. The enemy is the lie, the enemy who is a liar is a person who is the father of lies. The devil invented lies and sin. So, everyone who does a lie is a servant of the one who created lies and sin.

Can people point and say I know this lady is a Christian she will tell the truth no matter what. I like us to take the inventory of our own lives. Are we living the truth that we know? We may not have the full revelation of the truth. Do we spend our time to know the truth so we can communicate it?

 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. John 14:23; Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; John 8:31. (KJV)

Truth is the very content that the word (Christ Jesus) communicates. Do we communicate the truth? Do we listen to the word that the truth is communicating to us? Do we practice the truth? It is the truth that we know and practice that we reciprocate. Truth will only come to the degree that we obey the last word.

We need to ask God to help us to subscribe to the truth of God and not the truth that the enemy wants us to believe.

What truth do you accept and speak?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. John 1: 1-5 KJV

In the old testament the enemy was shrouded in mystery because of the revelational situation that was in existence at the time, God was hidden from the people and showed Himself only to a select few. Man was easily deceived in the old testament because they didn’t have the full understanding of the deceiver. Eve and Adam (the first man) were easily deceived and so many others in the old testament because they didn’t know who the enemy was. The devil found it easy paint them a different truth because of the distance between man and God.

Then, God sent His only begotten son, Jesus the Christ. The bible declared Him in John 1: 1-5 telling us who the true word of God made flesh is, it also declared to us the goal of the word. Because the word came truth was manifested. This means the enemy who was shrouded in mystery can now be unveiled. One of the ways the enemy perpetuates his ministry successfully is through lies. People are kept in darkness (lies) so deep that it is hard for them to see the light.

Isaiah 5: 13 says, Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. What is knowledge that the word speaks of here? Knowledge is light and for us to be free of the enemy, we need to have light.

One of the things the enemy has done is to bring about a dichotomy between generations. The old man and the young man have a variance of understanding which divides them. In Genesis, God created a perfect earth, but the enemy came and caused man to fall. This gave the enemy authority, the power to train a system according to his own personality of lies and definition of truth.

The first time you see man fall, the bible yells us he was ashamed. In God there is no shame, for where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. Liberty means knowing the truth and being responsible, owning our actions and striving to live in the light of the truth. This is why the word says we shall know the truth and the truth shall make us free. Make, here talks of an action, this is a system of making. So, if we must overcome the lies of the enemy there must be the manifestation of truth and truth is not just a body of facts. What the devil has done is that he has built a system where he has taught men to define things by his own definition, so the truth in this world is relative.

A man is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law but when he goes to the court the truth does not hold water outside of a professional representation. The truth becomes what your lawyer can present before the court or jury, it is a representation of how versed or eloquent your lawyer is. So, your truth does not even count in the court of law. That is what the enemy has done, he has eroded the truth.

John says “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14: 5 (KJV). The truth is a personality and that is why we have come to church to learn of the truth. John 8:34  Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. Sin is a property of a “person”, the angel who was sent away from heaven, the father of sin. It the nature of the devil just as truth is the nature of Christ.

1 Timothy 3:16, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory”. (KJV)

Outside the ambit and the circumference of the church the truth cannot be found. If the church refuses to seek the personality of truth (which is Christ) then the world shall remain in darkness. The bible says, “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: Isaiah 60: 2 (KJV)”. This is the nature of the darkness that man manifests. But in Ephesians 4:17-25, we are asked to not walk in darkness and the deceits of the enemy, but to walk in the light and truth that is Christ. We need to learn truth to enjoy true freedom, true liberty.

What makes a nation strong? pt 2

Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.  Genesis 12:1-5 KJV

Most of the best things that happen in the world today was made by a Jew; technology, medicine, weapon, agriculture and lots more is a result of the involvement of the people of Israel.

Sometimes it takes a little bit of craziness to do the things of God.
Why are we celebrating Israel today? They are indeed a very strong nation. It is the only country that has the same name, located in the same land and speak the same language they spoke in the past. 22 percent of Nobel Prize winners are Jews. Approximately 1000 letters arrive in Jerusalem every year all addressed to God. Everything in the world revolves around this small peninsular called Israel.

What makes a nation strong? What makes a people strong? What makes it possible for you to overcome your enemies? What makes you strong enough to rise above the challenges of life? What the things the Jews have that has made them so strong?

1. The bible says when you are chosen by God you shall be strong Jeremaiah 1: 4
2. When you know God, believe His word, trust Him and follow him to the letter you become great and strong. Daniel 11:32; Galatians 3:6, 2 Chronicles 20:20, Joshua 1:8
3. If you trust God you shall be strong and succeed Proverbs 3:5, Daniel 11: 32
4. If you hold fast unto the Lord not letting go, you shall be strong.

Therefore, as a nation and as a people we can also be strong and great if we follow the example that God through his people has lid down for us. They are simple and easy and we need is to forget and let go of every other thing we think and focus on God alone. Hear God, believe Him, have faith in Him, trust Him and follow him completely and blindly.

Just like Abraham did when he was told to leave the familiar and the place and people he loved. It takes great insight and strength to leave the known for the unknown. Whatever we are passing through now it is up to us to make the choice of whether we want to remain where we are or we want to move forward into that person and nation that God had created us to be. A great people and a great nation that is blessing to other and a person that the whole world wants to bless and be affiliated with.

What makes a nation strong?

Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.  Genesis 12:1-5 KJV

God had a conversation with a pagan who lived in the land of Ur of the Chaldeans. What God told him was to go the way that He would show him, a place that only God knew, that He (God) would lead him to a strange land he knew not but which would be given to his sons for an heritage. Every promise that God made to Abraham has all being fulfilled. Not only is Israel great, even Ishmael and his generations are great.

The Lord said to Abraham Gen 12:1 - Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee. 

He was 75 years when he departed to the land God would show him; 70 being a year of perfection and 5 the years of grace. The people of Israel has been the most conquered place in the world. Their home had being the site of the greatest battles in the world.

Why does the world and we in particular celebrate Israel?

1. Everyone of us takes our spiritual root from this same Israel
2. We are the spiritual Israel
3. It is fulfillment of prophesy. The bible tells us that the end shall come and the nation of Israel coming back together is the 4th sign of the end time
4. Israel is our example of breaking free and breaking through into victory, freedom and perfect liberty. 
5. The land and people show us that if we stay with God we can rise above anything and everything

To be a realistic person you must believe in miracles. The people of Israel are examples of God’s miracles. In spite of being scattered all over the world, they never lost their heritage and what they stood for as a nation. They were able to recreate themselves and become great again.

The choice of greatness and strength is yours and yours alone. No one can make it for you and if people had their way they would prefer you remain where you are today so they can continue to overpower you. You can also become a force to be reckoned with today by doing what Abraham did; have faith and trust in God that He would take your to the place He promised.