THE SO CALLED MARRIAGE MINISTRY

An unmarried sister came to me with questions as to why she was not yet married and she showed a deep desire to get married. She had had this desire for sometime now but with no result and was planning to attend a program somewhere with the hope of getting a partner.

At first I was surprised and then sad that she had made her being single an issue that required a special kind of prayer session or attendance at a program out of her church to settle it.

Beloved the act of marriage is nothing spiritual at all, it is practically a fleshy desire and it does not need angelic appearance and instructions about which brother or sister to marry.

It is all about your wish and that of your partner brought before God in prayers for approval and blessings.

The choice to get married can come from your own desire or from peer pressure or from parental pressure. Not everyone will get married and also some who do not like marriages may get married whilst the ones who desire to get married may never do.

Any pastor can decide to call his or her ministry any name but I strongly believe that according to the Bible which is God word to us, the reason for our different callings is not FOR MIRACLES, PREGNANCIES OR MIRACLE MARRIAGES but as it is stated in Ephesians 4 verse 11 And he gave some (to be) apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ:
13 till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man or woman (parenthesis added), unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

Sincerely, I always inform the brethren who desire to get married to either see their pastor, or inform the deaconry of their church or the leaders in their fellowship and the proper procedures will be followed in the local church and not outside.

Let us consider whose children got married in the bible, it was not by their own choices but those of their parents or spiritual leaders. The issue arising from delays in settling down trust me is from personal desires and not a devil or demon.

Some just want a partner that has not yet be born or one who should come by special delivery to their door step (pointed nose, straight legs, fat or thin, tall dark and handsome, or endowned with all the right things and most times with a fat bank account).

Like my Pastor told us years ago as long as he or she is born again committed in a local church for years filled with the Holy Ghost, tongue talking with a positive outlook, then such a one is a qualified candidate for marriage.

I am carefull not to permit brethren to go around preachers who are not raising members/leaders in a denomination but trying to preach to members of grounded ministries, what they only succeed in doing is confusing the brethren with doctrines.

Ephesian 4 verse 14 that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error 15 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, (even) Christ; When we as Pastor use Christians fear and anxiousness to create doctrines and become crafty by using their impatient to now make ourselves their channel to receiving instead of putting Christ as their focus  Hebrews 12 verse 1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Beloved know this you are more than a conqueror, the greater one is in you trust the one that saved you and put all your faith in the spoken word of God.

Creating a new mind set: The Valentine Day Ritual

Creating a new mind set: The Valentine Day Ritual

The Valentine Day Ritual

VALENTINE day does not mean anything in our relationship with our heavenly father and also to our salvation as Christians, it is not in any scripture of the Bible and it is just a man made celebration that does not in any way glorify God.

I have told my children that it does not mean anything and also shown it to them from the Bible that we are children of LOVE for the scriptures states that God “IS” love. God does not just love He is the embodiment of LOVE and we do not show our love on certain days or to certain people we are children of LOVE. We are created in love by a God who is love and loves us and we also carry His very nature. 1 John 4 verse 8 – 16,   8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

9 Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.

10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son (to be) the propitiation for our sins.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

12 No man hath beheld God at any time: if we love one another, God abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us:

13 hereby we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father hath sent the Son (to be) the Saviour of the world.

15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God.

16 And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.

We love every day and we show it not by giving our bodies or hearts as the celebration connotes but by bringing the brotherly (Phillo) love to every one we come in contact with.

The origins of Saint Valentine’s Day lie shrouded in obscurity. Saint Valentine himself, a third century Roman martyr, seems to have nothing to do with the romantic traditions that became associated with his feast. Please read the following from a web site research

The tradition of Valentine's Day is believed to have originated from the pagan customs of the Third Century or Fourth Century B.C., when the Parentalia and Feralia Festivals of Purification were celebrated in Ancient Rome between February 13 and February 18. This was also the time of a Fertility Festival which celebrated a young man's rite of passage and involved animal sacrifices and fertility rituals. February 13, the opening day of the festivals, was dedicated to peace, love and household goods. February 14, the second day of Parentalia was called the Lupercalia...a day some sources believe was dedicated to Juno-Lupa, the She-Wolf. Priests known as luperci from two colleges (Quintillii and Fabii) would meet at the Cave of Lupercal in the Palatine Hill, where a she-wolf was said to have nursed Romulus and Remus, the twin founders of Rome. Vestal Virgins would offer holy salt cakes and the priests would sacrifice a dog and a goat, smearing the animal blood onto the foreheads of youths of noble birth who, clad only in a goatskin thong, later led a band of revelers known as the luperci in the performance of such antics as whipping fields of crops and bystanders with a goatskin strip (known as the februa). Women gently lashed in such a fashion were thought to become fertile...even those known to be barren. The act of such lashings or whippings was known as februatio...both this word and the word februa come from the Latin meaning "to purify." The naming of the month of February is believed to have originated from this meaning. February 15 (the Ides of February) was the second day of Lupercal and the third day of Parentalia...a day some sources believe was dedicated to Juno Februata or Juno the Fructifier, Roman Goddess of Women and Marriage. During the Luperci, the names of willing young women were placed into a box or urn and drawn by lot by every young, unmarried man. The youths and maidens who were thus matched would be considered partners during the course of the coming year, which began in March. Although such matches were generally for sexual gratification, it was not unusual for the pairings to eventaully culminate in marriage.

According to other sources, the tradition of Valentine's Day is derived from a time when hordes of ravenous wolves roamed the immense wilderness area outside Rome where shepherds (the city's earliest inhabitants) kept their flocks. The God Lupercus (from the Latin lupus meaning "wolf") was believed to watch over the herdsmen and their animals and keep them safe from the hungry predators. Every February, in this scenario, the Romans celebrated a feast (also known as Lupercalia) to honor Lupercus in order that no harm would come to the shepherds and their flocks. This celebration continued to be held long after wolves no longer presented a problem to the Roman countryside. Yet another theory on the ceremonial source of this day is that the festival was actually held to honor Faunus who, like the Greek God Pan, was a God of Herds and Crops. As is apparent, the true origin of this festival is so ancient, that even scholars of the Last Century B.C. were unable to officially determine its roots with any degree of certainty. However, there is no question about the importance of the ceremony. Records show that Mark Anthony was Master of the Luperci Colleges of Priests and chose the Lupercalia festival of the year 44 B.C. as the proper time for the offering of the crown to Julius Caesar.
With the advent of Christianity, priests attempted to replace such ancient heathen practices. In the Fifth Century A.D., the Church resolved to abolish this pagan celebration by creating its own holiday around the same date and selecting a saint who was remembered for his devotion to love. In A.D. 496, Pope Gelasius outlawed the Lupercian Festival, but cleverly retained the Juno Februata lottery. However, in order to lend the festivities Christian meaning and eliminate the pagan overtones, the drawing of saints' names were substituted for the names of unmarried girls. The names were placed into an urn or box and then young people (both male and female) drew a name from the container. During year which followed, the youths and maidens were supposed to emulate the life of the Saint whose name they had drawn. It took some time for this new tradition to garner popularity, but eventually more and more Romans relinquished the Lupercian ceremonies. Nonetheless, young Roman males, who had been hoping to meet potential mates during the time of the Festival, were not totally satisfied with now having a lottery of saints' names instead, and insituted their own custom of offering women whom they admired and wished to court handwritten greetings of affection on February 14. By the Fourteenth Century, the Church had reverted back to the use of of girls' names. During the Sixteenth Century, Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geveva, made another attempt was made to institute Saintly Valentines, but it proved equally (of not more) unsuccessful as the first and was certainly shorter-lived. Eventually, the Church looked for a suitable Patron Saint of Love to take the place of the heathen Lupercus. They found an appropriate choice in Saint Valentine.
During the medieval era of chivalry, the names of English maidens and bachelors were put into boxes and drawn out in pairs. Each couple exchanged gifts and the girl became the man's sweetheart for a year. He wore her name on his sleeve and was bound by duty to attend and protect her (the accepted origin of the phrase, "to wear one's heart on one's sleeve"). This old custom of drawing names was considered a good omen for love and often foretold a wedding. In 1537, King Henry VIII declared, by Royal Charter, that all England would celebrate February 14 as "Saint Valentine's Day" and with the passage of time, February 14 became the traditional date for exchanging love messages and simple gifts (such as flowers or candy), with Saint Valentine becoming the accepted Patron Saint of Lovers.  To read further go to the link below

http://www.novareinna.com/festive/valentine.html

Also Dr. Douce, in his Illustrations of Shakespeare, cited in The Book of Days, writes:

It was the practice in ancient Rome, during a great part of the month of February, to celebrate the Lupercalia, which were feasts in honour of Pan and Juno. whence the latter deity was named Februata, Februalis, and Februlla from where the month was named. On this occasion, amidst a variety of ceremonies, the names of young women were put into a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed. The pastors of the early Christian church, who, by every possible means, endeavored to eradicate the vestiges of pagan superstitions, and chiefly by some commutations of their forms, substituted, in the present instance, the names of particular saints instead of those of the women: and as the festival of the Lupercalia had commenced about the middle of February, they appear to have chosen St. Valentine’s Day for celebrating the new feast, because it occurred nearly at the same time. 

http://www.theholidayspot.com/valentine/history_of_valentine.htm

It is not surprising to note that Valentine day is observed by all and sundry, Moslem, Hindus, pagans and even Atheist observe it and it is not for any religious believe but for the carnal nature of it. Companies observe it even in the old manner as in the ancient times by having ballots where male staff pick female partners and buy gifts for them and it does not matter who you pick married or unmarried, some years back a male partner ensure he pick a colleague who he had been trying to start a relationship with and he succeeded during the Valentine day ballot before long he slept with the colleague who was married with 4 kids and destroyed that marriage. In schools this day teachers have children pick partners and then instructed to ask their parents to buy gifts (my children take that day off to study the bible at home as I do not want somebody to instill the wrong ideas into them).

Today I counted nothing less than 100 women young and old wearing white and red clothing’s and little children in some schools where seen in like clothing’s (Christians and non Christians). I can assure you that today many young girls will lose their virginity, men and women will cheat on their partners infact today just for giving cards, roses, ice creams, chocolates, candies, gifts of any nature there shall be sexual gains to it.

Somebody asked me a question so pastor what should I do today; I simply told her go out and tell someone about the greatest gift of all “The love of God” for all humanity. Save a soul today, save a family today, a child today. Bring hope to some one by telling and showing them the Love of God. Just be a blessing........   

Effective Evangelism and Soul wining

                                       Effective Evangelism/Soul Wining

If every born again Christians would lead just one soul to Christ each year the job of evangelizing the World would soon be finish and Jesus Christ would have returned by now.

It is important to be aware of the responsibility placed on every believer to win souls to Christ. After you got born again, God left you here to carry out this responsibility and be a partner in saving the world. He entrusted you with this great commission, Matt 28:19-20.19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

                                                        Evangelism

Evangelism is a great responsibility placed on leaders of most churches all over the world

To be evangelize successfully you must be trained and equipped to carryout this responsibility and be known as an EVANGELIST . Who is an Evangelist: A person authorized to proclaim the gospel of Christ. Literally, however, the word means, "one who proclaims good tidings" (Eph 4:11; 2 Tim 4:5).

The evangelist was a gift of God to the early church (Eph 4:11). These persons were not attached to any specific local church. They traveled over a wide geographical area, preaching to those to whom the Holy Spirit led them. The early disciples were also called evangelists (Acts 8:4) because they proclaimed the gospel.

All Christians today may continue the witness of the evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. As the evangelists spoke and wrote of Jesus, so may Christians bring His message to others.

As a church, all leaders are in the office of the EVANGELIST. You must become aware of your responsibility to the great commission. This why God saved you so that you would save others. Philip was one of the early evangelist, (Acts 8 : 26-39) He knew his PURPOSE and spent time to study and pray for souls and in such occasion he was lead by the Spirit to go and preach to the Ethiopian eunuch and completed with baptism. It is the responsibility of the leaders to set up times and days to evangelize and baptize many to Christ.

To be a leader in God’s house is a great honour and you must accept it with humility, because God has counted you faithful to lead others to Christ and you must take is seriously for your progress and success depends on it. As a leader your greatest tool in the world is your bible, a leader without a bible cannot be counted as one. Sell what you may and get a good study bible (Dakes).

As a leader what is your PURPOSE in the house of God. A leader without a purpose as to how to lead others or build others is worthless and as the scriptures declares in Rev 3:15-16, 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spit thee out of my mouth.

God put you here for a definite reason, do not be a drifter a leader without a purpose just thinking about yourself and living a selfish life most times thinking about your job, business, career or family. You are not working to earn a living; you are working to earn a giving. Your job or business is an avenue to bless others and be a helper and finance the gospel. Remember this the day you stop giving you start dying.

As a leader your number one priority in the house of God is to evangelize and inspire members to win souls to Christ continually.

                                                      SOUL WINING

Ephesians 4: 7-12

7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

9(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

From the above scripture you will note that it is not the Pastor, nor certain leaders that were called to do the work of the ministry, but every member of the Church, you as a church member have been called to God’s number job – SOUL WINING. Declares these words and mean it with your heart “I am a soul winner”. It takes a trully wise man to when a soul, Prov 11: 30, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise . You see according to God’s word when you begin to win soul you become a champion for life a wise person who understand the message of the kingdom. (Illustration here about d unprepared brother that went on soul wining)

In Luke : 15:1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

3 And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. Here Jesus our Lord and Master explains the importance of Soul wining, brothers and sisters are you aware that if you need a job, promotion, blessing, fruitfulness infact anything in life just keep wining souls and God will ensure that you are always on top. Its a fact, its something that I have been blessed through.

To be effective in Evangelism and soul wining you must take time out to prepare and plan. Never go out on evangelism or soul wining without taking time to pray I am not talking about a 5 mins prayer no it must be long and consistent.

Always go on soul wining with an extra bible and should you get that soul converted leave the bible behind, but it must be signed by you as a gift with the address of Church.

You must always go out well dress, do not fly your shirt, dress well and sisters must marries or single should dress according to the sphere of contact and if you are going to win the opposite sex go with either a brother or a sister. Be smart

Never go empty handed, take gifts along with you, tracts, sweets biscuit, on your first visit, after the first visit, ensure on your next visit inform the Soul wining and follow department in church the situation you experience on your first visit to determine how the next visitation will be.

Prepare your scriptures, Romans 3 :33, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, John 3: 16-17,

Confession Romans 10: 9-10

Finally, when you go out never criticizes any potential soul, preach the gospel (goodnews) not condemnation, be wise when one is in darkness he or she does not need more darkness but light. Finally ensure you keep records .....