joshua
says: If you love the master, willfully let your life show it and please Him
*To reach Cameroun, Sierra Leone with the gospel
*Solicits for investments for African Invasion projects
Success Nwogu
The Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission, Bishop Mike Okonkwo, on Sunday, said though the pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical measures adopted by government agencies, regulatory bodies, and health institutions and authorities, were noted, God’s intervention and mercies saved Nigeria from having a high rate of fatalities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic..
He noted that the nation’s health infrastructure was inadequate to effectively contain and address the pandemic but that God showed mercy on Nigerians.
He spoke while delivering his sermon at TREM International Headquarters, Anthony-Oke, Gbagada, Lagos.
He also said that some people had said that corpses will litter Africa as a result of COVID-19 scourge since the health infrastructure in Africa is not appreciable.
He said, “Already predictions were all over the world that they will be carrying dead bodies on the streets of Africa but God intervened and helped us.” “What a God we serve!” I am in touch with our friends in different parts of the continent, the testimonies are the same that is only God that has kept them. We give God all the praise. We believe God that the bad days are over.” The Bibles says, “Wisdom is the principal thing. In all you getting, get wisdom. We believe in supernatural healing. We believe in the supernatural intervention of God. It is there in the scriptures. God is the ultimate healer. God is the ultimate deliverer. But we do not disregard the place of medical science. It is foolishness, when your faith is not built up in the word to the level it should be to receive a miracle, then you reject medical interventions. It is foolishness. There were many miracles that were wrought by God through Jesus Christ. People who were sick were healed. His shadow healed them. There were diverse miracles. But even at that, there was a medical doctor that was in his team. Dr. Luke was among his team. Luke was a medical doctor. You may ask: what is a medical doctor doing in an atmosphere where miracles prevailed? People are destroyed for lack of knowledge. You do not discard medical interventions, where it is necessary, you take advantage of it. God wants us to be well. After the knowledge and wisdom, medical practitioners have, who gave them to them? God.
Also, remember the importance of remembering us in prayers as we go to Cameroun for ‘African Invasion.’ Your prayers are very important. Prayers can never be enough. We do not take prayers for granted in such an issue. So please in your different devotions and prayers, try to remember us in prayers.
We also keep on soliciting your support. The next place we will be going is Sierra Leone. We have always been engaged in raising leaders in different African nations. Thank you to those of you who are supporting us. We also solicit more. We will very much appreciate it.
Preaching on the topic: ‘I love my master,’ the bishop urged Christians to show their love for God by being godly in their conduct. He admonished them to eschew worldliness and sin, adding that they should serve God not as a compulsion but willfully.
He stated that anybody who loves God will display it through exemplary conduct, adding that christians’ love for God should be total.
The cleric stated that Christians should not serve God, give offerings, and tithe out of fear but out of genuine love for God and as a willful lifestyle.
Some of the Bible passages he quoted included:
Exodus 21:5-12
5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:
6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul, and he shall serve him forever.
7 And if a man sells his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.
8 If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.
9 And if he has betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.
10 If he takes him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
11 And if he does not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Revelation 3:8-10
8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
John 6:48-61
48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
52 The Jews, therefore, quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”
53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is [a]food indeed, and My blood is [b]drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a [c]hard saying; who can understand it?”
61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples [d]complained about this, He said to them, “Does this [e]offend you?
Okonkwo said, “Let everything you do for God be a worship. Your giving should be a worship, your offering should be a worship, your tithing should be a worship.
“If you are still waiting for people, hiding from people, and waiting for what to do, you do not love your master.
“You can choose to be a drunkard, use cocaine and drugs, God will still be looking at you. “But if you love your master, you will not abuse your body.
“If you love your master, you will not be using your wife as a punching bag.
“You must make up your mind to serve God because you love Him; to serve him because you appreciate His loving kindness and love.
“I love my master! Do you love Jesus? Because He is the one who first loved you. 1Jh 4:8-11.
“No man had seen God at any time. If we love one another, his love is perfected in us.
“If you say you love him, let your life prove it.
“Only a changed heart can live for God.”
