Tales from the Brothel

From Our Pastor's Desk

Hebrews 11:31 “By faith the harlot Rehab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace”.

Joshua 6:25 – “And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho” If anyone had told Rahab, the harlot, she would be ancestor of our Lord Jesus, the messiah, the Holy One…she would have called the person crazy…harlot – Holy?

When the nation of Israel crossed the Jordan into Canaan, Jericho was the first place to be conquered. Until Jericho was conquered they could not fully move into the promise land. So, Joshua sent out two spies who came into the house of Rehab the harlot.

When the king of Jericho knew of it, he sent soldiers to capture the spies but Rehab hid them and distracted the soldiers. The soldiers came to kill the spies, but Rehab the prostitute hid them and distracted the soldiers.

God sent the spies into the house of the prostitute to protect them. Some of us will probably say; “God, that cannot be, you have made a mistake, how can sanctified people go and stay with a prostitute”!

Beloved, grace overrules our flaws. Grace overrules our mistake. It over-rules our shortcomings. That is why you cannot write off anyone who is still breathing and is still sitting under the word of God.

Don’t ever write that person off. May the glory of the Lord and the beauty of the King rest upon us, in Jesus mighty Name.

Amen You will have a great turn-around this 2020. 
Remain blessed. 
Shalom.

March 2020 - Our Month of God’s Glory & Beauty

From Our Pastor's Desk

Welcome to this our new Month of God’s Glory & Beauty, in Jesus name. Revelation 7:12 – “…and they worshiped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen”.

Most attributes of God are far too vast to define. Whether it’s His love, mercy, righteousness, judgment or His glory and beauty. His glory is far two vast & complex to comprehend, let alone define perfectly.

His glory is His infinite perfections. His glory is His full weight of His nature, His full measure, full importance, nature, value, capacity, quality, ability, extent, or significance. All of His goodness and faithfulness, all of the “I AM” statements He makes about Himself, all of His power and king-liness, all of His creativity, holiness, righteousness, wrath, and love, all of these things make up His glory.

Glory is not one thing: it’s all the things about God! His glory is Jesus Christ, who is also the "beauty and brightness of the Father's glory" - Hebrews 1:3. Throughout the scriptures, God calls His people to know Him, to glorify Him and to reflect His glory. 

This Month of God’s Glory & Beauty, we will know Him more intimately, & encounter His glory. He will reveal the fullness of His glory & beauty to us and in us, as they fall upon us, in Jesus Name.

Amen

Limited By Our Mindset - Part II

From Our Pastor's Desk

A limited man is a restricted man who suffers in the midst of plenty. Though he may see or know where he belongs or what he should attain but find it difficult to get there.

Limitation makes a man to suffer in the midst of opportunities and possibilities.

We looked at 3 types of limitations last Sunday –
(1) Set to protect us, (2) Set by others to prevent us,  and (3) Set by circumstances/situations.

The fourth one are limitations set by yourself through your mindset,  thinking you amount to nothing, you can’t do  it. Because of your skin color, your accent,  language, economic background, gender  etc.

That’s a mindset of limitation, mediocrity,  inferiority complex, low self-esteem.  Low self-esteem can  have a very negative impact  on the quality of one’s life.

It makes one feel more insecure and to take fewer risks, which in turn means that personal and professional growth opportunities are both limited.

Low self-esteem is losing confidence in yourself, in who God says you are and in God. When He already said in Genesis 1:26 – “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…”

We are created in the image and likeness of the God of heaven & earth, great and mighty. His Spirit lives in us. Theirs is no reason at all to be affected with a “grasshopper” mentality (Numbers 13:33).

Today, I declare you totally free from every spirit of limitation, mediocrity and low self-esteem, in Jesus mighty Name. Amen You will have a great turn-around this 2020. 
Remain blessed. 
Shalom.

Limited By Our Mindset - Part 1

From Our Pastor's Desk

What is mindset? The WordWeb defines mindset as mental attitude, your mentality; your habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations.

It is this mindset that determines what you see, how you see it. It determines how you see life, the approach you give to it and above all, it sets a limit to what you can achieve.

Limitation, however, means boundary, things you don’t have access to; basically as far as  something can go. Many people have  a mindset of impossibility, negativity, and limitations.

Many times, be-cause we do not  know what our worth is, we limit ourselves.  And the moment you put a limit on yourself,  God is helpless! In our generation today, people who should be counting millions are counting thousands; those who  should be counting thousands  are counting hundreds and those who should be counting hundreds are counting tens or even lower units because often times, this is borne out of ignorance. 

Mental restriction is the worst of all restrictions. While God called Gideon, a mighty man of valour, He called himself the least in his father’s house (Judges 6:11-15).

While God gave the spies the assurance that the land to be spied was already theirs irrespective of the size of the present occupants, unfortunately, ten of them likened themselves to Grasshoppers (Numbers 13:33).

Work on your mindset. Read books that will nullify your faulty paradigms and re-tune your mindset from negativity to positivity. Go and make a difference, in Jesus mighty Name. Amen

You will have a great turn-around this 2020. 
Remain blessed. 
Shalom.

Appreciate God's Blessings

By Bro Jeremiah Epidi

Ephesians 5:20  Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

No doubt, God blesses everyone but many take their blessings for granted. As Christians, we too can be affected by this unappreciative spirit.

Like the ancient  Israelites, we could become ungrateful and lose appreciation for the blessings that we have received from God.

Numbers 21:1-7. On the contrary,  the apostle Paul  keeps stressing the need to thank God for blessings received.

Typical is his expression: “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”Eph. 5:20 “

As we look forward to God in our month of multiple blessings, may we reflect joyfully on our blessings and be moved to follow the admonition of apostle Paul cited above, and as we do this, God’s blessing will overtake us, in Jesus mighty Name. Amen.

You will have good success this 2020. 

Remain blessed. 

Shalom.