FROM THE PREACHER'S LENSES

Sam AwedaTuesday, November 4, 2014
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USA

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LOSING TO GAIN


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John 12:24
Luke 17:33

esus made two important statements while on earth. These statements are still vital, salient and relevant today as they were 2000 years ago when He made them.

Saint John in chapter 12 vs 24 documented one of these statements. Jesus said "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit"

The other statement of Jesus, which we shall look into today is documented by all the gospel writers but I will quote the one documented by St. Luke in chapter 17 vs 33, which says "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it"

In the light of these statements, I have chosen today the topic of my sermon as "Losing to Gain"

Meanwhile, let us pray as Dr. Dn. Kayode Samuel leads us in prayer.

Losing to Gain

How do we lose to gain? Jesus said that we must be prepared to lose something, which we presently consider as important before we can gain something of better importance; something of better value. But there is a saying, which says that a bird in hand is better than ten others in the bush. Why do I not hold on to the one I have presently and when the ten in the bush arrives, then I can throw away the one presently in my hand?

But that was what Jesus said and if you will follow me and see Jesus side of reasoning, you will see how true it is in certain circumstances that you will be glad after you let go, some things in order to obtain other things of better value. But if we lack the faith to part, to let go the one presently in our hand, then we are the greater loser because we shall not be able to receive the one of better value.

Jesu said "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit"(St John 12:24)

If anyone holds on to a grain of corn and refuses to let it go, not prepared to lose it and fall on to the ground, it will remain just one grain in his hand forever. But after he let it go, decay and die in the ground, then that corn will yield thousands of other grains for him only in a matter of months.

Let us look at the life of a student, who is lazy, sleeping or attending parties at the time when he should be burning night candles and he fails his/her examinations, certainly, he will be a house boy in future to his previous peers who took their studies seriously when they were in school. He will become a house boy later in life and there will be no more time for him to attend parties when his former peers will be enjoying life in abundance. If he then feels ashamed to serve his former peers, then he must return to school at his old age, doing what Baba Wande of Nollywood describes as putting what he ought to have put second, first and putting what he ought to put last, start. This is what Jesus meant when He said "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it" The unreasonable student did not lose his life at the young age to regain it at the appropriate time.

And that goes with the story of eternal life. Apostle John, the brother of Jesus said in his book 1John 2: 15-17

15 Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love these things, you show that you do not really love God; 16 for all these worldly things, these evil desires-the craze for sex, the ambition to buy everything that appeals to you, and the pride that comes from wealth and importance-these are not from God. They are from this evil world. 17 And this world is fading away, and these evil, forbidden things will go with it, but whoever keeps doing the will of God will live forever.

What Jesus said in few words, John has expatiated it. You must let something go first in order to gain something of better value.

St. Luke in chapter 17 vs 33, says "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it"

Heaven is a place of joy, a place of peace, where there is no power failure, no water failure, no blood sucking road; in fact, the roads, as we read in the Bible are tarred in gold. No harassment of Police or Men of Custom, no person to dupe you, no fear of armed robbers or kidnappers, no hunger, no thirst, no sickness, no fear of witches or fear of death. Death would have been conquered because we will be given another body different from this present one, which dies and decays. The one we shall be given in heaven does not corrupt. It cannot die. But if you must get there, you must first accept the grace of God made perfect by the sinless blood of Jesus, then forgo all the enjoyment of this world, those things that harm your other fellow human beings, those enjoyments that decimate your other fellow human beings.

God wants us to enjoy this world. He has made everything for our enjoyment and we can enjoy it without making our other fellow human beings sad. But if anyone seeks to enjoy this life at the expense of his fellow human beings, sitting on the treasure, which belongs to us all, then he and all those that play sycophancy to him, who receive selective generosity from him, will have their place in hell on the last day, the day of judgment.

In order to disallow those who are milking us, who pauperize us, in order to put an end to their practice, whereby they alone with their families and surrogates, those who lick their boots from appropriating to themselves alone, the wealth that belongs to you and I, then we must be prepared to lose something first. We must be prepared to lose what we meanwhile consider as important to us. And what are those things we must prepare to lose:

When God gives a command, it is solely for our benefit. Obedience to the command leaves us at an advantage and opens the door to better things for us while we cheat ourselves when we disobey. Disobedience leaves us with inferior things, less than what we deserve, at a disadvantage or even total calamity.

Jesu said "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit"

I am preaching on the topic"Losing to Gain"

Those of you who normally say "Do I see another means, if I do not take the dole the politicians give?"

Answer me, is it their dole you use to manage yourself throughout the year? Is it the crumbs that fell off their table you are using to pay your children school fees? People of little reasoning. Father God, I pray that you open their inner minds to see what they are losing by holding tight to a grain of corn, which if they let go and die, will bring forth thousands of other grains for them.

The moment you start to reject those doles and counsel others from receiving them, watch it, in less than a year, our general poverty will flee us because they will become accountable to our wealth and unable to justify any act of pilfering from the common wealth.

We must be prepared to make sacrifices, self-denials, self-control, self- discipline in order to gain that, which is of better value. This is what we read in the Bible. The Bible is the greatest source of our wisdom. It is to our own peril, if we ignore it.

Listen also to the counsel of Apostle Paul about 2000 years ago written to the Church in Rome in chapter 8 vs 17-18, which is still relevant to us today. Paul wrote:

But if we are to share His glory, we must also share His suffering.

18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later.

We must discipline ourselves from parading the offices of those ruling us, begging them for money or requesting them to buy auto mobile for us or build house for us. The money does not belong to them, it belongs to us all. So, it is morally wrong, amounting to greed and selfishness to make those requests, whereby we want to take more than our own share of the commonwealth. If we are obliged those requests, it means we are stealing what belongs to others. It is also morally wrong for the rulers also to oblige those requests.

The rulers themselves must not select anybody in the community, who they think can help their cause or help them silent the community from any uproar and play generosity to them. The money does not belong to them. What ought to be done is to create programs, open and available to everyone, which will cater for such obligations on the merit of their requests.

Sometimes in 2008, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama received a SOS message from a childhood friend of his, asking for financial assistance. All, which Barack Obama did, was to ask him to apply for any of the nation's welfare programmes that suit his circumstances. This is what our Politicians ought to be doing if really they are truthful to serve us. But because they too want to play God, they enjoy seeing us, queuing for days in order to seek their audience and kneel before them.

It is we, who can stop this practice in our interest and in the interest of our children and coming generation.

If you are just tuning in, the topic of my sermon is "Losing to Gain"

It is the responsibility of a true Christian, Pastor or Bishop or Imam to pray for those in authority to govern us in godliness as Paul counseled in his first letter to 1Timothy in Chapter 2: 1-4 so that we can live in peace and quietness, spending our time in godly living and thinking much about the Lord. I do it regularly for my sake and for the sake of fellow Nigerians and our Church spend considerable length of time doing it each time we meet. I do not have to go to Aso Rock or the office of the Governor or Minister or Commissioner before I do.

For God sake, will all the so called 'Men & Women of God' stop parading the offices and homes of those in authority? Can they kindly pray in their Houses of worship or homes even if they see visions for them?

We must help the government to stop wasteful spending. We should stop accepting their baits, which silent us, which prevents us from protesting their looting of our treasury. The money they give us to travel to the Holy lands makes us partakers of the loot of the treasury.

Worship of God is personal. It is within the individual and his God. Why should the government sponsor anyone to Holy Pilgrimages when there is a huge need for money at home? Children complete University education, with no job, Our Schools are in shambles, Our Hospitals are places of sadness, Our roads suck blood of travelers every day, no electricity, no water. When are we going to reason correctly and decide our priorities? Do we have shame at all? If the place of pilgrimage is Nigeria, will anyone come and risk his/her life because he wants to perform pilgrimage?

We must resist every bait of the government, which can silent us from being able to check their loot of the commonwealth. Let us no longer accept them to build houses of worship for us. Let no religious leader; Pastor or Imam be on the government pay roll. Doing that simply silent us from speaking out when they need to be corrected and why they play God and we have to kneel while talking to them.

We ought to stop paying too much attention to our leaders any time they attend worship. We should allow them to concentrate on God and focus on God at that moment, to allow them reflect on their deeds and decisions during the week.

A governor of a certain state, one evening, attended the Ramadan lecture in a certain mosque of one Imam, who I admire. At the end of the lecture, the Imam presented to the governor some of the books he wrote. Elsewhere, the Imam will count himself lucky for the governor's visit and expect a brown envelope. This is the kind of religious leader we need. Is it that this Imam does not need money? He does but this is the kind of self-denial, discipline that is required of any man of God in order to allow him do God's work effectively.

Our so called 'Men and Women of God' and Religious clerics must make sacrifices to live a simple life. The flamboyant life of some of them does not help matters, it simply encourages 'get rich quick syndrome'. If we want to do our calling without blemish, to make the authority godly, it is not the time to romance with them and get oil block.

How will you be able to tell them the truth if they bribe you with oil block? My counsel is that you must get rid of those oil contracts and other contracts from the government; Federal or State. Get rid of your aircrafts and if they are purchased with Government money; money, which can be used to provide infrastructures, which will improve the condition of the common man, thunders and lightning will blow them up, not in the air but on the ground to preserve your life so that you can repent.

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