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any Nigerians have ruled Nigeria off. They feel that the problems confronting Nigeria is complex and enormous and they are not expecting a recovery. In fact they think it will continue to get worse and the country will eventually extinct.
In my own case however, I have like the Psalmist said in Psalms 27:13-14 believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, to wait on Him, to be of good cheer and He has strengthened my heart"
In several of my writings and broadcasts, I have warned the skeptics not to allow their case to be like that of a Samaritan officer who, when a prophet of God proclaimed that in under 24 hours the famine that had ravaged the city for a long time will end, was sarcastic and the prophet of God told him that he would only see food in abundance but he will not partake in the benefit.
Lo and behold, supply of food came in abundance as the man of God said it but the officer was stampeded to death as the hungry people rushed to grab the food. Yes, the officer saw it but he did not eat of it (2Kings 7). I hope all the skeptics have repented after the result of the election of March 2015 was out.
In the midst of hopelessness, I wrote a book in the year 2000 where I challenged the Nigerian Christians to let us work for the prosperity of the nation. I cited the example of the Israelites who were for 70 years in captivity in Babylon, present day Iraq and because of the faith and action of a handful taken in a certain year, within that year, events that were going to lead to their freedom started to occur rapidly and the captives were left off the hook and those who wanted to return to their father land in Jerusalem did.
I posted the book to hundreds of Headquarters of Church denominations in Nigeria and gave hundreds to individuals. Only a handful of Nigerians joined faith with me.
In the midst of the faithless majority, I moved ahead and launched a Nehemiah project and went round organizing prayers for the emergence of a Nehemiah. The Biblical Nehemiah ended the struggle and suffering of his people at a time in their history.
God has answered our prayers with the result of the election of March 2015 as we now have a leader whose character matches very well with that of the Biblical Nehemiah.
Because God is not a lair, though it tarried, it came to pass (Hab.2:3).
In the past, I have written and preached about Sanballat, Tobiah & co who tried to oppose Nehemiah and I expect that President Buhari will also have and already have oppositions who have the spirit of Sanballat and Tobiah who will put themselves in positions, which will make it possible for them to hijack his anti-corruption war.
And just like God put to shame the Biblical Sanballat, Tobiah & co, so I expect that God will put to shame people with the spirit of Sanballat, Tobiah & co who are enthroning themselves in positions for the purposes of hijacking the anti-corruption war of President Buhari.
I have actually prayed that God makes them to repent of their past atrocities and do the necessary restitution by returning the peoples' wealth, which they have stolen.
In order for the children of Israel to be able to consolidate the gains of their freedom and avoid a future catastrophe, Ezra, a priest who was a Levite, and a Scribe, versed in the Law of Moses (Ezra 7:1-6), returned from Babylon with only one sole purpose, and that was to teach God's laws to Israel (Ezra 7:10). The majority of the people (Israelites) who were born in captivity hadn't been taught the laws of God.
The purpose for the actions taken by Ezra was to consolidate the gains of their freedom from captivity, so that their blessings can be permanent. But this is only if they will obey the words of the Lord, so that God will not have reasons to punish them and send them into captivity again.
Intransigent was the reason, why God punished them by allowing them to go into captivity and in order to avoid same in future, they had to be taught the law of God in order to learn to obey His words so that it could be well with them.
The same intransigent is the reason for our suffering in Nigeria. We departed from the righteous path of the fathers of our independence and God allows crooks to sit on us and grasp our wealth and we plunged into extreme poverty while the crooks live in luxury.
In the same manner, in order to consolidate the gains of the efforts of a Nehemiah, which God has given us, who I am trusting God will use to restore our fortune, there must now arise hundreds of Ezra who are versed in the laws and precepts of God, other than the business men preachers who will teach unadulterated God's laws to this generation of Nigerians who are only religious but un-regenerated in their hearts.
So the topic of my sermon today is "The Example of Ezra"
Let us pray as Dr. Dn. Kayode Samuel does.
The topic of my sermon again is "The Example of Ezra"
The historical background is that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, present day Iraq had besieged Jerusalem. He did first in 605 BC, later in 597 and the 3rd time in 586 BC. His soldiers killed Judah's men and women; young and old; healthy and sick. The few that survived were taken captives to become servants to him and his children. The soldiers burned the Temple. The Temple was their pride. They broke down the walls of Jerusalem, burned all the palaces, destroying completely everything of value (2 Chronicles 36: 26-31).
I found this story similar to what we have been experiencing in this nation for over 35 years.
Although we are not attacked by any foreign troop, our leaders loot us recklessly and strip us naked. All the infrastructures put in place by the Colonial Masters and fathers of Independence are left unmaintained by the crooks who took over at one time or the other. They were so daring and they cornered the peoples' wealth into their private pockets brazenly and shamelessly, resulting in deep poverty among the majority of the citizens. Unfortunately, the ignorant and gullible citizens hail them.
Returning to the story of the Israelites; because of the faith and action of a handful of people, taken in a certain year, within that same year, events that were going to lead to their freedom started to occur rapidly and the captives were left off the hook and those who wanted to return to their father land, did after 70 years in captivity.
The people who returned had two major projects in their hands vis-�-vis: (i) the building of the city wall (fence) and
(ii) the construction of the Temple.
It is very important to note that they did not start with the building of the city wall and its gates but the construction of the Temple. This signifies that their spiritual need was their first priority. It is also worth noting that even before they laid the foundation of the Temple, their first priority again was to institute the right worship as ordained by God. So, it was two projects in one. And the first thing they did was to build the altar of sacrifice and once this was completed, they started the daily, weekly and monthly sacrifices (offerings). They also celebrated the necessary yearly feasts that were due at their appointed times (Ezra 3:1-7). (My book: Law, Grace & Faith sheds good light into this system of worship, which God gave to Moses).
There were enemies who camouflaged as friends. They offered to give helping hands in the construction but Zerubbabel and the co-leaders rejected their offer. The Jewish leaders discerned promptly that their intentions were evil. It was to hinder at the initial stage and with the ultimate goal of stopping the work.
When this attempt failed, they started fomenting trouble with the workers on site and did everything to frustrate them (the workers) (Ezra 6:11). The workers however refused to be frustrated and the work was completed (6:15-17) and dedicated in 515 BC, 24 years after the first batch left Babylon.
After the construction of the Temple was completed, Ezra, a Priest, direct descendant of Aaron, who was versed in the law of Moses (Ezra 7:1-6) was informed that the people had not separated themselves from the heathens who surrounded them; but they were behaving after their manner. They have even intermarried (Ezra 9:1-2). Ezra prepared in his mind to return to Israel to teach them (7:10).
Ezra had to call the people to order and he reformed the strange marriages. Those who had married strangely, gave up their strange partners (Ezra 10).
Ezra was very successful in the mission for which he set his mind and for which he travelled to Jerusalem (Ezra 9 & 10).
The purpose for the actions taken by Ezra was to consolidate the gains of their freedom from captivity, so that their blessings can be permanent because if they fail to learn to obey the words of the Lord, they might go into sin and God will have reasons to punish them again.
Intransigent was the reason, why God punished them by allowing them to go into captivity for 70 years and in order to avoid same in future, they had to be taught the law of God.
The same intransigent is the reason for our suffering in Nigeria. We departed from the righteous path of the fathers of our independence and God allows crooks to sit on us and grasp our wealth and we plunged into extreme poverty while the crooks live in extreme luxury and profligacy.
In order to consolidate the gains of the Nehemiah, which God has given us, who I am trusting God will use to restore our fortune, there must now arise hundreds of Ezra who will teach unadulterated God's laws to this evil generation of Nigerians who are only religious but un-regenerated in their hearts, who have been taught false and imbalanced doctrines in the days of poverty.
The returnees to Jerusalem from Babylon had two major projects that stared them in the face i.e. that confronted them. These were the rebuilding of the Temple and the rebuilding of the city wall and the gates. We noted that their first priority was the re-construction of the Temple. And even before the foundation of the temple was laid, they had built the altar of sacrifice and they promptly started the daily, weekly, monthly sacrifices and yearly feasts; things that had been neglected for decades. This signifies that their spiritual need was their urgent concern.
I strongly believe, and I am convinced that for our suffering in Nigeria to end, our first priority is spiritual reformation - Truly, we worship but our behavior and actions in most cases are evil. Our behavior and actions do not depict any of those who knew God at all. These are the fallouts of the major problem that befell us, i.e our national or general poverty.
I do recognize that the poverty that ravaged the nation, had given rise to a lot of things among them were proliferation of Churches, Mosques, hills and mountains. I am old enough to say that we were better off as a nation when there were fewer houses of worship.
The days seem to have gone when we rated certain professions as noble.
Lawyers in those days commanded a lot of respect and could be trusted; they have high integrity consistent with their noble profession. They could be looked upon for justice to be meted though there were fewer houses of worship. Unfortunately today with many houses of worship, a lawyer will be cruising about in a Toyota highlander, which he took with a promise of payment within a period but do not, after about 2 years, yet he worships 5 times a day. And when the attention of the chairman of his profession in his town is drawn to it, he says it does not concern him, compared with the past when Judges stopped an offender in the public and tickets him.
The devil succeeded in making us very religious while at the same time vices (evil or wickedness) escalate. The nation has not, unfortunately benefited with the numerous houses of worship that exist as moral decadence is on the rise.
We make the thieves, who brazenly steal our treasury, stand and sit on the front rows during worship; people who should be made to stand or sit at a corner at the back of the prayer houses.
The devil has deceived them with the thought that their sins are covered with their hypocritical prayers and the donations they make to religious houses and prayer rooms available in their houses. They even organize breakfast prayers at the Parliament house; prayers, which God rejects and condemn.
The Lord in His mercy will help our President, our Nehemiah, in his effort to stamp out corruption in our nation. Corruption is the backbone that has led to our lack of progress, resulting in the breakdown of infrastructures and lack of employment.
After God helps the President to eradicate corruption and dedication to the nation returns, we shall be able to return to the past scenario when a Nigerian university graduate was regarded as an averagely rich person. At that time, job was waiting for any university graduate even before he wrote his final examinations and he could comfortably live on his enumerations without any stealing from the treasury.
Also after all infrastructures are restored, private enterprises will once again thrive and there would be meaningful individual prosperity.
To be able to achieve this however, we must live, stay, stand and abide on the balanced word of God. This is the only way by which our National Prosperity can be sustained.
May the Lord prepare His apostles for this project who are properly and rightly tutored in the word like Ezra and be prepared to teach (distribute / divide) it (the truth) correctly and appropriately. This is the only way, by which all the gains we shall make from the effort of this upright President will not be lost in the future.
President Obasanjo made concerted efforts to either have some relief of our debts or outright cancellation. But because the subsequent government lacked commitment to the nation, they were only religious but un-regenerated in their hearts and preferred self to the nation, we have soon built a huge debt again.
Let us pray.
