WE HAVE A LOT OF PEOPLE TODAY RELOCATING OUT OF THE COUNTRY WITH LIES AND FAKE MARRIAGES
WE LIVE IN A WORLD PLAGUED WITH LOVELESSNESS, WICKEDNESS, DISHONESTY, FALSEHOOD AND INSINCERITY
THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE TODAY WHO ARE NOT WALKING IN THE GLORY AND DIMENSION THAT THEY ARE MEANT TO WALK IN BECAUSE OF THE CHALLENGE OF CHARACTER
NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOUR CHARACTER IS, WHEN YOU DECIDE TO ENGAGE WITH THE devil AND HIS AGENTS, THE CHARACTER WILL BE LOST
THE WORD OF GOD WILL KEEP YOU IN GOOD CHARACTER AND THE LACK OF THE WORD OF GOD WILL USHER A LIFE UNTO BADNESS OF CHARACTER
EACH TIME WE COME BACK FROM A CRUSADE, WE BRANCH AT THE CHURCH ALTAR FIRST TO THANK GOD FOR WHAT WE SAW
THE DECISION TO GRATIFY THE CRAVINGS OF THE SENSES WILL LEAD A PERSON TO BE DEVOID OF CHARACTER
ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS THINGS THAT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYBODY IS TO BECOME A LAW TO THEMSELVES
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR THE YOUNG PERSON TO KNOW WHAT THE ELDER KNOWS
THERE’S A LOT OF REBELLION IN THE YOUTH AGE GROUP BECAUSE OF CRAVINGS FOR SELF ASSERTION
WHETHER YOU KNOW GOD OR NOT, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR ANYBODY TO SLEEP IN THE NIGHT AND WAKE UP IN THE MORNING IF GOD DID NOT WAKE YOU UP
CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD’S EXISTENCE IMPARTS CAUTIOUSNESS TO ACTION
SPIRITUAL DEATH IS THE DEATH of DIVINE NATURE OF MAN AND THE SEPARATION OF GOD AND MAN
THE MAJORITY OF THE UNBELIEVING WORLD ARE CARRYING ABOUT THE satanic NATURE, THAT’S WHY THEY DO UNBELIEVABLE THINGS
IF HUMAN BEINGS WERE GOD, 90 PERCENT OF HUMAN BEINGS WILL BE IN hell
WHEN PEOPLE REJECT THE NATURE OF GOD, THEY WILL BE SHOCKED AT WHAT THEY CAN DO
THE VOICE OF GOD IS THE CARRIER OF THE LIFE OF GOD
UNTIL WE LEAVE THIS WORLD, FLESH IS STILL FLESH. IF IT IS ALLOWED TO EXPRESS ITSELF, YOU WILL BE SHOCKED
WHEN MAN FELL, EVERYTHING ON THE EARTH FELL WITH HIM THAT IS WHY THERE’S SO MUCH VILE AND WICKEDNESS AMONG HUMANS AND ALSO IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
THERE WERE THOSE WHO THOUGHT THAT WE WERE FOOLS WHEN WE FOLLOWED GOD WHOLEHEARTEDLY MANY YEARS AGO BUT TODAY, THE DIFFERENCE IS CLEAR
– Dr. Pastor Paul Enenche on “CHALLENGE OF CHARACTER” || Power Communion (Midweek) Service || Glory Dome, Abuja.
I welcome everyone here tonight to this auspicious presence of the Lord as Light Has Come and the Glory is Risen through Positive Character. This evening, we are commencing the journey on character this month with the subject, “THE CHALLENGE OF CHARACTER”. Church Gist. Our objective tonight is to understand the root of character challenge. Genesis 3:1-7. The Lord bless His Word in the name of Jesus.
We live in a world today that is plagued with a myriad of character challenges starting from the plague of lovelessness and wickedness. Church Gist. A world filled with lack of love for people, plagued with wickedness. The other day I was ministering in Healing and Deliverance Service and I prayed for a young man and I stood with my hands on him and I said, “there’s someone here that the Lord is setting from cultism”. He hesitatedly said he’s the one, unbelievable things. How he ran from his village 8 years ago because they killed the person, cut the head and so on. I’m sure you remember how terrible the story was that day. Church Gist. We live in such a world plagued with lovelessness, wickedness, dishonesty, falsehood, insincerity.
I was talking with someone today and the person was talking concerning somebody who is totally a lie, name lie, everything a lie. She said, “I don’t know what is true about this person” and I said that there’s something that is true about that person and that truth is that nothing is true. We have that plague. Church Gist. We have those today who relocated out of the country on the base of a lie. They had to organize a marriage that is not true, all manner. The plague of financial indignity, fraudulence, where people are making a living today on fraud. Church Gist. They are so wise but according to Scripture, they are wise to do evil. The plague of moral decadence.
The question is, what is the root of character challenge? There are two things I’m going to say as we proceed on this subject. Church Gist. Before I say that, there are many people today who are not walking in the light and they are not walking in the glory that they are meant to walk in because of the challenge of character. Romans 3:23. Church Gist.There’s a glory and dimension they are meant to be walking in and they cannot walk in that realm because they have fallen short of character. Two things I want to say:
1. The root of character challenge is traceable to the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Church Gist. Character problem manifesting as iniquity of different types is rooted in the calamity of the Garden of Eden.
2. Once the root is understood and addressed, character can be adjusted. It’s like when the doctor knows the diagnosis, treatment becomes easy. Church Gist. Once the root can be understood and addressed, character can be adjusted.
We are going to look at about 10 things that we see from the fall of man that is tied to the challenge of character. What is the root of character challenge?
1. Company, communion and communication with the enemy. Anyone who keeps the company of the enemy, the unrighteous and ungodly will lose character. Church Gist. Eve began a communication with the serpent. Genesis 3:1. That was the origin of the collapse of man’s character. 1 Corinthians 15:33. It doesn’t matter how good your character is, when you decide to engage with the devil or the agents and children of the devil, that character shall be lost. Church Gist. When a man decides to marry a woman, as I’m talking now, I remember a man, fire-brand man, who married a woman who did not believe in the power and move of God. After a while, this girl said that this man was going to Church too much, meanwhile the Church was responsible for their marital harmony and dignity, so, the man reduced going to Church and after a while, the man returned back to drinking alcohol. Church Gist. After a while, the man and this same woman began to fight with bottles. After a while the man went in and got another woman, that was the outcome of that influence on his life. I looked and I said, “that’s right. You said he’s going to Church too much, try and taste the other side”. Church Gist. That was the root of the decadence of character in the Garden of Eden – company, communion and communication with the enemy.
2. The lack of understanding of Divine instruction or the lack of understanding of the Word. Church Gist. God gave a clear instruction to Adam concerning the Garden of Eden and the fruit thereof, Eve did not understand. Eve wasn’t there when God spoke to Adam. Genesis 2:17 was when God spoke to Adam about the garden, Eve came later on from verse 18-19. Maybe Adam didn’t explain what God said about the fruit of the garden or the trees there to Eve. Church Gist. But when the serpent began to cast doubts in the mind of Eve concerning what God said, in Genesis 3:3. So, the whole message about that thing was totally misunderstood. If they wouldn’t touch it, there was no way they would have been able to dress the garden because God said they should dress it. Church Gist. What God said was that they shouldn’t eat it, if the fruit fell, they will gather it and when God arrives, they will tell him, “Sir, this is what you said that we shouldn’t eat, here’s it. The fruit fell and we gathered them”. She understood nothing at all and as result of the misunderstanding of the Word and instructions of God, she lived a life that was lacking in character. Church Gist. Listen to this, the Word of God will keep you in good character and the lack of the Word of God will usher a life unto badness of character. When the Word of God is abundant in a man’s life, character must be adjusted. When the Word of God is absent in the heart of a man, character will be lost.
3. Following the desires, passion and leadership of the flesh. Genesis 3:6. The decision to gratify the cravings of the senses – your eyes want that car, you don’t have the money and you want to kill to get that car; your body wants this or that and you want to do anything possible to get that. Church Gist. The decision to gratify the cravings of the senses will lead a person to be devoid of character. Following uncontrolled and unbridled passion – the alcoholic that is drinking his life to stupor, the cocaine man that has no control over his desire anymore, the cigarette smoke, the prostitute, the womanizer and all of that – that unbridled, uncontrolled passion will lead a person to fall out of character. Church Gist. That was what happened to Eve. The senses, the eyes and the flesh wanted this and that, she fell out of character.
4. The crave for self assertion. What does that mean? The crave for the enforcement of personal will, “what I want is what I will have”, when you come to the point where you’re a law to yourself. Genesis 3:6. Self assertion. Church Gist. There’s nothing wrong with having a will but there’s something wrong when that will clashes with the will of God. There’s nothing wrong with wanting something but there’s something wrong when what you want clashes with what God wants. Church Gist. One of the most dangerous things that can happen to anybody is to become a law to themselves, “nobody can tell me how to live my life. Nobody can tell me what to do with my life. I can do what I want with my life. I have a decision”. Church Gist. Young people do that a lot, “I am matured enough to take a decision for myself and to know what I want for my life” and most of the times, what you want for your life is disastrous to your destiny. I just taught recently and I said, the difference between an elderly person and a younger person or father and a child is that the father has been a child before but the child has never been a father before. Church Gist. It’s that the elderly person has been a young person before but the young person has never been an elderly person before. So, it is not possible for the young person to know what the elder knows. Because we have a generation of people, “we are generation of computers and internet and this and that. We know many things and we know everything”, not knowing that no matter what you know, the person who gave birth to you have been there before. Church Gist. The Bible said, “there’s nothing new under the sun”. If you have games to play, 70 years ago, there were games too, except that they may not be computer games but game is game. That’s why there’s a lot of rebellion in the youth age group – antinormism. They want to do things that are upside down and upside society.
🎵🎶 Let me want you want oh my dear Lord🎶🎵
Beloved brothers and sisters, that is one of the major roots of character challenge – the crave for self assertion, enforcement of personal will and being a law to oneself. Church Gist. The criminal is a law to himself. The law of God doesn’t hold him, the law of society doesn’t hold him, so, he comes to a point where the law catches up with him.
5. Decision for independence from God. When a person decides to be independent of God, character will be out of order. When you decide to exclude God out of your scheme of things, character will be out of order. Genesis 3:5. Church Gist. You see, the temptation that Eve could not overcome, “eat this thing and you will be like God”, meaning that you won’t need God. “There’s something God is trying to hide from you that is in this fruit. If you’re able to eat it, then the need for God does not exist anymore”. We live in a generation of people today who want to exist independent of God. Church Gist. They are deciding to function and exist as if God does not exist. They wake up in the morning, they just bath and start going, nothing like, “Thank you God for keeping me awake till morning”. Psalm 3:5. Meaning that it is not possible for anybody, whether you know God or not to sleep in the night and wake up in the morning if God did not wake you up. Church Gist. They started going out in the morning as if they woke themselves up. They saw food, they started eating the same a dog will eat without prayer. They got promotion and they begin to praise their performance. Meanwhile, the Bible said, “promotion cometh not from the East, nor from the West or South but God is judge who set up one and put down another”. Psalm 75:6-7. Church Gist. When anybody lives, you don’t need to tell God, “I don’t need you”, you don’t need to say it with mouth, you only say it with action when you behave like God does not exist or that God is not in your scheme things.
Every time we go for any of those crusades, the first place we branch is not the house, the first place we branch is this altar. Church Gist. We come on our knees, prostrate to God to appreciate Him for everything we saw. We will not attribute it to our prayer and fasting or to the study of the Word. For it’s not of him that willeth or runneth but of God who showeth mercy. There are those who fast and pray more than us, who have done many things more than us but they haven’t seen the results that we are seeing. Church Gist. One young man said to me one day that he fasted for 40 days, no food, only water. At the end of the fast, the only thing he was able to achieve was to see people’s problem but no solution. That is, he will know what is wrong with the person but no solution. The prayer will not produce any result. Church Gist. He became a diagnostic machine, no treatment. So, it’s not your prayer or your fasting, it’s not of him that willeth or runneth but of God who shows mercy. Consciousness of God’s existence imparts cautiousness to action. Consciousness that there’s a God who ruleth in the affairs of men, a God in Heaven and on the throne who watches us. Consciousness of God’s existence imparts cautiousness to action. You’re cautious. Church Gist. You just know that there’s someone bigger than you who is involved in your affairs. You can’t even slap your wife if you believe that God dey.
Everything from number 6 to the end became the consequence of Number of 1-5.
6. The loss of the nature of God through disobedience. When man fell in the Garden of Eden, the nature of God in man became lost. Genesis 2:17. Romans 6:23. Church Gist. So, when Adam and Eve, since they died, what is death? Adam still continued living because he lived until God drove him from the Garden. What is the death? The nature of God in man died. The spiritual death is the death of Divine nature of man; it’s the separation of God and man. Church Gist. When the nature of God in man dies, there’s a nature that comes alive and that is number 7.
7. The gain of the nature of the devil through rebellion to God. John 8:44. So, the majority of the unbelieving world are carrying about the satanic nature, so, they do some things and you’re wondering, ‘how is it possible?’ A man carried a little baby, smashed the head on the wall. Why? Church Gist. The baby was disturbing him and the girlfriend who is the mother of the child. You see some things that people will do and you’re wondering, ‘how did this originate?’ Satanic nature. Giving birth to terrorists, killers, kidnappers and traders in human body parts. One of the things you must know about the devil is that he has zero compassion. The truth of the matter is, satan celebrates with human pain and frustration. Church Gist. Consideration, zero and you must understand that this satan was once in Heaven. That will make the next point very important for you.
I was talking with a couple yesterday, handling their case and they were trying to report each other, I said, “wait, let me tell you. There’s nothing that I have not heard, by God’s grace, in dealing with people. So, don’t try to paint the other person terrible”. Church Gist. I have seen a man sat in front of me before who said he killed his mother, cut off the head”. The man’s eye was as red as this red carpet, buried the head in his living, the mother who born him, for ritual purpose and money. So, what happened at the end? The money didn’t come. So, what are you here to do? He wants the mercy of God. God is merciful oh. Church Gist. If human beings were God, 90 percent of human beings will be in hell on the spot. The same person who carried you for 9 months, gave you breast to drink, even if you’re Satan yourself. So, I told them, “calm down, I have heard many things”. Praise the Lord! That is the nature of the devil. When people reject the nature of God, they will be shocked at what they can do. Church Gist. If you tell that boy when he was a child that he has such capacity in him, he will say it’s a lie but as he went away from the nature of God and allowed the nature of the devil to take hold on him, he was instantly capable of it.
8. The loss of the presence of God. When man fell in the Garden of Eden, God drove them from His presence. Genesis 3:24. Church Gist. I just remembered one young man like 15 years ago, before what they call ritual became popular, the man came in tears that he wants to repent. Why? He’s seeing people tormenting him in the dream, “give me back my…” whichever body part he took from them. He had no sleep in the night. Church Gist.The same devils that sent him to kill people came back to torment him in the dream. Genesis 3:24. Don’t ever forget this, distance from God equals disaster of character. When people move away from the presence of God, they begin to manifest character that is disastrous. Church Gist. That is when you see lovelessness at its peak, you see hatred at its peak, you see animal behaviour. Distance from God brings out the worse of man. Remember Peter? Matthew 26:58. When Peter began to follow from a distance, that was when he began to deny the Master. Church Gist. When you begin to follow God from a distance, you will begin to deny that you know Him in your lifestyle and behaviour.
9. The loss of the voice of God. We saw in the Garden of Eden that God frequently spoke to man. Genesis 3:8. Church Gist. That was their normal life. The moment they were driven out of the Garden of Eden, that was the end of the voice. As man was driven from the Garden of Eden, he got disconnected from the voice of God. How many of you know that the voice of God is the carrier of the life of God? John 6:63. The voice of God is the carrier of the character and nature of God. Church Gist. That is why, no matter how bad it is, for as long as you continue to study the Bible to hear the voice of God, to come to Church and hear Words such as this, there’s a restraint on your character. It’s like a lion that is not in the wildlife anymore, that is tamed. There’s a restraint. It’s still a lion but that ‘lion-ic’ nature is under control. That’s how the flesh of man is. Church Gist. Until we leave this world, flesh is still flesh. If it is allowed to express itself, you will be shocked. That’s why, when people stop coming to Church, also other things follow, when they stop studying the Bible and become too busy for God and Church, when they begin to find fault with Church, brethren and everybody and now begin to stay away, other things will follow. Church Gist. Bitterness will erupt, hatred against those who go to Church, “all of them are hypocrites”, hatred against Church, “in fact, I will do anything I want, I’m not under anybody’s control, nobody can tell me what to do”, all manner of lawlessness sets in. Church Gist. That is why D. L. Moody said, “the Word of God will keep you from iniquity and iniquity will also keep you from the Word of God”. Whatever you do, never be out of touch with the Word and voice of God.
10. Existence in the world of corruption and depravity. That is, all of us, we live in a world that is wired for corruption and depravity. Romans 8:20-21. Church Gist. Listen to this, God made man in His image, He made the Garden, the earth in the image of Heaven. When man fell, everything on the earth fell with him, everything under his jurisdiction fell and lost control. I’m going to say something that I want you to understand and you will never forget. The wickedness and lawlessness that is on the earth is evident everywhere. Church Gist. Let me just give you slight example. Atimes, occasionally when I have a little time to watch wildlife and I see how wicked the animals can be to each other, how the lion will hunt baby goat and the mother is there lamenting and the eagle will come from the sky. The Eagle is more terrible than the lion, eyes red, it doesn’t smile. Church Gist. The eagle will perch on the back of a hyena and start eating it alive, pull out its intestines, the guy is still walking. The other day, I saw an eagle carrying a mountain goat, flew high into the air and left it from there to crash on the ground so that it will eat it fresh dead and he came and picked it. Church Gist. I asked myself, did God create all the animals to eat each other like that? The answer is no. When the whole earth was under the control of God and in harmony, there was no dog-eat-dog like that, love pervaded everywhere. Church Gist. That was why the Bible said, “when God restores the earth, the lion will eat grass like the ox”. The lion will not be feeding on another animal. The lion will lie down with the lamb, Isaiah 11:5-7, when there’s a regeneration of the earth back to what it was. Church Gist. That climate that we found in the animal kingdom is the same climate that we are living in. Very savage, beastial and wicked. Where somebody stop people on the road, “all of you, you have been kidnapped. Bring 50 million” and they say, “we don’t have”. He says, “if you don’t bring it, under 24 hours, forget about your relations”. There are people who have died and there are those who paid yet they were not released. Church Gist. The bondage of corruption, the climate of depravity, wickedness and lawlessness.
I have always wondered, God who said have dominion over creation is the same God that will allow mosquito to bite a man and he dies of cerebral malaria. Church Gist. A whole human being, ordinary mosquito killed him. I had a Medical Doctor colleague in the teaching hospital who died of typhoid perforation. Salmonella typhi that you can’t see with your eyes killed a whole doctor under the nose of other specialists. Church Gist. You cannot be the food of mosquitoes, there’s no way that God could have done that, that mosquitoes survival should be by sucking your blood, no. It’s a climate we are living in, that is why the Bible said, “the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God”, Romans 8:19. Church Gist. That time will come and it will not be long where the animals and everything will fall in line. I can assure that all the animals and everything you see are all there in Heaven too, especially the Godly ones. I don’t think the vulture will be there. Church Gist. I’m sure it’s degeneration that made the vulture to look like that, it must have been more beautiful than that. It got so degenerated, it began to eat rotten food.
– lift up your right hand, say, “in the name of Jesus, I shall overcome the depravity, the corruption and the degeneration of my generation in the name of Jesus!”
Now, how do we deal with the root of character challenge? Church Gist.All you need to do is just go through those 10 points and just do the opposite. But now, let me summarize it with 5 points.
1. Receive the life of God by born again. 1 Peter 1:23. Incorruptible seed means uncompromisable seed, uniniquitious seed.
2. Submit to the will and plan of God in all things. The will of man must be surrendered to the will of God. You cannot say, “I’m a law to myself and I want to do what I want to do with my life”. Romans 6:16. Church Gist. Many times, when you submit your will to the will of God, you will look like a fool to people, “Oh really? Is that what you want to do and how you want to live” but I can tell you that the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Church Gist. There were those who thought that we were fools when we followed God wholeheartedly many years ago but today, the difference is clear.
3. Refuse the leadership and lordship of the flesh. “All your mates have a car or are driving this kind of car, why don’t you do whatever it takes to get this kind of car?” You will say, “no. I’m not going to do it”. Church Gist. “Everybody is getting promoted in your office and they all did the same by sleeping with their boss or giving a bribe or something, won’t you do the same so you can go forward?” You sau, “no. I can’t do that”. Refuse the leadership and the lordship of the flesh. Romans 8:5-8. You can’t do the will of God if your life is under the control of your flesh. Church Gist. Your flesh wants you to drink, that’s where you go. Your flesh wants you to give your life to a man, that’s where you go. Your flesh wants to steal in order to belong to society, that is what you do. Church Gist. God is saying, receive capacity to say, “flesh, sit down! You can rule my life and ruin me”. Romans 12:1-2. You can say, “no, I’m not going in that direction”.
4. Submit to the leading and the leadership of the spirit. Romans 8:13-14. There are times the spirit of God will tell you, “move out of this place now”, you’re in a midst of a discussion that is not Godly and you move. Church Gist. There’s a time where He says, “avoid this company, this person is not a friend. By the time you move along with this person, you’re going to find yourself where you don’t like”, and you avoid. “This person you think you want to marry is not a wife, it’s a knife. This is not a man to marry, it’s a matchet”. Church Gist. But many people ignore the voice of the spirit to the detriment of their life. Some move like an ox to slaughter. No peace, yet they’re dipping their head into actions and the actions come with the outcomes which are not necessarily palatable.
– place your hand on your chest and say, “Father, help me to obey the voice of the Spirit and to follow the directions that are right”.
5. Avoid the wrong company as well as communication. Proverbs 13:20. 1 Corinthians 15:33. Avoid the wrong company. In case you say the company is not wrong, the communication could be wrong. Church Gist. Evil communications corrupt good manners, good communications correct bad manners. Church Gist. Hallelujah! Even the communications you have received tonight have corrected some things, it has corrected some thought processes and lifestyles.
PRAYERS—-
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