A PERSON WHO IS DEDICATED TO GOD MUST HAVE A PERSONAL PRAYER AND BIBLE STUDY LIFE
YOU DON’T CONSIDER YOURSELF DEDICATED TO GOD IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND PERSONAL DEVOTIONAL LIFE
YOUR LIFE SHOULD NOT BRING SHAME TO GOD
THE UNBELIEVING WORLD DON’T HAVE A BIBLE TO READ, THE CHRISTIAN IS THEIR BIBLE
YOU CAN’T CLAIM TO BE A CHRISTIAN WITHOUT BEING CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE THINK ABOUT YOUR LIFE
IF PEOPLE WHO ARE CLOSE TO YOU DON’T THINK YOU’RE OF GOD THEN YOU’RE NOT
EVERY CHILD OF GOD HAS A MANDATE TO TELL PEOPLE ABOUT GOD
A CHRISTIAN WHO CANNOT TELL OTHERS ABOUT THEIR FAITH IN GOD, SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE REALITY OF THAT FAITH
IF WE WANT TO SEE THE RESULTS OF THE BIBLE, WE MUST RETURN TO THE PRACTICES OF THE BIBLE
DEDICATED PEOPLE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE SPIRITUAL STATE OF THE ONE THEY FOLLOW
PEOPLE ARE SO QUICK TO CRITICIZE THEIR PASTORS WITHOUT PRAYING FOR THEM
ONE DAY, I GAVE OUT ABOUT 200 SUITS FROM MY COLLECTION TO OUR PASTORS AS MANTLES
IF YOU’RE NOT GLAD TO GO TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, SOMETHING IS WRONG
SINCE I MET THE LORD, STAYING AT HOME OR DOING ANY OTHER THING ON SUNDAY MORNING IS MORE LIKE AN ABOMINATION
NO MANNER OF CONTRACT IS BIG ENOUGH TO TAKE YOU FROM CHURCH
DON’T LET THIS MODERN DAY INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA DESTROY YOUR SPIRITUALITY
ANYWHERE THEY CLAIM THERE’S LOVE AND THERE’S NO GIVING IS FAKE
EVERY DEDICATED CHILD, GENUINELY DEDICATED, IS A GIVER, BEGINNING WITH TITHING
YOUR DEDICATION IS CONFIRMABLE BY YOUR LIBERALITY TOWARDS GOD
– Dr. Pastor Paul Enenche on “DIMENSIONS OF DEDICATION (1)” || Testimonies and Thanksgiving Service || Glory Dome, Abuja.
I welcome everyone here this morning in the precious name of Jesus. What an awesome weekend. Awesome. Nations Worship actually made a lot of waves in this Nation and around the world. Church Gist. Congratulations for the end of the 21-day fast. The end of this fast is the beginning of your speed. You cannot fast and be slow. Hallelujah.
This morning, very important subject we shall be looking at and it is, “DIMENSIONS OF DEDICATION (1)”. Our objective this morning is to understand the various departments or dimensions where our dedication to God is measured. Church Gist. Understanding the various dimensions of our spiritual life where our dedication to God can be measured.
What is it that makes a person to be considered a really dedicated child of God? What is it that makes us to know that someone loves God. Is it Church attendance? Church Gist. It may be a part of it. A young lady testified the other day, I’ll like to know the details of the testimony, because I’m not able to remember the full details – where she said, they were doing a checklist and marking before she was delivered from a coven or something. Church attendance, marked; service, marked. Church Gist. They marked many things and as they did that checklist, she was released. So, I believe that there’s a marking that happens for us in the presence of God.
When somebody says, “I am dedicated and committed to God”, what are the things that Heaven will look out for? Church Gist. I am going to look at 7 of them in this service and I’ll look at 7 others in the next service. I believe that it’s going to be broad enough to cover many areas. What are the measures of our dedication?
1. Personal devotional life of prayer and Word study.
A person who is dedicated to God, who loves God, who lives for God, on a personal basis must have a prayer life and Bible study life. Genesis 19:27. Psalm 55:17. 1 Thessalonians 5:17. Church Gist. As a child of God, your personal life of prayer is not negotiable. The study of the Word in Job 23:12. “I am not thinking of eating in the morning until I’ve eaten the Word in one form or the other”. Matthew 4:4. Acts 17:11. Church Gist. You don’t consider yourself dedicated to God if you don’t understand personal devotional life on your own, nobody followed you up. You pray and study the Word.
2. God-glorifying (God-pleasing) lifestyle.
You’re concerned about glorifying God with your life. Like we sang in those days, “🎶Jesus must be honoured in my life everyday🎶”. Church Gist. Matthew 5:14,16. In other words, your life should not bring shame to God. It shouldn’t bring pain to God but pleasure. In the place where you live, where you work, in your family where you have come from, people should be able to look at you and confirm that you’re not fake, you’re not pretending. You know, in some places of work, people behave and they say, “and you call yourself a Christian?” Church Gist. The unbelieving world don’t have a Bible to read, even if they have it, they don’t read it, the Christian is their Bible. They read you. You can’t claim to be a Christian without being concerned about what people think about your life, you can’t claim so. You can’t claim to be a Christian without being concerned as to whether people think you’re glorifying God or not. You can’t. 1 Peter 2:9. Church Gist. You’re to show His praise, to live to bring Him glory. So, what people think of you matters to you. In Matthew 16:13, Jesus began to ask His disciples, “what are people saying about me? What do they think about my spiritual life? Do they think I am real? Do they think I am genuine?” And they said to him, “yes, some say you’re Elijah, some say you’re Jeremiah, some say you’re one of the Prophets” and He was okay with that because what they were describing Him with was close to who He was, He was a Prophet. Church Gist. If they had said, “some said you’re Cain. Some say you’re Absalom”, if they had been calling some terrible names, He would have been uncomfortable but they were calling names of who He was. Question you’re to ask yourself is, the people around you, what do they think about you? It’s a proof of your dedication. How does your wife feel about you? Church Gist. That is, “I am the man of the house”, what does she think about your spiritual life? What about your children? What about your driver? What about your domestic staff? Your cook? Then, your classmates? Then, your work colleagues at the office? If all these people don’t think you’re of God, you’re not. Church Gist. Because the closest people to you are the people who can confirm who you are and what you are.
The other day, my children were telling me, “you’re showing us practically how God the Father loves, effortlessly”. A God-glorifying lifestyle.
3. Soul-winning lifestyle.
Every child of God has a mandate to tell people about God. If somebody claims to be a Christian, a dedicated child of God and has never talked to anybody about God, something is wrong. John 15:16. Church Gist. Jesus seemed to be saying, part of your life as a child of God is that you should go and bring forth fruits and ensure your fruits remain. Mark 16:15-17. Acts 1:18. A Christian man or woman who cannot tell others about their faith in God, something is wrong with the reality of that faith. Church Gist. As simple as it is to invite somebody to experience and know God, there are those who can’t do that.
When we grew up in the Lord, almost everybody behaved like a Pastor, I mean, you didn’t need to be. Church Gist. You didn’t consider yourself well dressed without tracts in your pocket, evangelism fliers. In the late 70s, early 80s, if you sat inside a vehicle and you didn’t preach inside, it was as if you sinned. Morning cry was like water. This little girl, Sister Becky, very tiny in those days, standing in front of hostel preaching to everybody, standing inside university bus. That was normal lifestyle. Church Gist. If we want to see the results of the Bible, we must return to the practices of the Bible. People can share all manner of videos, in fact, there’s someone who keeps sending me some videos and I’m wondering, does this person have a job at all? They can share all manner of things and they will never share their faith in God, they will never share a link that can change a person’s life. Church Gist.They find it more convenient to share things that do not impart people’s eternal destiny. Evangelism lifestyle is proof number 3 of a person’s dedication.
4. Prayer for the Shepherd.
Ephesians 6:18-19. Dedicated people are concerned about the spiritual state of the one they follow. 2 Thessalonians 3:1-3. Church Gist. That is Paul the Apostle saying, “as I am on this assignment of ministry, there are people who will hate my guts”. 1 Corinthians 16:19, he gives a reason why that prayer is very important to him. If you’re going to the restaurant to eat, you must be interested in the hygiene and the health state of the caterer. These days, they do all manner of tests, tuberculosis, HIV screening, hepatitis and all of that for a restaurant operator to be sure that they’re serving food that is not defiled. Church Gist. When you’re about to be taken on a flight, you must know the state of the pilot – he’s not hypertensive. God forbid that he has stroke while flying. Church Gist. In the same manner, “Lord, let your hand rest on your servant like never before, draw him close to yourself, help him never to miss road or misfire”.
D. L. Moody had a ministry that was so impactful. One day, he saw a vision where they were lined up with people from his ministry and they were about to receive gifts from Heaven. Church Gist. He was a very explosive Evangelist. They were giving gifts and the biggest gift was not given to him, it was given to a woman under his ministry and he asked the Lord, “what’s happening here?” And the Lord told him, “you remember the time when you noticed in the power of your preaching? This woman was responsible. This woman prayed to me until I released power on you”. Church Gist. So, while everyone was seeing the powerful man of God, God was seeing the one behind that power.
After today, I’ll like you to do this checklist and ask yourself, “am I doing this? Am I doing that?” Today, people are very quick to criticize, “the Pastor didn’t preach well, he’s not powerful, he’s not this”. Church Gist. When was the last time you lifted him up? When somebody is at the forefront of battle, there are forces from hell to ensure that they’re overwhelmed. Hallelujah! Prayer for the Shepherd.
5. Passion for the House of the Lord.
Addiction to the House. Every dedicated child of God is a Church person. Psalm 122:1. If you’re not glad to go to the House of the Lord, something is wrong. Psalm 27:4. Hebrews 10:25. Church Gist. Since I met the Lord, staying at home or doing any other thing on Sunday morning is more like an abomination. Traveling while service is on for me is ‘impossicant’. Church Gist. That is, I’m on the road and people are in Church, no other day to travel? At least I could travel after the service. Am I communicating at all? There’s an attraction, the house of your friend is a place you’re addicted to. People go home all the time when it is Christmas time, some people, to their father’s house, village, community and so on, there’s that attachment and the house of your friend is never too far. Church Gist. Anywhere your friend’s house is, your father’s house is, your mother’s house is, no matter how bad the road is, you’ll get there. That is how it is with the House of the Lord. No manner of contract is big enough to take you from Church. Church Gist. No money pursuit is big enough, the contract signing can wait till after service. If truly we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
One man, they said to him that there’s a contract to be signed, in those days, I think it was even in a military establishment. He told them, he said, “I am in Church now”. “Really? Can’t you come?” “No. Our Church is in construction, I am unable to come”. Area One Church construction then. Church Gist. They said, “Alright, we’d see you later”. You know what they did? They brought the paper to him on Church site. That if you’re dedicated enough to God and they said there’s money, come and sign for your contract and you’re saying you can’t come now, it means you’re too genuine to be avoided. They brought to him on Church site. Psalm 122:1. Church Gist. Let your dedication come to the point where, when people are think of where to look for you, if they think of house and think of office, that is when you’re meant to be at home and at the office, the next place they can think of is Church, “go to their Church, you’ll find him”. Psalm 122:1.
– is anybody getting anything out of here this morning?
– lift up your right hand, say, “Father, I receive fresh grace for addiction to the house of the Lord”.
Let me give you a caution, don’t let this modern day internet, social media, online, don’t let it destroy your spirituality. They go from strength, every one of them in Zion physically appeareth before the Lord. Psalm 84:7. Church Gist. Not appeareth before the iPad or the TV or the computer – appeareth before the Lord. Appear means you arrived. There’s one that they call ‘online’, that is online prayer in the midnight, that one is defined. But, when you’re meant to be seated, there are people that I’m talking to now, they are at home watching me right now, in Abuja here, in Lugbe here. They’re watching now as I’m talking. Church Gist. That is, they cannot inconvenience themselves, let them cross their legs on their chairs and be watching television and preaching is on, taking note and drinking tea. How do you want God to take your life serious? Church Gist. How brutally serious some of us are with God is the reason why we see some glorious things we can’t testify about.
Let me tell you something, there was a time in my life where I was seeing so much out of the Scripture and when I came to Church, it looked like the person preaching wasn’t saying so much. Church Gist. You know, just scratch it for like 10 minutes. I almost was not getting fed, that was almost enough to keep me back from Church but it was impossible to stay back. So, what I would do, I would come to the Church and sit down and when he says, “our passage for today is so and so”, I will take that passage and begin to jot notes from the passage and by the help of the Holy Spirit. I will be receiving inside the Church from the Word. Church Gist. The oga may think it was what he was saying that I was writing but the Holy Ghost was expanding the same passage for me beyond what he was saying. So, I was not dry. I achieved the attendance from Church and then also got light from Church. Church Gist. There are young people who are off the Church, “all of us are priests, sit at home and teach yourselves”, before you know it, they just get destroyed.
– that will never be your portion!
– lift up your right hand and say, “Father, I receive the grace to be addicted to your House”.
6. The lifestyle of giving.
That giving begins with the tithing. Genesis 8:22. Every lover is a giver. Anywhere they claim there’s love and there’s no giving is fake. “I love my wife, I love my wife” but I’m hiding my money. Fake. Church Gist. Leviticus 27:30. Genesis 14:18-20. Malachi 3:10. Hebrews 7:7-8. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7. Philippians 4:15. Every dedicated child, genuinely dedicated, is a giver, beginning with tithing. One day I traveled, before I came back, my wife had attended a program. We were not Pastors yet, we were just still young Medical Doctors. Church Gist. Before I came back, she had given away my clothes and given other things in a service where they preached sacrifice. She gave our clothes. When I came, I said, “what happened?” She said it was the service. I said, “what happened? Why did you give the clothes?” She said, “the preaching was too touching”. Church Gist. That is our life – from then, till now, till tomorrow. Emptied the account. Cloth is not a testimony today, okay? When you see us dressed, don’t think that we are spending so much money on clothes, it’s flowing. Somebody said, “the shoe I gave to you, I have been watching your leg to see whether you wore it”. I said, “okay. I’m so sorry, I’m going to look for it. I will check to see where the shoe is” because there are shoes that may have been there for 5 years whose carton has not been opened. Church Gist. I can’t be going to look for shoe to buy now, I’m sold out doing other things and God took care of that one. There are things you cannot say so that people will not misunderstand things. Church Gist. If I was a kind of person, it is easy to open a shoe shop from gift of shoes. One day, I gave out about 200 suits to our Pastors as mantles. Not that I went to market to buy and my wife also, the equivalent of it because the seed of it was sown years ago. Do you understand what I’m saying?
There are some people, the way their hand is, it’s as if they applied aradite, super glue, aka-gum, that is, with them and God. Church Gist. It’s easier to put IV line on the back of the tortoise, the way they are with God. There are those who can fast for 21 days, 7 days no food but when it comes to giving, challenge. Beloved, your dedication is confirmable by your liberality towards God.
7. Love for the brethren.
Every dedicated child of God is a lover of the children of God. There’s no way you claim to love me and hate my children. It’s not possible. Church Gist. If you hate my children and you claim to love me, you’re a suspect. Every love for God flows to God’s children. Your commitment to God is your commitment to His own. Some of the things we do is not because we are very eager to spend time and waste energy and everything. Church Gist. After now, we are coming back for the break of fast, after the break of fast, Commanding the Day in the night. Listen, you can travel and say, “let me go and do one week somewhere, two weeks, holiday in Dubai, Paris, America, Hawaii”. I will write application to the Church authority, “can you give me 3 weeks leave?” Do you understand? But here you are praying, fasting, preaching and doing everything, not to show anything but you love God and His people. Church Gist. If I ever had a sleepless night, it is people’s problem. I am such a very rugged person oh, shedding tears under normal circumstances outside Church, I can count in my whole life since I was born whether I’ve shed tears up to 5 times for any reason. My mother saw me crying on the television one day during worship, she started crying at home. Church Gist. She said, “this man that nothing makes him to cry? What is making him to cry?” I can count, that is, something made me to cry in life, I can count it. From beginning till now. They’re saying now that I used to laugh 3 times before night. That is how rugged I was. So, you see me now, somebody is testifying and I’m crying until my nose is blocked and my wife is giving me handkerchief. I say, “how many people are passing through this kind of problem worldwide and this is only one person that has just been helped, how do we help all the people?” Church Gist. Do you understand what I’m saying? And that is happening because the love of God that you have translated into love for His people. John 13:34-35. John 15:12. 1 John 4:7-8. 1 John 4:20. Philippians 2:2-4.
– somebody say Amen!
How can you claim to love God and you hate His child? How can you? You come to Church, children of God, you’re not greeting them. Church Gist. You carry one person as your topic. Party formation, camp formation – “you’re my friend, why are you the friend of that one because that one is my enemy. I saw you people talking one day, what were you talking”. Inside Church. “Since me and this one, we don’t talk and me and you talk, you shouldn’t talk to him”. There are human beings like that. What is that? There are people, if service ends now, greet each other, they can’t greet and what is the matter? “He parked in my parking space; I asked him to stop for me the other day, he refused”. Somebody is talking about chair now, “I put something on my chair, he removed it”. What shall it profit a man if you gained the chair and lose your soul? It is not possible to claim to be a Christian if you don’t love people. Church Gist. I am talking right now, as this service is over, look for that brother and that sister and say, “please, I’m sorry, there’s no need for this contention. You’re my brother, you’re my sister”. Look for that brother and sister.
You don’t make permanent enemies inside a temporary vehicle. You and somebody entered a vehicle and then for one reason or the other, you became enemies and the vehicle will soon drop you and drop him. Church Gist. Am I communicating? Let us be real. Let life and spirituality be real.
– somebody say a loud Amen.
You’re fasting, you’re praying and doing all the other things but you don’t love people, you don’t love the children of God, you don’t love God’s family, it is plus one, minus one. Church Gist. In fact, the love factor can take a person to hell straight when it is absent. In our medical school in those days, there’s an examination they call multiple choice question. Let me give you an example, The heart is an abdominal organ, true or false?; It’s a thoracic organ, true or false?; The heart is responsible for taking in oxygen and bringing out carbon dioxide, true or false? Church Gist. They will give you questions that some are true and some are false about that heart. If it is true and you mark true, you get one mark, if it is false and you say it’s true, you have minus one. They subtract one mark. That’s how we were trained. We were trained so that if you don’t know it, don’t touch it, so you don’t guess when you’re treating people. By the time you finish the exam, atimes, you might have minus 20. Church Gist. That is, you’re owing marks. That is, you’re already owing some marks, they have to look for where to take that mark, maybe from your essay. I am saying that because you have done the fasting, evangelism but you’re not loving people, at the end, you may be owing some marks. Heaven says, you passed here and here but you failed here plenty and that failure passed every success you recorded anywhere else.
– it is a new day!
If there’s anything I want you to take serious, it is love. Husband and wife, you have a problem with somebody, it is not everything you tell your husband or your wife about. Church Gist. You know the reason why? Because your wife may take it to the next level or your husband or you have forgiven but madam is still trying to recover and vice-versa. You don’t report everything, there are things you just finish between you and God. Life is too short to use it to make enemies. Let us use that life to make progress. Church Gist. I spare my wife so many things, too much information, I spare her. Sometimes, somebody say, “I discussed with Daddy so and so things, I’m sure he has informed you”. “No. If you want me to know, tell me yourself”. Of what use is it pouring venom? Church Gist. What is paining you, you can’t handle it, you transfer it to another person. That is, you multiplied the pain.
– Lift up your right hand, say, “Father, I receive your grace to do well”.
Now, let’s go through the points and I will mention the one we are to deal in the second service because all the 14 points are important.
1. Personal devotional life in prayer and Word study
2. A God-glorifying (God-pleasing) lifestyle
3. Soul-winning lifestyle
4. Prayer for the Shepherd
5. Passion for the House of the Lord
6. A lifestyle of giving
7. Love for the brethren.
I’d like you to take the following for the next service just to have it as a point but when we are done, pick up the message for the second service.
8. Routine consecrational fasting.
9. Kingdom representation existence. You live as a representative of Heaven anywhere you’re found. Church Gist. You don’t live for yourself, you live for Heaven.
10. Soul-winning/Revival intercession. As a dedicated child of God, you pray for souls, you pray for the move of God in your generation, you pray for the Kingdom of God to prosper.
11. Prayer for the brethren. It’s part of your schedule to pray for the brethren.
12. Service in the House. You’re not an executive Christian. The chairs are arranged, you don’t know how they are arranged. Church Gist. Things are happening and you’re not concerned. You only come, sit in Church, carry your bag, dress well and go back home. No. Service in the House.
13. The lifestyle of sacrifice. Giving is just baseline but you move beyond giving to sacrifice when the needs arise.
14. Love and care for the needy.
Like I said, we’ll go into details in these ones for the second service. Dedicated people care for needy people the way Jehovah cares for them. Church Gist. We’ll look at all of that. Please ensure that your checklist, you tick it yourself. “How am I faring? Do I care for people in need? Do I pray for the Kingdom or I pray for money and job and for house?” You check the list yourself and the Lord shall help us.
This is the first time in the history of this Church to my notice that we have gone on a list like this. We have mentioned measures of dedication here before but we have not exceeded the highest five. Church Gist. The Lord showed me this in detail. The meaning of this is, we are to take our relationship with God to the next level.
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