I CHOOSE TO SERVE 23: QUALITIES OF GOD’S SERVANT 17

“In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father” Matt. 5:16 (NLT).

Foundation Text: 1 Tim. 3:1-7

A GOOD REPORT:

This is the penultimate episode of this series and I will cite some of the things I highlighted in the prologue. I will love to quote the verse that informed this episode from the foundation test for a clearer understanding, 1 Tim. 3:7.

“Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil” (KJV).

“Also, people outside the church should agree that the man is a good man. Then nobody can say anything to make him ashamed. And so, he will not come under the Devil’s power” (EET).

Did you observe that a good servant of God must have a good report from people outside the faith? I am not talking about unbelievers recommending you because you share in their passion. The truth is that unbelievers can tell if you are a true servant of God or not. Trust me, they have the litmus paper they use that you may be unaware of.

Do not get it twisted, people’s opinion of a servant of God matter. You will be threading a dangerous path if you think that it totally do not matter what people say about you. Granted the voice of the people are not always the voice of God, they still need to see some outward manifestation of who you say you are

The challenge is that we come to church and our lights are almost blinding us. Meanwhile, the people in the dark are the people who should see this light and be illuminated. This is why you see a sister get filled with the Holy Ghost on Sunday and exhibit demonic tendencies on Monday. You also get to see a brother speak in tongues on Sunday and lie in probably other tongues on Monday. Are you doubting it? It is a good thing that you are not.

Well, there is a SHIFT in the scheme of things as it concerns service. It is no longer business as usual. Enough of this light sinning in light that even blinds us to see the shades of darkness in us while in the midst of church folks. It is time to shine our light in darkness for them that are without to see, that is where the shining of light is effective. I still believe in the efficacy of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ verbally, but beyond that, let people see Jesus Christ through our lives and believe in His saving power.

I summarize with these lines from the song “Desperate People” by Micah Stampley: “There’s a people rising, their faces shinning bright. They’ll speak the name of Jesus, as they’re walking towards the light. We will seek his power, his presence and his grace. And we won’t stop pursuing till we see him face to face”.

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Stay blessed.

I CHOOSE TO SERVE 22: QUALITIES OF GOD’S SERVANT 16

“Then you will live lives worthy of the Master, and so please God in every way. Your lives will be fruitful in every good action, and your characters will grow through a fuller knowledge of God” Col. 1:10 (20cNT).

Foundation Text: 1 Tim. 3:1-7

KNOWLEDGEABLE:

Ever wondered why God had to allow 13 years to elapse before allowing David to sit on the throne after he was anointed king of Israel? Do you think that God allowing Joseph to go through all he went through before bringing his dream to reality was to make up a story for a Religious folklore? Lest I forget, do you remember that Moses had to spend 40 years in the palace to be prepared for his life assignment? The list goes on.

Every assignment God has destined us to carry out has a way to go about it. If God is positioning you to make a change in the Music world, he will have to place you in the Music environment. If you are destined to institute the right governance, God will place you in the political environment. To serve effectively, you must learn, unlearn and re-learn. All these are for you to gain knowledge about your area of service.

Knowledge is power. The more you know, the more enlightened you become. One way to know is by study.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” 2 Tim. 2:15 (KJVL).

There is a manual that has been made available to study the way to go about your life assignment; The Word of God. Everyone who ever succeeded in service studied this manual. My mentor always talks about the necessity of studying and acting the script of our lives. I believe this script is embedded in this manual. Jesus took time to study this manual and gained enough knowledge about His assignment in life. That is why He could declare ebulliently his mission in Luke 4:18. David also studied enough to make the declaration in Psalm 40:7-8.

My friend, you need to study this manual to gain enough knowledge on what you need to succeed as God’s servant. An angel may not need to appear to you to tell you about your mission in life like Gideon or a loud voice come from heaven to announce it to you. The script of your life is in the Word of God, and you can only have knowledge of it when you study it.

As you sit down to study the Word of God, your eyes will be opened to see what you need to succeed in the assignment God has given you. Study! Again I say, Study!

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Stay blessed.

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I CHOOSE TO SERVE 21: QUALITIES OF GOD’S SERVANT 15

“He should be a man who rules his own household well, and whose children are kept under control and are well behave” 1 Tim. 3:4 (20cNT).

Foundation Text: 1 Tim. 3:1-7

ABILITY TO COMMAND RESPECT:

In the last episode, I used my childhood experience to introduce it. Well, if it did not go down well with you I sincerely do apologise. I may have overstepped bounds according to maybe your naturally acceptable moral standard, I may have said things that you feel I should not say or you think I should not have used it in the first place. I still do apologise. I am apologizing to you not because I shared a bit of my growing up experience with you, but for how it made you feel. It may have resurrected memories that you have buried in the grave of time, I am deeply sorry about that. I am asking you to bear with me now because I bring you good news of great tidings. I AM ABOUT TO DO IT AGAIN!

I learnt to respect my dad from when I could articulate the things I do. Interestingly, I did not know why. Growing up, I saw my dad as one who would not shout at you but you cannot afford to misbehave. He will leave instructions and I did not need him to spell out the penalty for flouting it to understand I have to keep his instructions. My respect for him was so strong that when he gives me clothes to wash and I search out money, I will gladly return it to him. Do not give me that face, you can ask him if you wish. I respect him that much not because he asks for it, but because he commanded it and so deserved it.

I said this in the leadership series, and I will say it again: You do not demand respect, you command respect. You do not bully people to put them under control and then brag about them giving you maximum respect. They only do what you say because they are afraid of what you will do to them if they go contrary to your instructions. This could be because there is a position you are holding that intimidates them. A true check of respect is when people obey you in the absence of your portfolio.

This calls for self-control. A man who cannot control himself cannot control others. People will respect you if they see you exhibiting the characters you are asking them to exhibit. This is one of the things that have somewhat negated and relegated the impact of Christianity. You cannot tell your congregation to always put their mobile phones on silent or vibration mode and the next phone that rings is yours. Someone will deliberately play his/her ringtone in church the next Sunday. This is the simplest example that I can lay hands on, it gets worse when you delve into these anomalies.

The challenge we are having, especially amongst servants of God is this: We have a lot of people who want people to obey their instructions and yet, they are not ready to do what it takes to earn it. The price for respect is self-discipline. Until you are ready to discipline yourself and earn respect, you are a long way from true service.

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Stay blessed.

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I CHOOSE TO SERVE 20: QUALITIES OF GOD’S SERVANT 14

“But God’s people should be happy with what they have. And they should really live for God. Then they are really rich.” 1 Tim. 6:6 (EET).

Foundation Text: 1 Tim. 3:1-7

NOT COVETOUS:

When I was a kid, I did not have all the things that I wanted. I looked at other kids from relatively rich homes and wished I was born in those homes. At some point I had thought if my mum had married someone relatively wealthier than my dad, maybe I would have been born with a silver spoon. It did not in any way affect the love and respect I had for my dad, I just wished I had more than he was giving to me. Trust me, my dad may not have been the perfect dad to me then (if ever there is any), but he taught me and my siblings contentment. For what it is worth, I am proud of him.

The reason we try to acquire what we do not have is not be because we have nothing, but because we tend to crave for more than we are given. This is the key thing that led to Eve succumbing to the temptation in the garden. I really do not want to bore us with a story that almost all of us are aware of, but have you stopped for a second or two and wondered why the serpent did not go to Adam? Well, let that be a subject for a symposium.

Economists will tell you that man’s wants are insatiable. This means that by the natural scheme of things, the natural man will always crave for more than he has. Maybe you are expecting me to condemn that disposition. But no, I will not completely condemn it. This is because it is a coin of two sides, it all depends on how we channel our desire for more.

The desire for more becomes bad when there is no moderation to it. When one is ready to do anything to get something that he does not have, especially when the desired actually belongs to another person, it is covetousness. And this is not expected of a servant of God. Jesus Christ did not have to intimidate people to get what he wants.

Most churches have branches where pastors can be posted in and out after certain periods of time. My family church is like that and my dad is one the clergymen. Most times I eaves-drop when he chats with his fellow pastors. One of the things I have heard in some of those times is how pastors lobby to be posted in particular branches. One reason being that some of these branches have the tradition of buying brand new cars for any pastor posted there. Some of these pastors go to the extent of painting the already serving pastor black and conniving with the members to ensure that the serving pastor is ousted. As barbaric as this sounds, I will want to accept the possibilities of it happening.

This is a call for repentance to those exhibiting these hideous tendencies, and caution for those who desire to serve God faithfully. If you are reading this and you know you are a culprit, you have to retract and make amends. Like I always say, I do not point out these things to condemn anybody or desecrate the service of God. My strong desire is to see men rise up to serve God and humanity the way it will please God and put the kingdom of God in good light. My prayer today is that God will help us serve him as we should, in Jesus name. Amen!

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Stay blessed.

I CHOOSE TO SERVE 19: QUALITIES OF GOD’S SERVANT 13

“If it is possible, try always to be friends with other people. Try very much not to quarrel with other people” Rom. 12:18 (EET).

Foundation Text: 1 Tim. 3:1-7

NOT A BRAWLER:

If you are a man reading this, do not think that this episode is only for the ladies. I happen to find myself in a society where it is believed that women are more quarrelsome than men. I hope to organize an unbiased debate on this some time and see what experts have to say about it. Although majority of the quarrelsome people I know are women, I have also seen men who take delight in picking quarrels and fights at the smallest opportunity they have. The ones that beat me more are those that actually take delight in orchestrating quarrels and fights. Well, it is either they are not yet born again or they are still a work in progress.

We believe that if one is in Christ Jesus, he becomes a new creature and old things are gone. I do not want to bore you with the theological explanation for that scripture, which is outside the scope of this episode. However, I need to say that salvation is in three parts. First, your spirit is saved when you get born again. Secondly, your soul is being saved as you continue to yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, your body will be saved when Jesus Christ shall come to take the saints home.

Do not be surprised or question someone’s salvation whenever he exhibits a brawling tendency. It may not mean the person is not born again, but he still needs to allow the Holy Spirit do the work of transformation in his life.

Be that as it may, it is expected that a servant of God should have eschewed every brawling nature. A servant of God is not expected to be a brawler, but a peace lover. If you want to serve God effectively, then you need to allow God to deal with every brawling tendency. As you continue to yield yourself to God, you will continually be transformed to the nature God has purposed for you.

If this message blessed you, you are free to share it with anybody or group.

Stay blessed.

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I CHOOSE TO SERVE 18: QUALITIES OF GOD’S SERVANT 12

“In your patience you will gain your souls” Luke 21:19 (KJV 2000).

Foundation Text: 1 Tim. 3:1-7

PATIENCE:

Simple and straight forward, right? Maybe I should say no more on this and just save you the trouble of haven to read something you already know. Or maybe I should find out if you know that patience has different forms and applications. Now you are wondering “what on earth is he talking about?”. Well save your strength, I will help you.

Before now, I was like majority of the people reading this now that knows the different synonyms for patience; forbearance, long-suffering, sufferance, tolerance, endurance etc. But what I failed to realize was the different applications of these synonyms. I am going to take the next few paragraphs to highlight briefly the different applications of patience.

Patience can be seen as bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint. Did you get that last part? Patience goes beyond bearing pains and trials. I know you have been doing that, but there is more to it in the school of patience. The question is; have you been bearing your pains and trials without complaint? Now you see why you why you lose your cool even though you are bearing your pains and trials.

Patience is the ability to forbear under provocation or strain. I have come to realize that there are people whose job is to always test your patience. They will stop at nothing to see you lose your cool. Most times, it is really not to see the kind of person you are when you are provoked, but to relish the sight of seeing you act out of character. A patient man will keep his cool no matter how far you are strained.

Patience is not being hasty or impetuous. There is a difference between being hasty and being swift. Hasty men are most times inarticulate and end up crashing. On the other hand, swiftness is moving at a great speed. The movement is first articulated and initiated before speed comes. Hasty people are always impetuous. They will want to do anything to get what they want, including violence.

Now someone will ask me if it is possible to exhibit these traits. Well, the answer is yes. Patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. You can only bear that fruit if you yield yourself to the Holy Spirit.

Patient men are not cowards. On the contrary, they are winners, overcomers, champions and victorious people. Try patience and see how your life will turn out.

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Stay blessed.

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I CHOOSE TO SERVE 17: QUALITIES OF GOD’S SERVANT 11

“Just as I myself try to please everybody in every way. I don’t look out for my own benefit, but rather for the benefit of many people, so that they might be saved” 1 Cor. 10:33 (ISV).

Foundation Text: 1 Tim. 3:1-7

NOT GREEDY OF FILTHY LUCRE:

This series is getting more literal and practical than I anticipated. I thought I would just give us some scriptural basics and we figure out the rest, but it has pleased the Holy Spirit to take me in this direction. Personally, I do not like talking about the awful things that servants of God do. I prefer to focus on the positives I can get from them and let them allow God deal with their negatives. I guess the Holy Spirit pushes us out of ourselves sometimes to do the needful.

The issue I am dealing with in this episode is something that has raised serious debate among us, especially in the religious set ups. Should a man of God demand a fee for his services? Is giving men of God honorarium the right thing to do or rather biblical? These debates have seen the church divide in two extremes in their opinions. And interestingly, these stands are backed up with scriptures. One now begins to wonder if the Bible, which we believe carries the mind of God in written form, is orchestrating confusion in some of these issues.

Well, like the previous issue on servants of God taking alcoholic drinks, the bible provides us with the solution to this problem (that has made some pastors look like villains). The day I encountered the scripture for this episode, my whole perception about honorarium for men of God changed towards the positive angle. Service should be more of giving than taking.

Two key words stood out from that scripture; greed and lucre. GREED is a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed. LUCRE is simply monetary gain (of course you should know what FILTHY LUCRE will now mean). If you come to the rendezvous of these two words, you will realize they talk about an overly attention given to money by servants of God. This is the issue that has to be addressed, and it is an individual thing with God’s servants.

Personally, I trust God to open doors of wealth and money for me as I do His work. But I would not want it to be a premium at the expense of perishing souls. That was Paul’s conclusion of the matter, and that is my stand on the matter too. As a servant of God, let the desire to save lost souls be of primary importance to you than what you will gain.

If this message blessed you, you are free to share it with anybody or group.

Also feel free to share your comments on these issues on any platform you are reading from or send a private comment on my blog site below. I will love to get a feedback from you.

Stay blessed.

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(Transforming the World through the Word)

I CHOOSE TO SERVE 16: QUALITIES OF GOD’S SERVANT 10

“However, the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” James 3:17 (ISV).

Foundation Text: 1 Tim. 3:1-7

NOT VIOLENT (PEACE LOVING):

“The kingdom of God suffereth violence and only the violent takes is by force”. You are familiar with this quotation right? You have used it literally before, haven’t you? Stop trying to run it off, you know what I am talking about. Before you continue with that sanctimonious hypocrisy, just know that I am also as guilty as charged. As a matter of fact, I have listened to countless preachers use it in messages that has to do with anger. Do not get it twisted, you have the right to be angry but you must not get violent about it.

Often times, a lot of people use this quotation to justify their violent and haughty nature. I am not overlooking the fact that some people have violent tendencies, but that still does not justify violence. It is a weakness that needs God’s help and not an issue to brag about. I do not know how best to share what the Holy Spirit is laying in my heart, but I trust He will explain it better in your heart.

I have seen Pastors pull their clerical collars and fight members in Church. It does not mean that God has not called them, but there is a violent tendency that God needs to deal with. I am always careful to talk about Pastors, meanwhile my dad is one. I only point out some of these flaws to help both Pastors and those who are serving God in any capacity, including myself.

I would have loved to share with us some keys to overcoming your violent nature, but I will deal with that in subsequent series. However, irrespective of whatever stepped down keys I will share, the ultimate solution is in Gal. 5:16: “So, this is what I am saying to you. Live by the power that God’s Spirit gives. And let him lead you. Then you will not do any wrong things that, as a human person, you may sometimes want to do” (EET). As you yield yourself to the leading of God’s Spirit, God will help you overcome your violent tendencies in Jesus name, Amen.

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Stay blessed.

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I CHOOSE TO SERVE 15: QUALITIES OF GOD’S SERVANT 9

“Do not drink too much wine, because that will cause bad things. It will stop you ruling yourself properly. But instead, let God’s Spirit fill you” Eph. 5:18 (EET).

Foundation Text: 1 Tim. 3:1-7

NOT GIVEN TO WINE:

We are back here again. The last time I treated this issue of drinking wine, the response and feedback was amazing. Please there is a caveat: the wine in this context is any alcoholic drink. Haven said that, we can move forward. I will still throw pointers to some things I said before. The only difference this time is the purpose of this episode. The other time I treated this was to address a misconception, but this time, I am dealing with something deeper.

There is a question I have heard a lot of people ask, I believe you too have asked and I am not an exception. Should a servant of God take alcoholic drinks? Interestingly, any side of the answer you chose to take is okay. If you say a servant of God should take alcoholic drinks, you are right. If you say a servant of God should not take alcoholic drinks, you are right as well. It all depends on your personal relationship with God.

The drinking of alcohol should not form moral arguments amongst servants of God, in my opinion though. It is very distracting and should be given little or no priority. I think what we should be dealing with is the addiction or the excessive intake of it. If you believe servants of God should take alcohol, then there has to be moderation. That is what the Bible teaches.
We should not be so given to alcohol that we lose control of ourselves. If you must take alcoholic drinks, let the purpose be well defined and prescription followed (for medical cases). There is no doubting it that excessive intake of alcohol can be intoxicating and lead to losing control of oneself. I can boldly testify to what excessive intake of alcohol can do.

Remember we said earlier that the servant of God must have good sense of judgement. This cannot be achieved under the influence of alcohol. I admonish us today to pay more attention to the filling and leading of the Spirit of God, rather than losing our minds to irrelevant things like alcohol. 
  
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I CHOOSE TO SERVE 14: QUALITIES OF GOD’S SERVANT 8

“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” 2 Tim. 2:2 (KJVL).

Foundation Text: 1 Tim. 3:1-7

APT TO TEACH:

Knowledge is power, and I believe it. What you know that others do not know makes you a master in any field. This is what informs workplace hierarchy. In the academia for instance, you have different categories of people. You have the students and the lecturers. Among the students, there are some that are more knowledgeable than others. Among the lecturers, you have those with M.sc, PhD and the Professors. All these are based on their different levels of acquired knowledge.

In the secular setting, you see that people try to intimidate others because they are supposedly more knowledgeable. They hoard what they know for fear of being out-shined by others. Most of these people do not have protégés, just because they do not want to pass on what they know. In most tertiary educational institutions today, the Lecturer-Student relationship is a big sham. Lecturers end up intimidating students to the point that the latter is scared of learning from the former. God will definitely help us in this regard. This is not my interest today. However, I started on this note to bring this anomaly to light.

Before now, there was a concept of Master-Servant relationship that existed. A master gets one servant, tutors and grooms him on the things that needs to be known. The master invests resources to ensure that the servant is well knowledgeable. The master ensures that the servant learns all there is to learn. He is not doing all that because he has special love for that servant. On the contrary, he is teaching that servant so the servant can step down what he knows to other servants and save the master the trouble of haven to teach every single servant.

As a servant of God, whatever he teaches you is not for you alone. It is not for you to carry yourself about as the Master’s delight. God teaches you so you can teach others. The reason Jesus did all the teaching He did with his disciples is so they can learn from him. When he was about to leave, he gave them the great commission which part of it is to teach (Matt. 28:20).

I like to say this: if you are not ready to teach what you have learnt, you are not ready to serve. The more you serve the Lord, the more experience you gather. It is expected that you pass on these experiences to others who might not be as experienced as you are. It is an anomaly when there is no one to fill in for you when you are not around. I know you are tempted to tell me that it makes you relevant. Well, I am bursting your bubbles today. There is no hierarchy of relevance in God’s service. Seeking for relevance in the service of God is an aberration.

Finally I want you to understand that teaching does not make you any less knowledgeable, rather it gives you a platform to learn more. If you have so much that you know and you hoard it to your grave, well it will matter to nobody. But if you are a teacher, your impact will speak long after you are gone. Take that decision to teach what you know and God will expose you to more knowledge.  

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Stay blessed.
  
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