I was again invited to speak at Dayo Adelaja's church (The Believer's Gracelife Ministries) again in 2014. And this time around, I wasnt given 10 minutes for a charge, I was given about 30 minutes for a ministration.
Enjoy..........
Who Am I? (August 2014).
This is an awakening, It is supposed to stir up a hunger for
self-discovery in you.
The first thing that comes to mind is a movie by ‘Jackie
Chan’ titled, ‘Who am I?’ In the movie, Jackie Chan had an accident, found
himself in a strange place without his memory. He was blank. A great fighter
was made to suffer like a weakling, this continued till he regained his sense
of Identity.
I know I live in Ishaga, when coming from Agege, at Fagba
junction, I wont make a left turn, I know I have to keep going straight, this
is because I have a sense of Identity. When you have a sense of Identity, you
can never get it wrong.
They always say, ‘the grave yard has the highest reserve of
talents’, it is true, most people died without having that real sense of
identity of who they were.
In the bible, Peter always thought he was a fisherman, he
did not know he was a fisher of men until Jesus showed up. Pastor Tunde Bakare
once said that everywhere Peter was associated with fishing in the bible, it
was always a case of futile struggle.
He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the
people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
"Put out into deep water, and let down[b] the nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we've worked
hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let
down the nets." (Luk 5:3-5 NIV)
"I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them,
and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the
boat, but that night they caught nothing. (Joh 21:3 NIV)
If an elephant thinks it is a whale, It will definitely
attempt to go swimming, and only one thing will happen: it will drown.
If a dog grows up in the midst of sheep, it will start
eating grass and do things the way sheep do them. He would even fine tune its
barking, so it can sound like a sheep too.
In some houses, lions and tigers are kept as pets. They are
groomed with milk and other sorts of meal. Imagine, a whole King of the jungle
been raised as a domestic cat. That’s the greatest loss of identity. What is a
lion if it doesn’t hunt down huge animals and have a nice meal?
Joseph knew he was, he knew he wasn’t a sex slave to
Potiphar’s wife. He knew he was a responsible leader in the making, so he had
no problem acting as such. He knew he was a child of God and dared not sin
against God.
……and after a while his master's wife took notice of
Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he refused. "With me in
charge," he told her, "my master does not concern himself with
anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one
is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me
except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing
and sin against God?" (Gen 39:7-9 NIV)
Daniel knew he was a vessel of God, so he refused to defile
himself with the king’s food.
But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal
food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile
himself this way. (Dan 1:8 NIV)
The sons of Eli did not understand who they were. They did not understand the delicate position they were holding. They were sons
of God’s priest, yet they believed they were hooligans. They were acting all
over the place like terrorists and militants.
Eli's sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the
LORD. (1Sa 2:12 NIV)
You can’t escape life without pain. Like Bishop Oyedepo will
always say: “You have to choose between the “PAIN OF DISCIPLINE” and the “PAIN
OF REGRET”. Acting like who you are usually come with a sacrifice which is the
pain of discipline and this doesn’t last long, but many can’t withstand that.
They end up with the pain of regret which is usually everlasting.
It’s not where you are that matters, but what you are doing
there. You coming to church means nothing. It is what you do in church that
matters. You knowing who you are is not enough, it is what you do with that
knowledge that matters.
This leads me to a very scary story in the bible. This man
was extremely powerful, he is probably the strongest man ever. He massacred wild
animals, killed thousands of philistines with a jawbone. But there was one
thing: he did not respect himself, although he knew who he was, he at times did
not act like it.
He was patronizing prostitutes, Imagine a Nazarene of the
Lord doing things that only yahoo boys should be found doing.
. He knew who he was, but then he did not act as such. We
all know the end of his story. He was destroyed by a woman.
One
day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the
night with her. (Jdg 16:1 NIV)
Don’t lose who you are because of the hunger for riches. I
tell you, if you look up to Dangote, he can’t give you more than what he has.
If you look up to your father, he can’t give you more than what he has. Your ‘maga’
can’t give you more than what she has. There is one man you can look up to, what he
has is infinite. One man who is richer than all the billionaires of this world,
he actually gave them all that they have.
The earth is the
LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; (Psa 24:1 NIV)
And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious
riches in Christ Jesus. (Php 4:19 NIV)
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the
LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope
and a future. (Jer 29:11 NIV)
Don’t miss all these by focusing on things that don’t worth
it. You can’t be richer than your source. Once a man is your source, you can
never be richer than him. Why not make the ever wealthy God your source.
I’ll close with a quote from the movie 3 idiots “Don’t chase
success, chase excellence and success will chase after you”
Develop yourself into someone money can chase. At least we
all see how football clubs chase after players. In a transfer, they pay some of
them millions of pounds in sign on fees. They have spent hours on the training
pitch chasing excellence, Its no surprise that success and wealth Is now
chasing them.
Friends, discover who you are and start acting like who you
are.
Thank you.
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