Why we appreciate God in Thanksgiving

Messages for December 2016: Our Month of Gratitude and Praise

Ps.92:1-2; Philippians 4:6-7; Ps.100:4; Lk.17:12-19; 1Thess.5:18 & Heb.10:35-36

Message for Sunday the 11^th of December 2016

Theme: Understanding the power in Appreciating the Lord

Topic: Why we appreciate God in Thanksgiving

Introduction: We learn from Ps.103:7 the distinction between Moses and the children of Israel. We must have wondered why several times, just after seeing the act of God, the children of Israel would immediately begin to provoke God with their murmuring and complaining. Then we wonder whether they are learning anything or not. This situation persisted until God had to eliminate an entire generation for their ingratitude.

The distinction between Moses and the children of Israel was that Moses knew the ways of God whereas the children of Israel merely knew his acts. The result was that Moses could command his acts at will. The children of Israel on the other hand never saw a way out of their challenges until Moses who knew the ways of God helped them out. A major way of God we shall therefore be looking at today is the way of gratitude which would enable us command his acts and not fall prey like the children of Israel.

Why we must be thankful to God:

We must therefore be thankful to God for the following reasons:

1.     Thanksgiving is a good thing and therefore not being thankful is a bad thing. God is good and can only be associated with good things. See Ex.34:6; Ps.92:1-2.

2.     Thanksgiving takes you from a request zone to a request free zone because whatever you are thankful for appreciates and causes God to show you more favour. See the example of the story of the ten lepers in Lk.17:12-19.

3.     It is doing God’s will and when we do God’s will, we are blessed. See 1Thess.5:18; Heb.10:35-36; Jos.1:8 and Jas.1:22-25.

4.     It is the means by which we secure heaven’s attention. See Ps.100:4 and Philippians 4:6.

Lessons from the grateful ex leper in Lk.17:12-19

1.     Ten of them came for help from the Lord and all ten followed the Lord’s instruction to go and show themselves to the priests and make the legal sacrifices as required by the Law of Moses. They all obeyed to go but were cleansed on the way there.

2.     When he saw he was cleansed, he paused to go and give thanks to the Lord. His thanksgiving was so loud as to draw the attention of the Lord to bring Him to a standstill.

3.     The Lord asked if he was the only one cleansed and why the others did not do likewise. This shows that God wants us to be thankful in this way. Many of us postpone sharing our testimonies of God’s goodness. This is not what God wants from us.

4.     The man was a Samaritan and therefore not in covenant like the other nine who we can infer from the Lord’s statement that they were Jews. The Lord referred to him as “this stranger”. Meaning the others were not strangers. They took God for granted and became too grounded to be thankful.

5.     Unlike the other nine ex lepers who were merely cleansed, the faith of this man expressed through thanksgiving made him whole. The implication is that he was left with no evidence that he was ever a leper! God gave him a brand new life.

With this, we shall bring our message for today to a close here. Meanwhile someone may be reading this who has just come to terms with his or her ingratitude in not receiving the gospel in spite of all the attempts of the Lord to reach him or her over the years and is now willing to act on this challenge by giving his or her life to Christ in appreciation of the Lord’s Calvary trip for him or her. You can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will be born again and experience more and more reasons to be thankful on a dialing basis:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.

Appreciating God’s goodness this year

Messages for December 2016: Our Month of Gratitude and Praise

2Chron.20:1-24; Ps.67:5-7; 149; 150; Luke 17; 12-19; Acts 16:25

Message for Sunday the 4^th of December 2016

Theme: Understanding the power in Appreciating the Lord

Topic: Appreciating God’s goodness this year

Introduction: some years back, I was reading a very interesting piece about the power of what we say has over the work of our hands. I understand that an experiment was carried out where some crops planted were divided into two sections and to one section, the farmers spoke negative words over and to the other, the farmer spoke positive words over. The two sets of plants were nurtured alike but for the words spoken over them.

After a while, the crops over which positive words were spoken blossomed while the one over which negative words were spoken began to wither in spite of the similar great condition or their environments. I came to a conclusion after that study that what you do not appreciate would ultimately depreciate. In the same way if we do not appreciate our relationship with God, it would depreciate and that is not a place we want to find ourselves.

The good hand of the Lord has been there for us:

From the time of our conception in our mothers’ wombs, God’s hand has been the one keeping us to the point where we can grow up to old age and not have any situation where any of our body parts would require a replacement because of his carelessness. He has been faithful. All the evil that has befallen humanity has been sin actuated. When we give up sin and give in to Him, he keeps us and fulfills His word of health and protection over our lives. We must therefore appreciate God for the following reasons:

He created and made us: Ps. 33:6 & 9 tells us that God created the heavens by the word of His mouth.  Also, we are called to worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord our God and maker Ps.95:3-7. Also Ps.100:3 tells us that we are God’s product and we did not make ourselves.

He protects us: When his people were few in number and strangers in the Promised Land, He did not permit anyone to do them wrong. He reproved kings for their sakes saying they should not touch His anointed and should not do his prophets any harm. See 1Chron.16:19-22 and Ps.105:12-15. From the end of last year, He told us that this year shall be our year of divine exemption from all evil and he has since kept his word.  See also Ps.91:7.

He provides for us even when others around us are in lack: Just as He told us concerning this year that like it was in Goshen when God sent his plague on Egypt so would it be for us this year and it has been so. When the Egyptians were selling themselves for food, Israel was buying property and building. See Gen.47:20-21 & 27. This year, He has provided so much for us that we were able to provide support for others.

He guides us in the way of life: The Lord Jesus Christ promised us that when the Spirit of truth comes, He would guide us into all truth. Since the Holy Spirit came, that is what He has been doing and this has kept us in the way of life. See Jn.16:13-14; Is.58:11 and Prov.12:28. Through divine guidance this year, a Church arm has been planted in Nigeria together with a branch. Also through divine guidance, the Ghana branch has also planted another branch. Through these branches, more people would be raised to harvest with us and know the Lord intimately!

He gives us eternal life: With the sin of Adam came death on the entire human race. At the fullness of time, God sent his only begotten son to take our place in death and suffer the punishment we would have suffered eternally for our sin so that we could gain access to him that we lost in the fall of Adam. With this access comes eternal life which is the relationship we enjoy from knowing God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This relationship is what has given us exemption from all the evil around us. See Jn.17:1-4; Col.1:25-29 and 1Cor.15:21-22. This year, we have seen God save many through his word on this altar and He has helped us to plant some Churches as well.  Also, this year, God has helped us to train and raise more people to hear His voice and be led by Him into our high places.

More could be said for why we should appreciate God because we cannot exhaust counting our blessings but for space and time, we shall stop here for now. Meanwhile, there may be someone here to whom all these may be strange because you have faced so much trouble that eternal life seem farfetched to you. To that one, I have good news, you can get acquainted with eternal life right away by saying the following prayer out loud to become born again and commence this new life: 

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.    

Welcome to the month of December 2016: Our Month of Gratitude and Praise

Welcome to the month of December 2016: Our Month of Gratitude and Praise

2Chron.20:1-24; Ps.67:5-7; 149; 150; Luke 17; 12-19; Acts 16:25

As I meditated on the word for the month, I recall what the Lord just told me concerning the month of December 2016 thus:

“You shall be bursting forth with gratitude to me this December and as you and your team come to show your appreciation of me, I will do great and terrible things in righteousness. I am the Lord.”

The Lord has graciously declared this month to be our month of gratitude and praise. He said to me among other things that He brought to my mind the remembrance of the song of gratitude he gave to me earlier this year because that is the mood He wants us in. He said He has been good to us even if we do not say it. He said He is taking us through this month of December with a greater awareness of his presence with us.

To this end, this month, in addition to the Kingdom Heirs tradition of lifting up gratitude for the year being concluded and praise for the coming year, we shall be building capacity to accommodate His greater presence with us by praying in the spirit for the first two hours of each of the twelve days representing a month of the concluding year and a month of next year. This program will start on the first day of December and be concluded on the twelfth day.

 As we appreciate the Lord in gratitude and praise this year, we shall enjoy His greater grace as the year terminates and throughout next year.

We cannot deny that God has indeed been faithful to us. He declared 2016 to be our year of divine exemption from all evils and told us that while others are begging to feed, we shall be feeding others and buying land and building houses. All these have come to pass this year as He told us.

As a Ministry, we have planted more Churches this year. The Accra Church has planted a baby Church and from Kingdom Heirs United States, the Nigerian Church has been planted this year on the twelfth of June in Badagry on our own property and also in this same year in October the young Nigerian Church has planted a branch Church in Tosuvi Badagry LGA of Lagos state.  God helped us to start developing our property in Badagry, and now we have built a Church hall there.

This year, the Lord enabled me to buy property and build my own house from where I am writing this now. What can I say about our testimonies from Ghana? Time would fail me to mention all.

This year, God gave us the grace to start developing our Ama krom branch Church property in Ghana and as I speak, in Nigeria, we have three building projects going on by the hand of God. Indeed, this is a month of gratitude and praise for us. As we celebrate the Lord this month, He would indeed do terrible things in righteousness.

As I draw the curtain here, I want to say a big thank you also to all who have joined me to partner with God to see His word come to pass for us as individuals, families and ministries. The Lord will bless and cause His face to shine on us all in Jesus name.

            For a better understanding of the word of the Lord to us for the month, we shall be looking at a series I want to call understanding the power in Appreciating the Lord. In addition, in all of our services this month, we shall be lifting up high praises to God to enable us execute the judgement the Lord has written against all our adversaries. I see each of us entering next year in grand style by the hand of the Lord. Please remember that what His mouth has spoken, His hand is able to bring to pass.

            Someone may be reading this and desiring to partake of this grace. I have good news for you; you can partake of it if you belong to the family of God. Should you desire to belong, it starts by becoming initiated into God’s family through the new birth experience. If you want this experience, you can receive it right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.    

Engaging the Holy Spirit for Evangelism

Messages for November 2016: Our Month of Evangelism

Message for Sunday the 27^th of November 2016

Theme: understanding the Publication of the Gospel

Topic: Engaging the Holy Spirit for Evangelism

Jn.14:26; 16:7-13; Acts 1:8; Rm.8:11; 26; 1Cor.12:1-11; Jude 1:20

Introduction: When the Lord had fulfilled His earthly mission on His first advent, He promised His disciples that He was not going to leave them comfortless but that He was going to send them the comforter who He described as the Holy Spirit. He promised many things the Holy Spirit would accomplish in His absence for us. All of these accomplishments of the Holy Spirit are aimed at helping us effectively represent the Lord and testify of Him to a lost world. See Jn.16:7-13

 Thus engaging the ministry of the Holy Spirit in evangelism is the greatest and the best way to get the job of the harvest to which we have been entrusted done. We are therefore going to be looking at the Ministry of the Holy Spirit in evangelism today to enable us understand how we can take advantage of His presence in our lives to win the lost world to the Lord Jesus Christ.

How the Holy Spirit helps us to evangelize: To take advantage of this great gift of God to us in evangelizing, we must first understand that He is God’s special gift to us and therefore cannot be bought with money or earned by good works. He is God’s gift which we must receive by faith to take advantage of. See Acts 1:4-8; Acts 2:38-39; Acts 19:2 and Acts 8:18-24.

Steps to take to involve the Holy Spirit in Evangelism:

1.     The first step anyone must take to be involved in this great harvest is the new birth experience. It is the disciples who are told to make disciples of all nations; not all men. You must first belong; your access point is to be born again. It is only those who are born again that have the privilege to lead other people to Christ. See Jn.3:3-7 and Rm.10:8-10.

2.     The next step is to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. [He has been here since that day of Pentecost when the first century Church first received Him in Acts 2.] This is evidenced in speaking in other tongues as the Holy Spirit empowers you. This is the access point to the supernatural because the Holy Spirit will give you His language which only God and His own angels understand. Also the infilling with the Holy Spirit is one of the signs that marks out a believer and separates him or her from the world. See 1Cor.14:2; 1Cor.13:1 and Mk.16:17.

3.     Pray to God to send labourers into His harvest and ensure you enlist as a labourer. As a labourer, you become an answer to prayer and are instrumental in bringing the good news to others. Some would believe and be saved and some would not believe and be damned. See Mk.16:16; Mt.9:37-38; Lk.10:2 and Jn.4:34-38.

4.     Pray in the Holy Spirit daily to build spiritual capacity for the work of evangelism and be in tune with the Holy Spirit so that He can always use you to help people to know Him. Even when we do not know what and how we should pray, the Holy Spirit will help our weakness. See Rm.8:11 and 26. With His help, we cannot pray amiss [Jas.4:3].

5.     The Holy Spirit will lead you to specific places and people He has prepared to harvest and the work is made easy for you. See the example of Philip helping the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8:26-40. Also see Acts 16:7-10.

6.     We must demonstrate the gospel we preach by signs and wonders. To move in this realm, we have to understand that we can only work signs and wonders as the Holy Spirit wills and in obedience to His promptings [1Cor.12:11]. This is why we pray in the spirit always to enable us build capacity to hear him easily and obey Him promptly.  Signs happen when you hear a divine command and promptly obey. See Acts 14:8-11; Jn.5:19-22; 30.

7.     When we demonstrate the gospel we preach with signs, multitudes will gather to hear us and be saved because people will not believe except they see signs. Signs are proofs of divine approval. See Jn.4:49; 20:25; 5:36; Acts 2:22 and Mt.4:23-25.

As we come to the end of our month of evangelism, let us understand that it is the beginning of ministering to the lost with greater impact for us and that this habit of evangelism will not pass with this month but will live with us until Jesus comes.

Meanwhile, someone may be reading this that is yet to make a decision for Christ and has just seen the need for this decision and desires to do so right now, you can do it now by saying the following prayer out loud in faith:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.