SUFFICIENT GRACE

SUFFICIENT  GRACE. Luke 15: 10

By Elder Thomas Olonde

GRACE is the unmerited favor of God or we can define it using its acronym. God Reaching Us at Christ Expense.

Jesus gave a parable in the midst of the murmuring of the Pharisees and the scribes.

He gives them the reason why he received and accept the publican and the sinners.

A parable in the essence is an earthly story with the heavenly meaning.

 In the both the parables Jesus adores the fact that God is pleased with the conversion of the sinners by power of the sufficient grace. How he is ready to receive andentertain such upon their repentance. He demonstrates the magnitude of God's grace for those who repents.

In the parable God is presented as A COMMON FATHER TO ALL MANKIND TO THE FAMILY OF ADAM.

We all have one father, the creator of all.

 Malachi 2:11"Have we not all one father? Hath not one God created us?"

And in him we live and have our being we exist from him and for him.

Col 1:16" For by him were all things created that are in heaven andearth, visible andinvisible whether they be  thrones or dominions or principalities or power : all thing were created by him and for him. "

Our lord here reminds the proud Pharisees that these publication and sinners whom they despise were their brethren andpartakers of the same nature. Therefore they should  and a ought to be glad when they are shown mercy and  kindness. For God is God  not only  to the Jews  but also  to the Gentiles  Roman  3:29.The same lord over all that is rich in mercy to all that call upon his name.

The parable also represents

THE CHILDREN OF MEN AS OF DIFFERENT CHARACTER   THOUGH ALL ARE RELATED TO GOD AS THEIR COMMON FATHER.

He had two son, one is solid grave youth reserved , and sober but not good humored  to those around  him .This one hears and adheres to his instructions and want to stay around  him.

While the other son is impatient roving and willing  to try his fortune.

One that dares to stay away and want to stay away and enjoy life on his own

The first son represent the Jews in General, particularly, the Pharisees and the scribes.

Jesus has endeavored to make them understand how God's favor works.

The younger son presents the publican andsinners and the Gentiles whom he was trying to bring to repentance.

The prodigal son's character is designed to represent the natural state of a sinner.

He went and begged his father to give him what belonged to him and after it was given to him, he journeyed to a far away country where he spent extravagantly.

His attitude towards his father shows one who thinks his father owed him his wealth. Therefore he wanted what belonged to him. He looked at his father as a debtor, that is why he needed a portion of goods the falleth to him.

WE SHOULDN'T LOOK UNTO GOD AS DEBTOR.GOD DOESN'T OWE US HIS GRACE.

He gives us his grace freely as a gift of his love. The gift of life he has given to us shouldn't be treated as a gift due to us. This man didn’t ask for a apart of it, but all his part share.

He wanted to manage his own gift which is his life, and he thought going far away will help him or give him the freedom to manage his life as he wanted

The problem with sinners is  that they only look at the things that are seen but the things that ruin them is that they always  want their  portion in their hands.

let look at what  sinners think and do.

The young man was weary of his fathers’ government and of his good discipline and order in his family and he craved for liberty

A.     He was willing to set away from his father watch: shyness of God and willingness to disbelieve his omniscience is the desire of the wicked people. We find it difficult  to believe that God knows  everything  and that  our future  is in his hand.

B.     He was disrespectful of his fathers’ management that is why he asked for what belonged

C.     He was proud of himself; he thought that he was a better manager than his father and may be could bring a better income. Pride comes before a fall

We see here the kind of God we serve

-          He is a kind father who means well for his children

a)     He gives them grace and free will to choose

b)     He gives them free gift of life and breathe

c)      He is kind to even the evil and unthankful. He makes the sun to shine on both and make the rain to do the same for both.

d)     He divided to them as the prodigal  son requested .God the Father has divided  a gift of life to everyone.

e)      God has given us life in order that we may have the capacity to serve and glorify Him

Three facts of life in respect  to this study.

1) we cannot  afford  to stay away from our father's presence  in in one moment, without him we will fail and life will be miserable.

2)We need the fatherly support  and protection on  a daily  basis.

3)Without  the father's  intervention  we are doomed  and lost and to say the least dead in our trespasses.

Let’s look at how we spend our life when we asked to manage it

-          It didn’t take long before he turned to be a beggar having spent his wealth as fast as he could. If God leaves us just for a moment to manage ourselves When God takes His grace off from us we will soon be gone

-          Sinners who are determined to go away from God’s protection to so called freedom usually gather everything all together mostly  they always  want go away  in far country where none can notice who they and where they come from.

-          Brethren  we have all come from the father and  with him we must stay put because we are safer and protected under his care.

-          These conditions of the prodigal son represent a sinful state

-          It is a miserable state into which man has fallen

1.       It is a sinful state to departure and distance oneself from God

It’s a state of running, revolting or rebellion from God. The sinners run away far and beyond end in the country of sin and take their residence and found home and they begin to serve and enjoy and spend all in their life in a miserable way from God the giver of life.

2.      A sinful state is a spending state

He wasted his substance with Verse 13 – 20 devoured it with harlots and all the of  life

3.      A sinful state is a wanting state V. 14

Remember willful waste brings woeful wants. He has thrown away mercy, his desire of God, his interest in Christ is has completely diminished. He is alone and lonely.

The striving of the spirit and admonition of the conscience. They have given away all these for pleasure or sense and of the wealth of the world and  are  ready to perish for their wants of them

In this state God’s favor and blessings is not experienced, they are miserable without hope. The challenge is that sinners bring themselves into this condition and keep themselves in it by refusing the grace of God that can be attained by faith in repentance.

4.      A sinful state is a state of slavery V.15 now he begins to work the most horrible  jobs of the Jew.

A) taking of  care of swine would  be the least that a  Jewish  would do before  he dies.

5.      A sinful state is a state of perpetual dissatisfaction

He never got satisfied; he was not comfortable eating swine feed V.16,he was not fed anything  he was hungry  and could  get his need for food satisfied

6.      A sinful state is a state of not expecting any relief from any creature. Nobody gave him anything to eat

7.      A sinful state is a state of death

8.     A sinful state is a lost state. V.24

9.      A sinful state is a state of madness and frenzy V.17

Having no sense of why he left his father.

Lastly he came to his senses and realized what his father own, the servants and the animals and the food.he said 17 how many hired servants of my father's  have bread enough to spare and I perish  with hunger!

18  I will arise  and go to  my father  and I will say unto him,Father I have sinned  against  heaven  and before thee.19 and am no more  worthy to be called thy son: make me one of your hired servants.

THAT IS WHAT BROKE THE FATHER'S HEART.

Am not worthy, and make make one of your hired servants.

 God is happy  when you take the responsibility  of sin committed, whether be of commission  or omissions.

In other words am in your hand ,do with me what you do with  poor sinners but my request  is that I rather be your hired servant. I have messed up my relationship and am rotten without any worth, have mercy on me.

RAISING A GODLY GENERATION

RAISING  A GODLY GENERATION.

BY ELDER Thomas Olonde

As a nation we are being faced with a lot of challenges that needs to be addressed.  It seems to me   that the solution to all this challenges lies with the youths therefore it is important to seek for the solution together.

As a result of these challenges a lot of  young people have taken up research in order to find out the remedies to this our world problem.

 However, our remedy will not bear fruit if we don't begin right and ask the right question nevertheless, our troubles and challenges will only be sorted out if we start with GOD who is the author and perfector of our faith.

That is why  it is important to talk about a Godly Generation. God has given us an inheritance which is the world. It is  meant to be dominated  and subdued hence  taken care  of by God`s children and it  is going to be difficult to  do that unless we know the creator of the universe and the purpose of our existence.

The questions to start  with is, do we have this generation that is called Godly generation?   is It possible to raise up a godly generation at this time and age?  what is the meaning of godly generation?

To answer this challenge let us first of all define the statement of the word.

To raise simply means to bring up, while Godly, according to this statement is an attitude that is God oriented and is geared to make God happy.

 Generation according to bible dictionary is a body of people who live at the same time in a given period of history.

 Deuteronomy 32:1-5 Moses describes one generation that God wanted to perfect because of their corruption, crookedness and rebellion. God called them in v5 that they have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children. They are perverse and crooked generation.

Generation is roughly synonymous with word age, just as we can say our age is characterized by love of technology. Mathew 11:16 JESUS described another generation which was numb totally out of serious sense of agency.

 In Luke 9:41 Jesus called them a perverse generation, they were faithless and didn't have any sense of direction. Godly generation in nutshell is an offspring that are born and brought up with a heart that is God oriented. An attitude that craves to know what pleases God and endeavors to do what   God has revealed as his will voluntarily.

WE CAN ALSO SAY THAT AGENERATION IS ASINGLE SUCCESSION MADE UP OF A SET OF INDIVIDUAL WHO SHARES ACOMMON ANCESTORS.

Sometimes it is used to indicate span of time.

GODLY is piety or reverence towards GOD 1Tim2; 2.

Godliness means more than religious profession and Godly conduct; it also means the reality and power of vital union with God. To bring up   offspring  that fear GOD is very necessary in our age and to be an offspring that respect and follow after God is a plus and necessary.

It is very important to be generation that upholds God not only as our creator but as our father who loves us and is interested in our own affair. We therefore need to be interested in what God is interested in,  and be  pleased in what God is pleased with.

A Godly generation aims to live for God and strived to please God in all that we do all the days of our lives , knows who God is, and understands his or her relationship with the divine and understands that his roles or responsibility and duty is to make known God`s goodness, glory and mercy.

We need to involve ourselves in the affairs that make God happy.

For example Godless generation sees that it is normal to practice homosexual or lesbianism.

If you don't know what this term means please not that homosexual is the practice where male individual get attracted to the same sex and hence marry each other while lesbianism is a practice where female marry a female. ROM 1:25FF these are acts of abomination as far as God is concerned.

Godly generation understands what it means to be faithful and righteous, strives to please God both in word and deed. Just like Paul In Phil 3:9 to know Jesus and the power that brought him back to life.  He didn't want to manifest his own righteousness but the righteousness of Christ which comes by faith.

A Godly generation endeavors to devote his or her time in prayer and dedication to godly activities. Showing love and mercy to all and standing in a gap to be what Jesus would be if he were physically present. Loving God with all your heart mind soul and strength and loving their neighbors' as they love themselves. This is really a cardinal responsibility for a born again Christian.

 Godly generation operates under law of God.  They believe in God`s faithfulness to hear the prayer of his children and God`s mercy to forgive those who repent from the bottom of their hearts.

Genesis 12 :1-4 Abram was given a command and a promise of a new generation.Gen 6:1-8 Noah, lived at crucial time in the history of humanity his generation were also corrupt and evil. But Noah was found righteous.

A Godly generation is generation that is born again John 3:5-7 Jesus in his discourse 10. With Nicodemus, told him frankly that he needed to be born again from above.Peter in his talk to the congregation lamented in the 1 Peter2:9ff that A godly generation is a chosen one, it is so peculiar and different from other generation.

The living God expect the young people to walk in his way, but we cannot walk in his way if we do not know his son Jesus who is the only way to the father. He expects the young people to walk in the light, an act that is so impossible until we accept the light who is Jesus Christ to shine in our lives and through the holy spirit show our sin  which in turn leads us to repent in order to be forgiven and hence get saved.

Godly generation is the hope of our future.  Noah was righteous in his generation and God spared him because he communed with him. He talked to God and God talked with him.                                                                           The young Hebrew brothers Shadrack,  Meshack and Abednego were prayerful. Daniel also prayed earnestly to God.

God is looking to find a Godly generation who can pray who can trust him, adore him, depend on him and can seek him and he can answer them, Our God is not arespecter ofpersons.

Psalms 119:1-2.God says blessed are the undefiled In the way, who walk in the law of the lord, blessed are they that keep his testimonies and seek him with the whole heart. It is my prayer that the young people of our generation will begin to see the essence of what I have discussed in this lesson which can be summarized in short as living to please God in this generation in this day and age.

 That to me is a Godly generation.

Let us therefore strive to be A Godly generation not only before men but before God.

YOUTH ARISE: KNOWING YOUR WORTH

YOUTH ARISE: KNOWING YOUR WORTH: KNOWING YOUR WORTH By Alfred Jones Every country's economy is measured by value of their currency and therefore if your currency ...

KNOWING YOUR WORTH

KNOWING YOUR WORTH

By Alfred Jones

Every country's economy is measured by value of their currency and therefore if your currency is doing great then your economy is in safe hands and if it's not performing well there is fear of recession and therefore you need to prepare. Very many people value their lives according to their net worth that is what they have acquired and own by the works of their hands.

As Christians God valued as while we were still sinners and in his own assessment we were priceless and no amount of wealth or sacrifices could amount to our worth. Therefore Gods plan for salvation of mankind had to involve his most priced valued asset, most glorious sacrifice, most beloved, his only begotten son Jesus Christ our Lord not only leaving the throne to come to earth but also dying a shameful death on the old rugged cross at Calvary.

That is Gods unconditional love, he had to use his best to save his rest just because he loves us and that is our value. Jesus death on the cross to pay the price for our sin was to show his love for us. Therefore we are no longer valued by worldly standard of wealth, fame and education rather we are valued by the greatest sacrifice ever made that is the blood of Christ Jesus our Lord.

Once we realize our value then we will know what we ought to do, we ought to love him that loved us first and serve him with all our heart, mind and strength without fear for he who began the good work in us is faithful and will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.  All of us as Christians God have called us with a purpose to reach out to souls and show them the love of God and win souls for him.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

AMEN