Sunday Service (September 23rd, 2018)

We continued with our 2018 prayer and fasting session with another Prayer Sunday today.  The Lord sent His Word to us today through His Servant, Our Church Pastor, Rev. Kayode Oke. The message was titled;

GET BEHIND ME, SATAN

Text.   MATTHEW 16:21-26

21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"

23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? (NIV)

INTRODUCTION

Change, it has been said, is one feature of human life that can be said to be permanent. Man is said to be formed to change. Life keeps moving on so much that a person will be swept aside easily if he/she refuses to move on.

LESSON

1.      A FRESH PROMOTION. (Vs. 21)  “From that time on....” The time when Jesus believed that the disciples had finally recognised Him as Son of God. From the time that Jesus believed they had passed out of the elementary school of Christian life and now matured enough for the ‘hard gospel’ of suffering, of death and of resurrection.

2.      A FRIENDLY FOE. (V. 22) Though Peter was a close friend to Jesus, but at this point in time, he became an enemy to Christ. (See Vs. 23. “...a hinderance – MOFF, “...an offence...” HCSB, “...a dangerous trap.... NLT). The things that we need to cast off does not necessarily need to be apparently evil. It can be a long time friend like Peter, it can be a seemingly harmless habit,  it can be a persistent thought, ...all still foes even if friendly. The thing or person might even have been useful before but no more.

THINK, WHAT ARE THOSE HINDERANCES, SUCH OFFENCE, AND SUCH DANGEROUS TRAP IN YOUR LIFE TODAY?

3.      A FIRM DECISION. (Vs. 23) The Lord Jesus did not in any way try to pamper or patronize the devil, He was emphatic in His word, he took a firm decision - ‘Get behind me, Satan’  What does this mean?

-          You only belong to my past, you are history

-          You are definitely not a part of my future.

-          You have no part of my today and my tomorrow.

-          You are not a part of my plans, not a part of my vision for life

-          I have outgrown and out-developed you.   

CONCLUSION

In Vs. 23 -26 the Lord Jesus rounded off His teaching here by giving us a great fact.

There is only a single way to His Kingdom. On this way, the ‘traveller’ MUST –

a.       DROP SOMETHING. Jesus said ‘deny’ yourself. On this path, we cannot go with all the ‘usual baggage’, some things must be dropped. Maybe you have ‘an apartment’ where you keep those that offend you – CLOSE IT. Maybe you have a bag of tricks by which you deceive people – BURN IT. Maybe you have a load of excuses that come readily to you by which you excuse your miss-behaviours – DROP IT TODAY 

b.      TAKE SOMETHING. Take responsibility for you actions and inactions. Stop playing the ‘blame game’ So, don’t blame the Witch, blame yourself. Don’t blame the Church, blame yourself. Stop blaming the government for your personal challenges, blame yourself. It is when you take responsibility that I can determine to work on those challenges.

c.       FOLLOW HIM. On this path, there is no ‘sitting on the fence’.  We must follow His words and follow His way. We pray and live for Him 

PASTORS CORNER

Whenever a Christian sets out to do the will of God, Satan raises an army from his kingdom to hinder. It is important to note that this army does not always appear as an enemy but more often they come as a friend. The way forward for the Christian is to determinedly cast such out of his/her path.

Prayer Focus for the Week

Pray for Leah Sharibu. Ask that God's mighty hands will bring her out safely from captivity,

INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Serving in the Children’s department Next week is Mr and Mrs Ogunremi

Engr. Blessed Agboola will lead workers’ Prayer next week

Sunday 30th September 2018 is going to be a PRAYER SERVICE. Let us all come fasting and prepared to pray.

MMU Rotational meeting comes up this Saturday, 29th September in the home of Mr Femi Odejobi. Time is 8:00am

Materials Needed for the New Auditorium

- 120 Tons of Granite @ #5000

- 250 Bags of Cement @ #2350

- 20 loads of Sharp Sand @ #7000

- 2 Tons of 12mm Iron Rods

@ #190,000

- 3 Tons of 10mm Iron Rods

@ #200,000

- 4 Tons of 16mm Iron Rods

@ #190,000

BUILDING PROJECT ACCOUNT

NEW SPRING BAPTIST CHURCH

No: 0697011767

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You can pay your tithes into the

CHURCH ACCOUNT

NEW SPRING BAPTIST CHURCH

No: 2023699560

FIRST BANK

BIRTHDAY CELEBRANTS OF THE WEEK

Oyeleke Bolu              08036288166             23^rd

Oyekunle Funmi        08072206431             28th

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