HOLINESS IS GOD’S PLEASURE

 _”Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;”_ (2Timothy 3:4) 

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Life is so short for people to be occupied by the temporary pleasures of this world. *Every one is a slave to the very act which brings pleasure to him or her.* The god of this world is Satan. He is the brain behind all the worldly pleasures that Christians have no business enjoying them for the satisfaction of a person’s appetite for fun. *People aren’t able to do away away with their favorite television programs, movies, secular songs, clubbing, drunkenness, illegitimate sex, beauty contests, football, annual festival celebration and many more.*

The point of interest here is that, man’s pleasure is in rivalry with his total dependence on God. Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith, who saved us from the sinful world, in order for us to focus on how to serve Him in obedience without any worldly pleasure. One dangerous thing about the love for pleasures is that, it makes you familiar and acquainted with the wants of the flesh, thereby feeding it at the expense of the spirit. The more callous people become with spiritual growth, the greater the consequence will become. 

Pleasures of the flesh are deceiving people to worship their flesh, renounce the earnest search for God by refusing to walk in His perfect will. *Eternal destruction is waiting for all those who waste their lives on worldly pleasures due to the fact that, our lives are made to complete the pursuance of the holy calling of God which is to do His will (1John 2:15-17).* The pleasure you seek to enjoy is coming from the works of the flesh which have already died with Christ during our baptism. If only we want to inherit Heaven at last, then we are all advised that friendship with the world is enmity with God. One is either on the Lord’s side or not. 

Enjoy listening to inspired gospel songs and sermons, meditate on the Word of God frethattly, and habitually love to extend unconditional love to all people without any favouritism. *With them, the pleasures of this world will have no compromising offer to present to us because our affections will no longer be found in the flesh but on the things above. God is love. Turning our hearts to love the pleasures of this world is like making unholy sacrifice to Him. Mankind has no pleasure to enjoy but there is only one person who can obtain pleasure, and His name is Jesus Christ. He is the one who is always pleased to see us walking in His ways and examples without sinning.* Our holiness pleases God, not the pleasures we tend to love.
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*PRAYER*: Lord Jesus Christ, let my life give you pleasure. *AMEN*

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EVIDENCE OF THE GREAT LIGHT IN OUR LIVES

*👤MINISTER: _PASTOR JOHNSON ADDAE_*

👉MEMORY VERSE: _”The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up”_ (Matthew 4:16) 

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Law courts deal with evidences. The genuineness of your case is depending on the evidences to vindicate you. In like manner, there are evidences that are meant to confirm and buttress the total transformation of a new born Christian who is walking after our Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Light. The following are some of the evidences:

(a) *Perfect love*: This evidence will have to be presented by all Christians before God. God has commanded us to love Him, by loving our neighbours as ourselves even to the point of laying down our lives for them when the need arises (1John 3:16, 1John 4:16-21). This perfect love is not based on any condition. 

(b) *Right Motive*: It is an evidence for the people in darkness to know that we have now found our lives in the Great Light. Right motive is not complacent but rather calls for unity among our brethren. When the mind of Christ dwell in us, we can present ourselves to the people of darkness. Those with whom we dwell in the Great Light, must all be one with us in decision making. (Philippians 2:5, Hebrews 2:11)

( c) *Inward Victory*: Evidently, one will know that we are in the Great Light only when we demonstrate freedom from all forms of sins. ( Ephesians 5:26-27, Luke 1:74-75). Inward holiness will come out evidently for all people to know the state of a person who is in the Great Light of Christ. As time goes on, we should be examining ourselves to know the state of our lives. One important  question to ask ourselves is that, is my heart constantly yearning for the LORD? (Ezekiel 36:25-27) Is my heart longing for things of the world or the life in the light? One question that we are supposed to ask ourselves is, do we dress to the taste of the world or to please God? Bear in mind that the world wants you to appear like them but never compromise with them. (Hebrew 11:38), our conversation should also be carefully watched. It should not have any likeness with that of the indecent and like worldly people. (James 1:26)

*How to keep the Blessings in the Great Light*
1. Watch and Pray

(1corinthisns 10:12-13, Colossians 4:3, Isaiah 40:28-31, 1Thessalonians 5:5-6, 1Peter 5:7-10
(2) Abide in Christ

(Matthew 6:25-33, Job 1:20-22)
(3) Beware of Compromises

(Songs of Solomon 2:15)

Beloved, let these evidences be seen in our lives from today forward. So far as we have been blessed to remain in the great light of God, we need to do the best we can to prevent all compromises which will lead us into darkness.

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*PRAYER*: Lord Jesus, may your light never stop shining on me. *AMEN*

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RESIST SATAN, DON’T BE HIS PREY!

“And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth”.
Judges 16:15KJV

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The desire of Satan like Delilah, is to know where our great strength dwells, by what means he can bind us with fetters of brass, put out our eyes, and cause us to grind in the prison house of this world as he did to Samson. The Bible says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour”. (1Pet. 5:8) Oh he has already rain many Christians’ lives for they like Samson revealed where their strength lies to Him.

Satan knows that the joy of the Lord is our strength and it can only be obtained in the presence of the Lord through a lasting and healthy relationship with Him; the reading, meditating and practicing of the word are keys to that. Fasting and daily prayers are also part of the keys of our strength. So he is doing everything in his power; making us busy for nothing, filling our minds with worldly and unnecessary things, just to keep us from abiding in Christ and having a relationship with Him.

The destruction of Samson’s strength led to the death of many. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Another source of our strength is the Holy Spirit, He is the power in us, keeping us going in our Christian lives. The devil had caused many believers to grieve and quench Him, and he too had left them. Know that Delilah symbolises this world and its beguiling things.
When you love the world and the things of it, you become a prey to Satan, he destroys your strength and derail your purpose in life.
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PRAYER: Holy Spirit thank you for your words, please destroy any channel of the devil in my life. Help me to have an intimate relationship with you so I’ll not be a prey to the enemy in Jesus’ name I pray.
AMEN
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A LAODICEAN HEART

“And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart”.
2Chronicles 25:2KJV

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Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign in Jerusalem.
He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord; he worshipped the true God, kept the temple service a going, and countenanced religion in his kingdom; but he did not do it with a perfect heart. It came to pass that he went forth and smote the children of Seir and brought their gods, set them up to be his own gods, bowed down himself before them and burned incense unto them, thereby, kindling the anger of the Lord against him.

He started well but ended up being an idolater. He was not a man of serious piety or devotion himself, nor had he any zeal for the exercises of the words of God. He was no enemy to it, but a cool and indifferent friend. He didn’t whole-souled obey God.

Such is the character of many Christians in this Laodicean age: they do that which is good, but not with a perfect heart. A Laodicean heart is a lukewarm heart. The heart of many Christians of today is divided between the Word and the World. The Lord Jesus said to the Laodicean church that, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot: I would you were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth”(Rev. 3:15-16).The Lord will throw up those with a lukewarm heart to hell for He utterly abhors such behavior. If you’re for Him, abide in Him, and if you’re not, then don’t pretend!
A perfect heart is not lukewarm, it hearkens to all the Words of the Lord

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*PRAYER:* Lord Jesus please take any lukewarmness from my heart and wash my heart to be perfect in your name I pray.
AMEN
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THE MIND OF CHRIST WITHOUT HIGH-MINDEDNESS

 _”Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;”_ (2Timothy 3:4) 

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*Enlightenment from the Word of God has made it known to all Christians that, the mind of Christ need to replace our old sinful lives.* The passion and affection with which holiness in our lives are indicated, must hail from the mind of Christ in us. Reception and performance of God’s Word in our daily lives must be triggered by understanding and excitement without thinking otherwise. One who has the mind of Christ is always producing the right outcome in the form of holiness experienced as a Christian’s culture or civilization.

*Our relationship with every one, be it a believer or not, the burning desire with which we attend Church services at any time without excuses, the openness with which we receive the Word of God, pray, evangelize and perform responsibilities assigned to us by God, will acculturate for us a solid Christian civilization with great joy (Philippians 2:5).* It is in this joy that we will frown at the high-mindedness of worldly affections.

High-minded people are emotionally satisfied by the culture or civilization which they create for their satisfaction, regardless of what the Word of God says. Traditionalists and so many religions are proud of their festivals, languages, chieftaincy systems, delicacies, code of dressing, heritages and many more. They are high-minded about them just as many youths are caught up lusting after games like football, partaking in beauty pageantries, entertainment programs on the television, ungodly songs and watching of popular satanic movies and even how they love to work for vane things like money. Do they even remember their Creator?

Don’t be lured by high-mindedness in place of the mind of Christ which has to richly dwell in you and make you poised to live in holiness. Holiness must bring excitement in us. Understand for good: Satan has blinded the minds and hearts of all high-minded people in order to captivate this generation with sinful pleasures and lead them to hell at last (2Corinthians 4:4). *He wants you to love and defend the habitual evil you do to attract the world to yourself. He wants you to do things in a manner that will please you, thereby being master of yourself and living your life without Christ.* Say no to any carnal occupation of the mind by feeling pleased with the instructions of righteousness from God’s Word.

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*PRAYER*: Spirit of God, send your fire to sweep away all sense of high-mindedness from my mind in Jesus name. *AMEN*

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HEADY FOR NOTHING:BE SPIRIT FILLED.

 _”Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;”_ (2Timothy 3:4) 

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Heady people find pleasure in drunkenness. *Drunkenness has become very rampant in our various communities today to the extent that, it has contributed to the contraction of several diseases and so many social vices in the country.*Adverts on alcoholic beverages are heard on radios and televisions each and every day. Our generation has an unprecedented record of drunkards every where. In public places, drinking bars, social gatherings, family meetings, at wedding refreshments, birthday parties, entertainment shows, funerals, schools, and even in their various houses. 

According to the reasons behind the drinking of alcoholic beverages by so many drunkards, alcohol offers stress relief, gives one the appetite for food, helps to forget one’s financial and marital problems, to mark an occasion with fun, to kill shyness, brings one into maturity and civilization as peer pressure opines. None of the aforementioned reasons is tenable enough to promote alcoholism in any way. Getting heady will never and ever grant satisfaction to our spirit beings as Christians. *It only destroys your body which is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, disappoints all drunkards who rely on it, brings incurable diseases and consequences upon victims, and eventually draws their souls into perishing in the Lake of Fire for ever.*

Most of the identified cases of sexual sins and teenage pregnancy, can partly be attributed to drunkenness at social gatherings. It is so because many television and radio stations advertise the enticing need to drink alcohol. Be careful not to fall for the ungodly doctrine of some cults and so called Churches who defend the selling and drinking of alcoholic beverages by Christians. *They are rather preaching the doctrine of demons in order to exalt the flesh, and populate hell with ignorant souls.*

In these last days, we are to live in the spirit without coming back into the sinful flesh. *We are to be drunk by the Spirit if God and not by alcohol (Ephesians 5:18).*

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*PRAYER*: Sweet Holy Spirit, let me be drunk of you in Jesus name. *AMEN*

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END TIME TRAITORS

 _”Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;”_ (2Timothy 3:4) 

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A traitor is anyone who violates his allegiance to to his or her country. *It won’t be wrong for us to equate a traitor to someone who is guilty of treason. Traitors are not having the interest and wellbeing of the entire country at heart. All they want to do is to draw the nation backwards even when authorities are busily working it forward.* The growth and development of every country is centered on some number of factors including individual allegiance and devotion towards the achievement of its goals.

*Traitors are nation wreckers who distort a nation’s peaceful and developmental ambitions: to assume the sovereignty which belongs to the state.* In 1Timothy 2:2, the Word of God tells us that as Christians, we need to drive away treason with total allegiance which will go a long way to maintain peace and create the environment for godliness. *There cannot be a successful Christian life in a traitorous country where Christians themselves don’t have the nation at heart.* Christians are always supposed to be in the business of calling off all associated actions and inactions, that are capable of causing disturbance and instability in the country. They can do so by preaching against it and living the exemplary lives to make it realistic to all who need to know of its essence.

Among the traitors of our generation are tax evaders, instigators of rebellions, tribal wars and riots, corrupt officials, representation of personal interests in the name of the state, and one’s involvement in political propagandas. Since our country needs peace and our Saviour Jesus Christ is the Prince if Peace, we are called to present Him to them in word and deeds. *This will build our godliness, call saboteurs and traitors to minimize at the barest minimum, and unify the nation for Christ Jesus.* Our country must trust in our Lord Jesus as their Light of Peace and stability but they will know this only when our godliness become a campaign against treason and betrayal. *Christianization of our towns and the whole nation starts with us.*

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*PRAYER*: Dear Lord, grant me the grace to be allegiant to my country in Jesus name. *AMEN*

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