DARE TO GROW UP…!!!!!

  

“Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…” (Heb. 6:5, NIV)

    

 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4,NIV)

Maturity is a spiritual value. It is allowing the Spirit of God to bring us into the fullness of His perfect Plan for our individual and corporate lives without contaminating the process with carnality.

What again is Maturity?!

Someone once said ‘It is the ability to base a judgment on the big picture, the long haul’. 

It means being able to resist the urge for immediate gratification and opt for the course of action that will pay off later.

One of the characteristics of the young is “I want it now.”

Grown-up people can wait.

Maturity is perseverance–the ability to sweat out a project or a situation, in spite of heavy opposition and discouraging setbacks, and stick with it until it is finished.

The adult who is constantly changing friends and changing mates is immature. He/she cannot stick it out because he/she has not grown up.

Maturity is the ability to control anger and settle differences without violence or destruction. The mature person can face unpleasantness, frustration, discomfort and defeat without collapsing or complaining. He/she knows he cannot have everything his/her own way every time. He/she is able to defer to circumstances, to other people-and to time. He/she knows when to compromise and is not too proud to do so.

Maturity is humility. It is being big enough to say, “I was wrong.” And, when he/she is right, the mature person need not experience the satisfaction of saying, “I told you so.”

Maturity is the ability to live up to your responsibilities, and this means being dependable. It means keeping your word. Dependability is the hallmark of integrity. Do you mean what you say-and do you say what you mean? Unfortunately, the world is filled with people who cannot be counted on. When you need them most, they are among the missing. They never seem to come through in the clutches. They break promises and substitute alibis for performance. They show up late or not at all. They are confused and disorganised. Their lives are a chaotic maze of broken promises, former friends, unfinished business and good intentions that somehow never materialise. They are always a day late and a dollar short.

Maturity is the ability to make a decision and stand by it. Immature people spend their lives exploring endless possibilities and then doing nothing. Action requires courage. Without courage, little is accomplished.

Maturity is the ability to harness your abilities and your energies and do more than is expected. The mature person refuses to settle for mediocrity. He/she would rather aim high and miss the mark than low-and make it.

Maturity is the art of living in peace with that which cannot be changed, the courage to change that which should be changed, no matter what it takes, and the wisdom to know the difference.

For those who equate maturity with age, well, maturity isn't just GROWING OLD, it means GROWING UP while GROWING OLD!

Submit yourself to the impartation of the Holy Spirit through His chosen ministers. This is how Paul puts it in Eph. 4:11-15(NIV):

“It was (Christ) he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,

to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.”

Dare to mature...

TRUE APOSTOLIC MINISTRY( Part 2)

Apostolic Ministry Targets The Heart Of The Saints. Just as Acts 8:9-24 records:
"Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, "This man is the divine power known as the Great Power." 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money 19 and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."

20 Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin."

24 Then Simon answered, "Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me."
That someone claims to have been "born-again" under you and now doing ministry with you does not mean their hearts are perfectly following the Lord.They might just only have been interested in the 'Super star' status that they think ministry brings.Just like the claims of the proponents of the 'Status Conferral Theory'.
Simon the Sorcerer had been saved under Philip but unknown to anyone,his heart was still filled with sin.He continued in ministry with Phillip as a disciple until Apostolic ministries of Peter and John discerned his heart by the message and anointing of the Holy Ghost.Only then was the true state of his heart exposed.
All ministers need to continue to sanitize the heart of their followers to know if they are truly following the Lord or just the idols in their own hearts.
Apostolic ministry and impartation are needed to pierce through the veils of falsehood and judge every darkness.
Now may true apostolic ministries be released by God upon the church on earth to sanitize this "mess" that we falsely and erroneous call Church.

The zeal of The Lord shall perform this!

TRUE APOSTOLIC MINISTRY

Right from the beginning of church age,many lay claim to apostolic nomenclature and ministry but mostly in error.
The spiritual landscape continues to be awash with the question of 'Who is an Apostle?'
Did the scripture say anything about APOSTOLIC
MINISTRY?Let's look at a few scriptures :
Acts 1:24-26.
"Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs." Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles."-

Matthias,one of the longstanding disciples was chosen to replace Judas' apostolic office.

CRITERIA FOR APOSTLESHIP- Acts 1:20-22.
"...For," said Peter, "it is written in the book of Psalms,
  " 'May his place be deserted;
      let there be no one to dwell in it,' and,
  " 'May another take his place of leadership.' 21 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection."

#1. It is the Lord that chooses people into the Office of an Apostle and not themselves.Acts 1:2.
However, all believers must have the apostolic spirit dimension of Christ functioning in their lives just like the 70 other disciples in Lk 10.

#2. There must be an endorsement by a group of other Apostles for accountability. For it was the other Apostles that midwifed the appointment  of Matthias and recognized him as an Apostle.
First they proposed two names.Secondly they prayed for the Will of God. Thirdly,they voted.
Matthias emerged from that process.And Only after then could he rightfully use that office.

#3. An Apostle must not be a new believer but one who has gone through a long period of ministerial followership. (vs 21-22).Little wonder the Appointment Committee insisted he must have "been with us the whole time".

#4. A true Apostle(from the Greek Word 'Apostello' meaning to SEND) has to be SENT. He cannot send himself. Apostle is not a name.It is a FUNCTION.An assignment.

#5. The heart of the Apostle must be right.In this context in Acts 1,the Appointment Committee's prayer was made for the heart of the proposed; showing that using Apostolic Ministry is fundamentally a 'Heart thing'! (Acts 1:24)
Apostle Judas, was called like the other eleven ,performed miracles too and went everywhere with Jesus (Matt.10:2).He was even the Minister of Finance and Admin for Jesus but along the way,his heart failed him.Greed for gain consumed him. A lesson to every Apostle to watch his/her heart.
If your portfolio is Singles Ministry or Pastoral Counseling don't mess with the counseled in sexual sin.
If your portfolio is Fund raising/ Management avoid the temptation of stealing the money.
If your ministry is very visible avoid the temptation of the glitterati or the Klieg light.Humble your heart.
Let there be coalitions of apostles who will submit to one another and hold one another in accountability.

Now as the Lord of the Harvest releases true apostles who will FINISH His work on earth,let all charlatans and apostolic impersonators look for something else to lay claim to...!

Written by Tokunbo Beulah Johnson(Senior Elder,The Capstone Yaba.)
www.beulahtoks.blogspot.com

A LETTER TO MEN (AND THE WOMEN WHO LOVE THEM)

Hello Guys,

It is no longer news that times have become quite toxic. What we probably want to know is how do we ‘detox’ it?

These crisis  surfaces in every facet of our existence.

Job insecurity, financial marital insecurity (as more women seem to be earning more than their husbands) not to talk of the abysmal collapse of security in our erstwhile safe neighborhoods. Clearly every thing is broken down!

At such a time as this is there any hope for us men to come out of these depressing situations? Graciously, we have hope! I have discovered we can all learn a thing or two from a guy who went through worse things and survived it all. Job's Perseverance and what the Lord finally did in his life after all his travails (in Business, Family, Health, Associations and Relationships, Social standing, etc. This list goes on and on) were over.

By act of divine mercy, God brought back to him all that he lost.

Here is how scriptures recorded it:

James 5:10-11,NIV

“Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”

One thing that is commendable in all of Job’s travails was his commitment to God’s faithfulness and his patience through it all.

Now here are some interesting and encouraging thoughts from God’s Word that could help any man in any form of life’s troubles as Job’s.

#1. Be Courageous (1 Cor.16:13, NIV)

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong”.

#2. Develop fervent personal and family prayer life(1 Peter 4:7,NIV)

“…The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.”

#3. Develop yourself to be spiritually alert so you can resist the devil. (1 Peter 5:8-10, NIV)

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

#4. Endure suffering.No man can truly walk steadfast unless he had first suffered just a little (1 Peter 5:10,NIV)

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

Only after we have suffered for Christ should we expect to be restored, made strong, made firm and steadfast. This suffering comes mainly as a result of having taken a resolute stand against any form of unrighteousness.

Finally, I wish to remind you that as He said, God will restore your losses and all the years that the locusts have eaten shall surely come back to you in yet better forms.

By the Spirit of God, I declare this day that God is restoring all your lost fortunes in Jesus’ matchless Name!

35 Low-Risk Changes Churches Can Make (As adapted by Tokunbo Beulah Johnson)

Tony Morgan, chief strategic officer and founder of TonyMorganLive.com. wrote that:

One of the reasons churches get stuck is that they’re unwilling to change. They don’t want to rock the boat. Leaders are afraid. People may leave. People may stop giving.
Over time, the culture becomes reticent to change. The status quo becomes the driving value.

When churches stop changing, people get comfortable. It’s impossible for Christ-followers to get comfortable and be sold-out to Jesus at the same time. Comfort is not the goal.

This is probably obvious, but let me offer this advice: If you want to be in a church that embraces change, you have to begin to make some changes.

It begins with establishing a clear vision, values and strategy. Once everyone is on board with the vision, you have to begin embracing new methods. You can’t avoid changes and expect different results.

With that, my team and a few friends brainstormed a list of relatively low-risk changes that churches might consider making. Start with one or two of these changes to help you get a step closer to seeing the vision fulfilled.

Here are the suggested 35 Low-Risk Changes Churches Can Make :

1. Change service times.
2. Empower a volunteer leader.
3. Offer resources to help people engage Scripture outside of the Sunday service.(it could be offline or an online devotional(check out a template onhttp://thecapstoneonline.com/quietinthestorm/)
4. Prioritize cross-cultural “missions” opportunities in the same region where your church is located.(We just started a service translation for Francophone people)
5. Challenge staff to invest 20 percent of their time in leadership development.(We currently run a weekly ministry academy)
6. Limit yourself to one all-church announcement in every service.
7. Develop a teaching team rather than relying on just one teacher.
8. Add pictures or, better yet, video clips to your website to give people a taste of your teaching, worship and children’s ministry.(Media like Youtube,Ustream,iTunes,PodBean cost nothing)
9. Provide identical children’s ministry experiences at every weekend service so families aren’t limited in the services they can attend.
10. Stop something.
11. Create opportunities for students to serve and lead rather than just consuming experiences.
12. Plan to spend less than you anticipate receiving from offerings.
13. Create ways for people to share nuggets of teaching and worship content through social media.
14. Launch a new weekend service.(We currently run a fully youth-centric service once every other month)
15. Start using online solutions (like Asana,Drop Box) to keep the team on the same page.
16. Hire someone from the outside (staff or consultant) to bring fresh perspective and a new approach.
17. Share individual stories of life change when you baptize someone in your services.
18. Develop an annual ministry calendar and promotions plan to limit competing messages.
19. Partner with another church to tackle a community initiative.
20. Periodically invite other staff or volunteer leaders to your senior leadership team meetings.They will bring fresh perspectives.
21. Make it easier for people to give online.Provide Point-of-Sale terminals too.
22. Thank people for their giving by tying it back to vision and life change.
23. Develop an evaluation process for weekend services and every other event or environment.
24. Establish a hiring process that’s team-based and focused on matching the church’s DNA rather than just filling positions.
25. Align the church’s strategy with the church’s vision.
26. Align the church’s budget with the church’s strategy.
27. Redesign your website to focus less on sharing information and more on helping people take next steps.
28. Do something different in the weekend service so it isn’t so predictable.
29. Set aside one day each week in the office when meetings are not allowed.
30. Schedule coffee at least once a month with someone to help them take their next steps in their faith, ministry and leadership.
31. Invite people to your volunteer teams so your platform and your guest services teams reflect the diversity of the people you are trying to reach.
32. Cut back on printing and focus on social media and word-of-mouth.
33. Update your physical environments (including that gaudy, stained carpet) to reflect current culture.
34. Shorten your message, worship and services to leave people wanting more.
35. Change something so people expect change.

Here’s the great thing about most of these changes—they’re reversible. 
Test drive the change. If it doesn’t work, you can always go back.

Don’t let people grow comfortable.

It’s time you got unstuck.

Wouldn't You Make that change now! It's your call!

The 5 Biggest Mistakes We Make in Prophetic Ministry (As complied for 'City-Gate Ministers’ Academy')

I remember two of Apostle Paul’s instructions to two of the New Testament churches he planted: 

“Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.(1 Cor. 14:1,NIV)

“…do not treat prophecies with contempt .Test everything. Hold on to the good.” (1 Thess.5: 20-21, NIV).

These instructions continue to serve as head-lamps to our response to the use of true,accurate Prophetic Ministry.

Now, Lee Grady (former editor Charisma magazine) fingered 5 main mistakes we should guard against when operating the prophetic ministry. They are :

1. Giving prophets elite status. Nowhere in the New Testament are prophets exalted to a privileged class. Paul himself said all members of the body need each other, and in his discussion of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14, he warns against ranking spirituality by gifting. He wrote, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’” (1 Cor. 12:21, NASB). Many prophets get a disease that I call ‘egotisticus giganticus’. They are puffed up by their revelations. Then, when people line up to hear them, they are forced to come up with more sensational claims—along with names, dates and exotic manifestations.

2. Promoting charismatic chaos. Some people act weird when they prophesy in order to get attention. Some shake in funny ways, speak in affected tones or use archaic “Listen thou to me!” lingo. 
In New Testament times, pagan prophets spoke in ecstatic speech because they were possessed by demons. But Paul told the Corinthians, “The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets” (1 Cor. 14:32).
You should never be out of control when you deliver a word from God. The fruit of the Holy Spirit includes both gentleness and self-control.

3. Allowing harsh prophetic words to abuse people. In giving personal prophecy, some people routinely give personal words to people warning of calamities or judgments. They even say that God wants to kill them! Usually these angry “prophets” claim to know all the unconfessed sins in a person’s life.However, New Testament prophecy is specifically used to encourage, comfort and exhort believers (see 1 Cor. 14:3). That rules out condemnation and harsh criticism disguised as a word from God. Our heavenly Father does not speak to His children in a hateful, scolding tone. He is an encourager, even when He brings correction. Remember: Paul said that if you use the gift of prophecy without love, it is useless (see 1 Cor. 13:2)!

4. Not mentoring prophets. Today we have forgotten the importance of mentorship. We have Bible colleges for preachers, but we neglect training in other vital areas. We wrongly assume that if a person is blessed with a spiritual gift like prophecy, it just flows without any instruction.
In the Old Testament, there were schools of prophets. Second Kings 6:1-6 tells how Elisha went with some younger prophets to build an expansion to their school, and one of the men lost the blade of the axe he was using to cut down trees for timber. 
Don’t assume you know everything. Don’t be so eager to go until you grow to maturity.

5. Shutting down prophecy because the gift was abused. Because of the problems I’ve mentioned, some pastors just give up and shut prophecy down. They’d rather have a safe church environment than expose people to any possibility of a prophetic catastrophe.
If this were the wisest thing to do, why didn’t Paul clamp down on all charismatic expression among the Corinthians? Things were wild there—with off-the-wall prophecies, out-of-control prophets and harsh messages. Yet Paul offered these life-giving words: “Desire earnestly spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy” (1 Cor. 14:1), and he ended his discourse by saying “desire earnestly to prophesy” (v. 39). Shutting down charismatic gifts is unbiblical. Instead of limiting the way God wants to communicate to us, let’s honor the Holy Spirit and learn to exercise prophecy the way He intended.

Whatever you do,only remember that indeed "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy"(Rev 19:10).

Happy sailing!