The Banquet House,Enugu

09/08/2020

If you are within Enugu and would like to attend, you can reach out to us on 08021045829.
Here is the link for registration https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdGdfHed6zZLttWFU3rl4bX7aM5anS07JTE89hBRWzZNk27fQ/viewform

14/12/2018

28/11/2018

Anticipate!

18/11/2018

It's Christ revealed and the saints edified!

16/11/2018

We know not another way, this is how we do it; we pray in the spirit! 6pm it is, venue is Volley ball court UNEC.

13/11/2018

WHAT PAUL TAUGHT ABOUT HELL

Acts 20:26 - 27 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you.For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.

I have a special liking for Apostle Paul and i think the reason is not farfetched, he was an Apostle sent to the Gentiles, of which i am one, i take his words anf ministry seriously.

Romans 11:13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry

Paul was sent to Us.

Acts 20:24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace.

The Lord himself gave Apostle Paul this task.

Ephesians 3:3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.

He explained the mystery hidden in all other ages before and threw light in the dispensation of God's grace.

Colossians 1:25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—

He reitirates his ministry was given to him by God, and in his letters, we find doctrine, believers conduct, and the destiny of the church.

When he wrote Timothy his son, he charged him to take seriously this doctrine.

2 Timothy 1:13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

His words amd teachings were not mere words or man made, he referred to them as sound.

2 Thessalonians 2:14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 2:15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

He also charged the Thesselonica brethren to stand fast and hold the traditions which they have been taught both in word and letters.

He goes on to instruct Timothy thus

2 Timothy 2:2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.

Teach the same thing you have heard of me amd heard me say, not another thing, the same.

Titus 1:9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

Titus another protege of Paul was not spared the same charge.

Paul appears to be God's spokesman for us today, it means we are to faithfully study his teachings when considering the application of any doctrine.

The subject of hell is therefore not an exception.

So in order for us to understand what Paul taught about hell, it is important we search and fine the places where he used the word hell.

Now, in the entire book of Acts, he didnt use the word hell, also in all his Epistles he didnt use the word hell.

How come he never used the word hell? how could this possibly be?

Is it possible he forgot? But how could he have forgotten such a vital issue?

Is not hell the foundational teaching and creed of most religious systems?

How could Paul be so negligent that he fails to use the word most Preachers use today?

Or is it that he understood something we yet dont understand?

Or is it that most peolt have been buried under religious traditions?

Did you also realize what Paul said-

Acts 20:26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you.

Acts 20:27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.

Paul says he proclaimed the whole will of God, he therefore wasnt negligent. The whole will of God didnt include hell.

Remember his charge to the church and his sons,

• Hold fast the form of sound words
• Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine

The entire Pauline Epistles didn't have the word used.

This is not to dispute whether hell actually exists, rather it is to encourage us to stay with what is clearly written. The gospel is not hell threat it is the proclamation of life.

Jesus went there and also didnt say anything about his experience there, he stuck with what was written.

Enough said.

Shalom!

OT Jacobs

10/11/2018

It takes the proper understanding of our identity in Christ to walk in the reality of who we are in Him. Join us for an awesome time tomorrow by 5pm as we study the scriptures to learn of Christ and our identity in Him, @ Reedsview Estate, Topland, Amaechi, Enugu. It's Christ and Him crucified!

09/11/2018

The Blessing of Abraham
Abraham is one of the prominent figures in the bible, his story is not one that needs to be retold as almost every christian is familiar with it. As a matter of fact, a lot of christians lay claim to the blessing of Abraham, even though they do not fully understand what it means.

So what exactly is the blessing of Abraham? The scripture tells us in Galatians 3:9

So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

This impliedly means that every believer shares in the blessing of Abraham. Consequently, this would mean that if the blessing was material, every believer ought to be wealthy immediately they received Christ, however, you and I know this is not the case. So it's either the bible is lying or that the blessing is something other than that which we have assumed. The latter is the case.

Paul in Romans 4 captures this well. Romans 4 opens up this way Romans 4:1-5 What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath [whereof] to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

In verse 6 Paul quotes David who caught a glimpse of this blessing, saying

Romans 4:6-9 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, [Saying], Blessed [are] they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed [is] the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. [Cometh] this blessedness then upon the circumcision [only], or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.,

It is obvious from the passage that the blessing is justification by faith. It goes further to say in verse 16 Romans 4:16 Therefore [it is] of faith, that [it might be] by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

That is why Galatians 3:9 will say that "they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham". Meaning that everyone who will believe in the finished works of Christ, in the gospel of grace, will be declared righteous devoid of their works, devoid of their performances, irrespective of their language, tribe, race etc. Once a man believes, he shares in this blessing.

That is why Ephesians 2:7-9, will say Ephesians 2:7-9 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in [his] kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

In Galatians 3, Paul writes thus Galatians 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, [saying], In thee shall all nations be blessed. Verses 10-13 go further to contrast this blessing(justification by faith) with dead works or self-righteousness, saying thus

Galatians 3:10-13 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, [it is] evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that hangeth on a tree:

This tells us that to continue to insist on the law is a curse, which Christ died to redeem us from so we can share in this blessing (justification by faith). Just in case you haven't gotten the gist, verse 14 comes up to tell us why Christ died. It says Galatians 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Finally, verses 29 tells us Galatians 3:29 And if ye [be] Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. The fullness of this blessing is the Holy spirit which you receive upon believing.

09/11/2018

Prayer is something every child of God should delight in, it is something to get excited about. Join us this evening by 6PM, as we gather to pray in the spirit. Venue is Volley Ball Court, UNEC. It's a delight!

07/11/2018

Musings on the 15th chapter of the book of John

First of all, let us establish some ground rules;
1. Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8)
2. Righteousness is a free gift of God (Romans 5:17, Romans 4:5, 2 Corinthians 5:21 etc)
3. The gifts of God are without repentance (Romans 11:29)
4. Keep an open mind

Let's get the ball rolling.
So Jesus is the vine and God is the husbandman(John 15:1) meaning that as a good husbandman, God is responsible for keeping or tending the vine. He has to exercise due diligence to ensure the vine produces. Now the vine can only be said to be productive when the branches are bearing fruit.

It stands to reason that the work started with the Husbandman, continued in the vine and the result is seen in the branches. Now, if you are familiar with farming, you will agree with me that sometimes, the farmer has to exercise extra care to make sure some branches bear fruit, either by supporting them with a stick or tying them to another branch. Note that the branches cannot on their own bear fruit except they are first attached to the tree, nor decide not to bear fruit whilst they are attached to the tree.

If there appears to be a problem with the branch, it is either the weather, the soil condition or sometimes the root of the tree, and not neccessarily because the branch is a stubborn or recalcitrant branch. Now what a wise farmer does is to aid the branch to bear fruit.

Now back to the book of John 15. We can all agree that this guys by this time were not born again (we will see why this is important in a moment). If you back up to chapter 14, you will observe Jesus preaching the gospel to them - John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

John 14:15-16 If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

John 14:17-20 [Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I [am] in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

So we find Jesus stressing the importance of believing, and how that upon believing, the Holy spirit indwells the beilever forever as mark of adoption or ownership(john 14:16). In John 14:19, He says if you believe, you will live because He lives, not because you did good deed.

PS: I am trying so hard to resist the temptation of doing greek in this writ, however, it has become impracticable.

So the preaching on believing and its resultant effects continues in John 15.
The bone of contention here starts with verse 2 which says John 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every [branch] that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now the word taketh away transliterated from greek to English is airō which is the contracted form of ἀείρω which means to LIFT UP, RAISE, SUPPORT, BEAR, SUSTAIN, TO RAISE BY WORDS, TO TAKE AWAY, TO REMOVE, TO TAKE UPON ONESELF. As a rule of bible interpretation and common sense even, the meaning of a word is best deduced from its context.

Now let's assume, the phrase taketh away meant to remove, what He said in John 14:15-16 about the Holy Spirit abiding with whoever believes forever will be a lie, because now the person will have to be cut off and the Holy spirit withdrawn,secondly, in John 14:19, He said the believer will live because He lives, again this will be amount to a lie, or a deception, because now even though He is living, the believer will now have to die, thirdly, in John 14:23, He said the God-head will come and make a home in the believer, this would mean that God would be cutting Himself off because now He lives inside this person. This interpretation bastardizes the New Birth and whatever it stands for.

Now, if it were to be taken to mean RAISE, SUPPORT, BEAR, it puts everything He had said earlier and the things He was yet to say in perspective; now, the believer will truly live because He lives and is doing the supporting and bearing and raising, now the Holy spirit can abide forever because He is involved in the work. Remember in the same book of John in chapter 3 verse 16, It says whoever believes will not perish but have eternal life.

In Ephesians 2:10 Paul wrote thus, Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. The message translation put it thus Ephesians 2:10 No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

In Jude 1:24, Paul again writes thus Jude 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

Philippians 1:6 There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.(MSG)

Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [his] good pleasure.

1 Corinthians 1:8 And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus.(MSG)

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 God didn't set us up for an angry rejection but for salvation by our Master, Jesus Christ. He died for us, a death that triggered life. Whether we're awake with the living or asleep with the dead, we're alive with him! (MSG)

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together--spirit, soul, and body--and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he'll do it!(MSG)

And Ephesians 1:13 says Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also [trusted], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

The message translation puts it thus Ephesians 1:13 It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free--signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit.
.. to be continued