St. John's Ang Church, Erinlu, Ijebu-Ode.

29/11/2020

02/07/2020

DAILY FOUNTAIN DEVOTIONAL
Date: 2020-07-03

TOPIC: HE IS THE WAY
TEXT: John 14:1-15(NKJV)
1. "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
2. "In My Father's house are many mansions; if [it were] not [so,] I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3. "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, [there] you may be also.
4. "And where I go you know, and the way you know."
5. Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"
6. Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
7. " If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."
8. Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."
9. Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
10. "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own [authority;] but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
11. "Believe Me that I [am] in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
12. " Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater [works] than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
13. "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14. "If you ask anything in My name, I will do [it.]
15. " If you love Me, keep My commandments.

STUDY: I stood by my suitcase at Heathrow airport looking very confused. I was on my way to resume school, and it was my first time of leaving Nigeria. For the first time, I knew what it meant to be lost. This was until someone spoke up beside me, I did not notice him approach: “Are you just arriving, and is this your first time?” I looked up to see a black face and something in me seemed to calm. “Yes”, I replied, “and I don’t know my way.” He did not just describe my way, but proceeded to take me to where I was going.
Thomas was very blunt and real. “Lord, we do not know where You are going and how can we know the way?” (v.5). In this, I see two critical issues that everyone born of a woman must address. First, an acknowledgement that he/she does not know the way to Heaven and the way of life. No one has lived before; we’re all strangers on earth; only Jesus has successfully lived without disobeying God.Second, we must all ask the all-important question: “How can we know the way?Jesus is the Way (v.6); He is the way to the Father. Only by following Him can anyone arrive in Heaven. His principles constitute the best way to live our lives here on earth; we cannot successfully live here without His help and guidance. Ask for His guidance.

PRAYER: Be thou my Guardian and my Guide.

02/07/2020

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02/07/2020

DAILY FOUNTAIN DEVOTIONAL
Date: 2020-07-02

TOPIC: O FOOD, FALL INTO MY MOUTH!
TEXT: Acts 13:13-22(NKJV)
13. Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.
14. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.
15. And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, "Men [and] brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on."
16. Then Paul stood up, and motioning with [his] hand said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen:
17. "The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it.
18. "Now for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness.
19. "And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land to them by allotment.
20. "After that He gave [them] judges for about four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.
21. "And afterward they asked for a king; so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
22. "And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, 'I have found David the [son] of Jesse, a man after My [own] heart, who will do all My will.'

STUDY: “God has finished the work of salvation in Christ”, the preacher was saying that day in church. Though that was my father preaching, his words hit me in an unusual way. “You are the one to repent, you are the one to accept His gift in Christ; God cannot repent for you.” He explained that that would be like sitting down on the table after your wife has served a good meal she cooked, and saying “O food, fall into my mouth!” Dad has since joined the Saints Triumphant. Paul’s message in Antioch in Pisidia reminds me again of what God has done and desires to do for all: “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm he brought them out” (v.17). This is a testimony to the power of our God: It demonstrates His strength and limitless divine capabilities. But it also points us to what God desires for all creation. He wants to deliver all from “Egypt” – sin.

Have you allowed the “uplifted arm” of God deliver you from the Egypt of sin? Do you have a clear testimony of salvation? God has done all that is necessary; He only expects you now to play your part. Do not say you’ll be saved if God wants you to be saved. He already does and has done all in Christ. Do not sit and say “O food, fall into my mouth!”With your own hands, take the meal and put it into your mouth. Accept Christ today. If you already have, tell someone else about salvation today.
Action: Insist on telling someone about salvation in Christ today if you’re already saved.
PRAYER:Father use me to win souls for you.Amen

29/06/2020

DAILY FOUNTAIN DEVOTIONAL
Date: 2020-06-30

TOPIC: A TERRIBLE END
TEXT: Act 12:12-25

(NKJV)
12. So, when he had considered [this,] he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.
13. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer.
14. When she recognized Peter's voice, because of [her] gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate.
15. But they said to her, "You are beside yourself!" Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, "It is his angel."
16. Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened [the door] and saw him, they were astonished.
17. But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, "Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren." And he departed and went to another place.
18. Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter.
19. But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that [they] should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed [there.]
20. Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus the king's personal aide their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king's [country.]
21. So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them.
22. And the people kept shouting, "The voice of a god and not of a man!"
23. Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.
24. But the word of God grew and multiplied.
25. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled [their] ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.

STUDY: The Text today began with the triumph of the righteous. Midway, it presented the terrible end of the wicked and concluded with the victory of God’s word. Our concern however is in the terrible end of King Herod, which came on the day he accepted the people’s declaration of him as a god, taking the glory of God to himself! He was smitten by an angel, eaten of worms and died! Considering this sequence, one would see that Herod was still alive when worms started feeding on him.

Wickedness cannot end in glory. God is a righteous judge, who rewards every man according to his works. The end point of Herod was a typology of hell, where worms feed on condemned souls while they are alive (though dead – the second death). What a horrible thing! You do not need to be Herod to end that way. Sin is wickedness and sinners will end terribly. The solution is total repentance and abstinence from sin and wickedness.

PRAYER: Save me from a terrible ending, O Lord!

29/06/2020

THE DAILY FOUNTAIN
DAILY DEVOTIONAL OF THE
CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN COMMUNION)
DATE: MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2020
(St. Peter the Apostle)
TOPIC: PETER’S DELIVERANCE
READ: ACTS 12:1-11 (NKJV)

1. Now about that time Herod the king stretched out [his] hand to harass some from the church.
2. Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
3. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was [during] the Days of Unleavened Bread.
4. So when he had arrested him, he put [him] in prison, and delivered [him] to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.
5. Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.
6. And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison.
7. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by [him,] and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, "Arise quickly!" And his chains fell off [his] hands.
8. Then the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and tie on your sandals"; and so he did. And he said to him, "Put on your garment and follow me."
9. So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.
10. When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
11. And when Peter had come to himself, he said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and [from] all the expectation of the Jewish people."

THE MESSAGE:

Herod arose against the Church. First, he killed James with the sword. Again, he imprisoned Peter with the intention to kill him after the Passover. The brethren prayed fervently, crying to God to save the Church because Herod was ready to get rid of it. Heaven responded immediately and we saw the miraculous deliverance of Peter. Who knows, probably, if the Church had kept quiet as it did in the case of James, Peter would have been killed. However, Peter had a role in the whole incidence - that of obeying divine directives.

The Church is being threatened and persecuted in several places. We have a work to do and it is that of fervent and endless prayer! Let us stop magnifying the activities of the enemies of Christ and resort to praying without ceasing. Let us pay attention to the Holy Spirit’s instructions and obey. God who delivered Peter will save His persecuted Church.

PRAYER: Lord, deliver Your Church from every attack of the enemies.