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In this piece, we are going to be examining something that I believe is going to be useful to us and useful for us, helping us to set a kind of an agenda for 2023. I would have loved that we begin our meditation from the book of Genesis, But I will prefer that we should start from the book of Revelation. In Revelation chapter 1:1-5, the Bible says:
Listen to Podcast: Setting Agenda for 2023 as Disciples of Christ
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. 4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.
May the Lord bless the reading of His word in our hearts in Jesus’ name. Now, a few things must be observed by us even as we read these verses again. In verse one, the Bible says: “The revelation of Jesus Christ…” so that we don’t mix things up. Whether you start your reading from chapter 1 or chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation, it’s all about Jesus Christ; it’s all about making Jesus Christ known. Some of us and some of the people that were reading this in their own time had the opportunity, the privilege, of seeing Jesus, but many of them only saw Him as a Son of man. They didn’t see the Son of God’s side of Him a lot. So, for that generation not to be misguided, God gave a picture, a clearer picture, of Christ to the church through the servant of God called John the Beloved. So, the Bible says, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” So, we understand everything we read in the Book of Revelation, no matter how scary it could look, it’s all about helping you to appreciate Jesus.
Now, let’s look at verse 2 talking about John, the Bible says, “Who bore witness to the Word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ”. So, when they ask you, who do you think John the beloved was? You will say, “John the beloved was a man who bore witness to the Word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ.” I don’t know if any one of us wants or desires the experience that John the beloved had. I don’t know if any one of us would love God to use us, to give us an important message to the church through us. Now, perhaps, if you are like John the beloved, in that desire, look at the description of his job or his preoccupation. Look at what John the Beloved was busy with. The Bible says, “He was a man who bore witness,” to bore is telling us the past tense of bearing something. He bore witness to the Word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
So, every time you see brother John, He was busy helping people to understand the Word of God, and testifying Jesus to the people. And this is something will have to learn about as we start the year 2023. We don’t want people to just see us and say, “Who is brother Gboyega Adedeji?” He is a writer. Oh, brother Gboyega Adedeji is a fisherman and a farmer. That is not a description. Don’t forget, nobody mentioned John the beloved, a former fisherman. When a mention was made of John the beloved, the Bible didn’t say, “John the beloved who fished a lot of fish”. Was that what we read? No! The Bible says, “He was a man that bore witness to the Word of God, and then to the testimony of Jesus Christ”. These two preoccupations were his focus, and if they were his focus then they have to be our focus.
Now, let us go Genesis chapter 1 from verse 1-5:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So, the evening and the morning were the first day.
The Bible says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” lo and behold, before you get excited, the Bible added, “and the earth was without form”. There is nobody who wants his life, family, ministry, or business to be without form. The Bible says, “The earth was without form, and it was void,” which means it was empty. “And darkness was on the face of the deep,” you couldn’t see anything. You remember the Bible says, “And God saw the light that it was good”. The light was useful for seeing. God said, “Let there be light”, and the moment light came, don’t forget that light was not, it was God who said light should be, and the Bible says, “There was light, and God saw,” and God realized that the light that came to be is good. And God divided that light from darkness, and He called the light Day.
So much gets done during the day, and fewer things get done at the night. When darkness comes upon us as a people, we retire to our comforts, we retire to our privacy. When the light comes out, we are emboldened to come out; that’s when we start saying bro John, how was your night, have you seen what I dropped in your house yesterday? You wouldn’t drop something in the night, but in the day — activities go on in the day. There will not be a day if God didn’t say Let there be light and there was light. The moment God said, let there be light; the light has been. Don’t forget that.
You could look at your life like God looked at the situation of the earth; void, formless and dark. But that is not all that could be with your life. Your life could experience a change; a turnaround, if only the light of God is introduced into it. So, things that other people cannot see that God has deposited in you could then become visible simply because light has shined upon you. But when that light withdraws from you, the glory of God upon you already may not become visible. The character of God, every treasure that God has kept in you, people cannot see it. And if people can’t see what is glorious about your life, nobody will like to celebrate you; nobody wants to honor you; Nobody wants to be close to you. Do you understand?
We have talked about the earth and light now; we’ll soon see how it concerns us. Let’s go to verses 26 to 28 of Genesis chapter 1. We’ve seen how the earth was almost nothing until God said, “Light be”. Don’t just be, be relevant there so that the treasures that I have kept there can become visible. The Bible says: “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to our likeness, let them…” it looks like when God said, “Let there be light” did the light come or not? It came. So, when God said, “Let them have” it is like let there be light, and the Bible says, “and there was light”. In like manner, when God said, “Let them have dominion…” it was, they had.
He said, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Do we realize that there was a moment in both the heavens and on the earth when there was no man? All right! God without man had begun doing things; God had created the earth, the heavens, lights, the sea… and the creatures in the sea. There were beasts in the field, animals and other living creatures existed. God was God and the earth was there. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image…” and when God is saying ‘let us do something’, it gets done. “Let’s make man in our image and likeness and let them have dominion.” Somebody could say, “what is the purpose of the Dominion?” If you look back at Genesis chapter 1 from verse 3, when God said, let there be light, and there was light, and God called the light day, if you go forward, you will realize the importance of the light.
Eventually, the Bible says, “And God created two great lights, one light or the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night — so, light rules. So, when God made man, in the order of His authority, God said, let them have dominion; let them rule. God said, “Let them have dominion…” which means that even though God had created other things before man was created, God would expect other things to know what to do because man shows them what to do. When God said, “let the light shine forth from the firmament of the heavens and give light to the inhabitants of the earth.” So, the inhabitant of the earth always looks towards the sun, for light. In the same way you look towards the sun for light, God has determined that other creatures of His that are on this earth, must look towards you for direction; for influence; for the understanding of what to do.
Sometimes you look at other living creatures, you can call them different names: sheep, goats, different names. They seem not to know what to do until you tell them. You begin to tell them what to do, and they obey you. God had ordained it that beyond those goats; are other things. Every creature of His on this earth is expected to look towards you for light; for direction. Do you understand? God had set the order. In Revelation chapter 1, the Bible was speaking concerning John the Beloved, and the Bible says, “He was a man who bore witness to the Word of God.” God spoke and he witnessed it. Do you have an idea of who a witness is? A witness is somebody who has a firsthand account of an event that took place — somebody that reveals the truth — somebody that shows the truth. You are witnessing the truth. The Word of God is always there; it has been written. The Bible says, “The letter kills, it is the Spirit that gives life,” So the truth can be there and yet unknown.
So, when the truth is now revealed, shown, manifested, displayed, performed, or demonstrated before a people, the person who does the showing or demonstration of the truth is called a witness. “I want to tell you that it was this boy that did this and that, now, let me show you something. Look at his mouth, see pepper around his lips; five minutes ago, he went to the pot, and he took the meat and ate it.” The person showing to account to others is so sure because he witnessed it; he saw it. The Bible says, “He bore witness to the Word of God…” Have you come to that point in your life too, even though you were not alive when the Bible was written but you can witness it? How can you witness something that has been written or prophesied before you were born? How do you get to that point where you could say, “I am a born-again brother, or I’m a born-again Christian sister, I’ve come to a point that I don’t just read the Bible and enjoy it alone, I’ve come to a point that I want to show others that this Bible is true”?
You know, it’s not easy. When you talk about the Bible to some people, they could start feeling sleepy. Try to show them that Jesus is Lord and it seems to them as if you are saying ‘Story, story’. How do you come to a point in your life where you can show people that Jesus is Lord, and they will understand it? That is the duty of a witness; somebody who witnesses the Word of God, everything that has been written in the Word of God, you witness it. The Bible says, “He was a witness; he bore witness to the Word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ.” I was there when He was here; when He went there, I followed Him. When He went to pray, we saw Him. When the heavens were opened onto Him, we saw Him; when He ascended, we saw Him. “We cannot but speak of the things that we have both seen and handled of the Word of life.”
So, how do you get yourself to a point also as a believer that every time you talk to people about Jesus, people think Jesus is your friend or your father? Now, let me give you an indirect example. When I was in the university, I was a friend to my wife, we go to classes together, and more than 90 per cent of the courses she did, I also did. Whenever she was done with her classes in the evening, I was also done with mine. Guess what, in those days whenever I was done, the next thing I want to do is to go back to my room and get something to eat, and the next thing was to sleep. But instead of my wife who was my friend journeying to her room and also doing the usual, she would rather go to a popular place of prayer to pray. She would not just walk away quietly, she would say, “Hey, guys, I’m going to pray”. It got so bad that myself and a friend of ours started envying her and becoming jealous. We would say all manner of things in her absence: “what is it, does she think she is the only one that is born again; are we not also Christians?” “Her own is too much; would she not rest.” “Is she the only one that loves God and that God loves?”
It means she was provoking us to jealousy. It was as if she was the immediate first daughter of God, and we are like gatemen in God’s house. But how can we also measure up, whether people will say it jokingly or seriously that we are Jesus’ brother, sister, or son? It will take time. Many of us Christians don’t flaunt Jesus at all; we are shy about Jesus, but Jesus kept on saying, “those who are ashamed of me and My Word now, I will be ashamed of them in my Father’s kingdom.” How many of us will do our Christianity and discipleship to the point that people would think immediately after Jesus, you are the second person in command?
Recently, my wife and I were just talking about the kingdom of Satan, and the things we’ve seen. We said, Satan so structured his kingdom to a point that anybody that gets delivered from the kingdom would tell you that he or she was second in command to Satan. So, anyone could ask, how many people are second in command to Satan? We came to realize that there’s a way the devil gives them a sense of importance and closeness, and they think it’s just between them and him — after the devil it is them. Those who said that they had a near-death experience; were into a coma, and were taken to heaven, every time they said they saw Jesus, and the way Jesus looked at them, it seems as if they were the only persons that Jesus loved — they could see the love; it was so real or practical.
Now, when do we start translating it into our day-to-day living? And you know, this is what will push us to a point that people would say ‘your own is too much —you’re taking this discipleship thing to an extreme level, are you sure you are okay? Friend, that is what God wants us to do. Jesus came to this earth, and he lived among us before He was taken up to heaven, but how can people who have never seen Him begin to fill Him if all you do is block Him? You block him from people. Let me give you a practical example. When you love a woman, you will protect her from other men. But do we so love Jesus to the point that we begin to protect Jesus from the rest of the world — what kind of love is that? Jesus is not expecting that kind of love from us. If you love Jesus so much then expose him to the world. It is the opposite of what we do to our lovers on this earth.
“Do you love Me,” let other people get to know about Me. Nobody wants to tell other people. “Let me tell you two things about my wife,” because you believe when you say or do that, you’re letting out a secret. But Christ has given us the go-ahead to tell Him to the world; you are at liberty to tell anyone 5000 things about Christ. “Let me tell you about Jesus. You see, when you come into Christ, the beginning will look like this. When you start getting closer to Christ, your life will begin to look like this,” How many of us do that? Rather, we are ashamed; we are being careful — let me not show them, Christ, too much less they take my lover away from me. God is calling us to that time when we will begin to show Christ unapologetically, unashamed. That is what God expects of us in the year 2023. If your discipleship will be true and true, then it must be a kind of discipleship where you as a disciple, you are not ashamed of talking about your Master — Discipler.
Now, let us go to the book of Luke 22:28. Jesus said, “But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. 29 And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, 30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel”. We have not come after someone who wants us to follow Him and remain nonentities. Jesus is not calling you and me to follow Him so that people can be stepping on our heads, and we can become like trash. He is asking us to follow Him so that we will become great — He is great. The least that we can be is that we will be great. He said, “Those of you who have continued with Me in the days of my sufferings, I bestow a kingdom upon you.”
It is like a man that is living and says, “I will my house to you”. So, we must not forget that, let’s keep it very close to our hearts. Jesus has not asked us to follow Him so that we may end up nowhere. He has asked us to follow Him so that we can end up where He is. 2 Timothy 3 verses 10-15, see what the Bible says, “But you have carefully followed…” The man called Paul had come to understand that this is not fake. He saw a commitment in Timothy and he was witnessing it. He was showing it as a truth.
But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, 11 persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them, all the Lord delivered me. 12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which can make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Verse 14 is very important. He started in verse 10 by saying, “You have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, faith, longsuffering, love…” Then in verse 14 he said, “But you must continue.” You have carefully followed and you must continue in the things which you have learned, and been assured of. If we want to succeed as witnesses, we have to carefully follow. We cannot follow Jesus like Judas from afar. We have to come closer to Jesus and carefully follow Him. Every time Jesus leads you to an experience, you have to carefully step into it. If Jesus is not leading you from that particular experience, you have to patiently wait there, why? You are staying there following. And when Jesus tells you this experience is over, follow Me, you have to be faithful in following Him. Apostle Paul said because you know whom you are assured of.” Jesus cannot fail you; He has never failed. Since you are persuaded about who is assuring you this thing, then you have to follow.
2023 is not a year to unfollow Jesus as if Jesus were a Twitter user. You have to keep following. Follow him through everything by faith. You may not see the wind, you may not see any other thing, but if you follow faithfully, the valleys of your life will be filled with whatever God wants them to be filled with. You have to trust God enough to follow Him. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verses 1 to 2: “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also”.
We can understand that wisdom, revelation, and understanding in the kingdom flow through the path of following. When you follow very carefully, you will witness the things you have seen. If you see enough, you will talk enough. If some of us were to have the opportunity, in quotes, to be among politicians in their night parties, their night club meetings, you see the things they do; you hear their words. When they meet, the way they do sign language with their hands, when you have seen enough or to a point; you could tell yourself, “At least if I cannot become governor, I will become a counsellor”. The way you saw somebody that you are following become whomever he became that is how you want to also become something. This is a reality in life; you become just like the person you are following. The things that you see; you witness them. If you have seen corruption, you witness corruption.
Nigeria today is a nation that is struggling with corruption and the people are fighting the old men who they think are corrupt, not knowing that the old men have given birth to young men and women all across the nation. So, when the old people go or die off eventually, corruption will remain. Why? Those young ones have seen and handled it, and it is easy for them to witness it. You will see rich young people, yet are still stealing government money as if they are very hungry. But guess what, there’s someone that they’ve seen. They’ve seen somebody who was richer than them but was corrupt. The people of this world are faithful witnesses, they witness their evil before us day by day. An armed robber that comes to rob a person is a witness. A particular prostitute that is seducing you is a witness. There’s a spirit in her; there’s a spirit in a man that is a womanizer; he is a witness. The people of this world don’t struggle to witness what is in them. They witness the fire that is burning in their hearts; they witness their urge. When we feel our urge in Christ Jesus, do we witness anything? We have to keep showing it. Whatever is bubbling in our hearts, let’s be quick to say it.
Jesus said, “The things you heard from Me in the dark go and say it in the open.” Jesus is not a secret society. He does not cover up, hide and seek. Let it out; say it out. Let the people know what is going on. You can imagine how our brother, John the Baptist, did his ministry. Do we think he locked himself in one room and he was hoping somebody will come and he will baptize them? That was not. The Bible says, “Cities were coming to him”. He was baptizing them in River Jordan and preaching to them, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. At one point, they were asking him, “Sir, what do we do?” The soldiers were asking him, “What do we do?” “Don’t collect bribes, don’t terrorize people. If you have done something like this, do something like this”. He taught them in public.
That is how the kingdom of God works. And you and I have been commissioned by God to witness it. Witness the things you see, if you see enough, you will speak enough. If you see enough, you will do enough things. And by the way, when we check ourselves, everything we do daily — from when we wake up in the morning to when we sleep at night, It’s also a witness. We witness the things that we have seen and learnt. We are all witnessing the things we do or have seen people do. So, you witness it; you show other people. I pray that God will help us in Jesus’ name.
In the Book of Acts of Apostles chapter 1 from verses 7-8. The disciples were asking Jesus, “Would you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And Jesus was replying them, “it is not for you to know the times and the season that the Father has kept in his authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And then you will be witnesses to Me.” In case you are confused about whom to witness, Jesus said, “You will be witnesses to Me.” We have been commissioned to witness Jesus, not people. Witnessing people can only produce little power. The Bible says, “The gospel of Jesus is the power of God unto salvation to them that believe.” So, do not be afraid or ashamed of the gospel — It carries power.
Everybody could think a politician is bad, imagine you coming out and saying, “this politician is not bad. Last week, this is what he did for me. This politician is not bad, yesterday she did this for me”. And when people trust the person that is talking, they will start having a change of mind towards the politician that they think was bad. Imagine God whom everybody knows is good yet they have come not to think about it or be driven by that knowledge; it is just mere head knowledge — it doesn’t come from their hearts. But when you that they trust tell them ‘This is what God did for me yesterday, or this is how God is helping me today”. Then people will start saying, “God is not only good to Apostle Paul, I know a brother beside my house that God has been good to too.
So, if God can be good to this brother beside my house, God can be good to me”. Share your story. Every opportunity you have let people know that He is helping you; don’t cover your secret up. What is your secret, if Jesus is your secret, be bold to talk about Him. When Paul got to this point in his own life, he said “I Paul, I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.”
Amen!
