THE CHURCH TODAY...

Name of Church: GOD IS GREAT TSOOBOI MINISTRY CHAPEL INTERNATIONAL GHANA ----------------- Theme for the Year: WORSHIP THE LORD IN THE BEAUTY OF HIS HOLINESS ----------------- Pastor: REV. CHARLES H. SPURGEON JNR. ----------------- Names of Characters: ----- 1. Mary, the Husband Looker – who is the lead singer 2. Martha, the impresser – who is the pastor’s daughter 3. Ruth, the gossip – who is the usher 4. Deborah, the showoff – who is the MC 5. Nehemiah, the helper seeking favours 6. Adam, the job seeker 7. Nicodemus, the good-hearted soul 8. John, the faithful worshipper 9. Paul, the true believer ----------------- On their way to church service this Sunday morning, the 4 friends in the friend’s zone cannot help but start a conversation as they head for the service. Nehemiah, the helper seeking favours, begins to murmur and complain about how he has asked 5 different people in the church for favours and they are all slacking in heeding to his request. He continues to the extent that he makes a comment by saying that, that is the major reason he joined this church because he heard a rumour that “sikafour” were in that church. ------------- Adam, the job seeker also gives Nehemiah moral support by narrating his own palaver of how he has asked people in the church for a job after his national service and they keep tossing him here and there. He asked the Nestle HR for a job last month, he had asked Mr. Judas Iscariot who works at the Barclays Bank, another woman who owns her laundry business and even spoke to the pastor’s daughter to coerce his father to make an appeal to the church on his behalf. ----------------- ----------------- John, the faithful worshipper, is rather surprised and disappointed by the two friends’ comments and he asks his question if that was their prime motive for attending church. He rebukes them mildly and tells them to rely and trust God instead of putting their hopes in people who can fail them anytime. He shakes his head in shock and just when he is about to make another statement, he is interrupted by Nicodemus, the good-hearted soul. ----------------- ----------------- Nicodemus, the good hearted soul, interrupts John by saying that sometimes even God wants to bless us he uses people and so what is wrong if they go to the people themselves. After all the Bible says that heaven helps those who help themselves and may be they were led by the Holy Spirit to go to those people for assistance. ----------------- By this time the 4 guys are about to enter the chapel when John, the faithful worshipper, replies Nicodemus and says “Masa, Masa, Masa, there is no where written in the Bible from Genesis to revelation that heaven helps those who help themselves”. And he continues that it was a just a statement made by someone and makes mockery of Nicodemus to study his Bible well. All the 4 guys laugh together as they enter the chapel. ----------------- Ruth, the gossip – who is the usher standing in front of the door welcomes the 4 guys into the church as usual. As the guys enter the church, she makes a comment "boys abre and laughs". After the guys had entered, all this while also she has been starring at Deborah, the showoff – who is the MC, who is dressed in an enviable fresh "Kaba and Slite" of Printex, with some ‘wicked’ hairstyle. ----------------- Paul, the true believer, is a new resident in the neighbourhood and he is looking for a church to attend this morning and as he is walking by the GOD IS GREAT TSOOBOI MINISTRY CHAPEL INTERNATIONAL, he wonders if this is a true Bible believing church that he should attend. He encourages himself to pay the church a visit. Ruth engages him in a brief chat at the door seeing that he is a first timer and exaggerates about the church. ----------------- Mary, the husband Looker – who is the lead singer, spotting Paul quickly rushes to welcome him in and though she is not an usher, she offers him a seat. As she walks away she is saying that "as for this one he won’t be bad for a catch" and ends by saying "Aah girls abre". ----------------- Martha, the impresser – who is the pastor’s daughter, has already the front seat as usual dressed in a pretty almost questionable dress for a pastor’s daughter. She arrived earlier with her dad. She is always looking for attention because after all she is the pastor’s daughter. She will get up very often and walk out and walk back in the middle of service. You will find her by her dad’s side after service. ----------------- It is now time for preaching and the pastor, Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon Jnr. is preaching on the subject “Why do we come to church?” and in his delivery he hits the hammer right on the nail that some people are getting uncomfortable but Paul, the true believer, Nicodemus, the good-hearted soul, and John, the faithful worshipper, are smiling and nodding their heads and clapping and say the loudest Amen while the others are eyeing them. The pastor continues to give wrong examples of why some Christians attend church services like because they want to get a partner to marry, looking for a job, to please/impress people, to gossip about who is looking nice and who is not, etc. The pastor closes his short sermon by admonishing the church to come for service just because of fellowship, to hear God’s Word and to worship the Lord with other believers. ----------------- The pastor then calls out for people to re-dedicate their lives and Mary was the first to get up, followed by Ruth, Adam, Nehemiah, Deborah and the last person was his own daughter Martha, that is after the pastor had made the call about 3 more times. The pastor prays for them, takes offering and closes the service.

The Leader in You

A CALL TO LEADERSHIP When God calls or chooses an individual as a leader, the person acts as a leader consciously and sometimes even unconsciously. In 1 Kings 19: 15 –21,we read about a young man who received a call to occupy a leadership position as a prophet in Israel which then was one of the three most honourable leadership titles, besides the king and the priest. It did not end there. This man went on to become one of the greatest leaders in the land as far as the office of the prophet is concerned. And his name was Elisha! We are told that Elisha was ploughing with eleven others on the field and I have no doubt that he was leading them to do the work. This is because after the prophet Elijah cast his mantle on him, he went back and slaughtered his oxen and made "a goodbye feast" for his colleagues before leaving with his new master. It was his way of honouring them for their services. Moreover, in later years to come, after the passing of Elijah, Elisha was accepted as the leader of the sons of the prophets, and became very noted in Israel. So all the while Elisha was acting unconsciously in leadership even before his encounter with the senior prophet until he took over as a leader (now consciously) from his master. I therefore believe that everyone has a call to leadership. The problem here is that most people don’t know who they are and what they are made of. For others they don’t know when to start, how to start and where to start. Until this is realized, such folks will be leaving lives below the Creator’s expectation of them. Just as Elisha received his call to leadership from Elijah as mandated by the Creator, people today have been called and mandated to lead this world and even empowered by the Creator to do so and therefore there is no excuse whatsoever. You have been called to lead. According to Romans 8:19 in the Holy Bible, the world is eagerly expecting your manifestation. You cannot shun that expectation because of fear, inferiority complex or excuses. Rise to the task. Take your place as a leader and not just any leader but become the right and the best leader.