INTRO
There are some ‘little, little things’ in the Bible for which the Lord strictly warns us to watch out. We are to take heed to those little things that have big, negative consequences or impact on man’s overall destiny. Beware of the little, little things! At this time we want to begin to identify those things; as little as they may seem to be, that can make or mar a man’s life. We shall be greatly blessed and saved a lot of trouble if we know the truth. Some of those little things are as follows:

1. A LITTLE LEAVEN

6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7 ¶ Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1Corinthians 5:6-8).

The leaven or yeast, when added to a lump or dough of flour makes it to swell up to a far bigger size. In times past, during the Feast of Passover all leaven was taken away from the camp, for it was unlawful for those who celebrated Passover to eat leavened bread. In like manner today, every one who wants to partake of the immaculate Lamb of God who was slain for us must also cast away every leaven of corruption, anything that will cause us to appear bigger than we really are―every form of hypocrisy. God loves to continue walking with those who are real and true.
In the above context, an incestuous fellow in the Church at Corinth was to be treated like leaven in the time of Passover Feast. Just as a little leaven added to a lump of flour causes the whole lump to be swollen, a corrupt person who has been sleeping with his father’s wife could bring more trouble on the whole assembly. In this wise, the whole body of the Church is referred to as the lump. Sin should always be treated as it really is―a plague!
God is jealous for His Church and He will never condone iniquity. He loves all sinners, so much so that He wants to save them from the bond of iniquity, but He hates sin to its very core!

8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Hebrews 1:8, 9).

At this point in time, you need to know that sin is a contagious and effectual leaven of corruption and destruction. In the entire Bible God has given no excuse for sin. Both the leadership and membership of the Church should be mindful of the fact that God wants us to learn from the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect God and man. He had this testimony that He LOVED righteousness and HATED iniquity. From the verses above, this was the reason why God had anointed Him with the Oil of Gladness above His fellows.
If anyone of us desires to be above board, if we want to go beyond the level of a mediocre in life, to be exceptional and excellent in all matters of life, we must be ready to love righteousness and hate iniquity. In other words, our love for righteousness must be absolute and our hatred for iniquity should also be absolute.
This was the secret of the very outstanding life of Joseph in Egypt. Apart from being blessed with a supernatural gift of word of wisdom―as manifested in his ability to dream, interpret and apply dreams; he was a man who grew to love righteousness and hate iniquity. His integrity was tested in the house of Potiphar whose wife was trying to lure him into fornication. Joseph knew better, he refused to cheapen his destiny. We too must make up our minds to be like Joseph.

“There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9).

If we hate iniquity, we will not even view it as an undue ‘sacrifice’ to run away from sin but rather as a wise way to preserve our own future and destiny. When we hate sin, we are only helping ourselves; we need no accolade from any man for that. Hence we will pave way for the hope of having an exceptionally excellent life in all ramifications. Joseph became a ruler in Egypt, the same land where he had been a slave, a victim of blackmail and a prisoner. God is able to do more for you also.

THREE CLASSES OF PEOPLE
As far as the subject of righteousness and iniquity is concerned three classes of people exist both in Church leadership and membership. We do see them everyday. In fact each one of us belongs to at least one of these 3 classes. Let us see where we really belong:

a. Those who hate righteousness and love iniquity e.g. Queen Jezebel. Some individuals are just naturally wicked; they chose to so be in spite of hearing all sermons. Like Judas Iscariot, they went the way of perdition. Unfortunately, such individuals do find their way into our local churches, they mingle with the sheep. May the light of God find them out!

b. Those who love righteousness but tolerate iniquity e.g. Eli, the Judge.
The spiritual success of the Church hinges on their attitude towards both righteousness and iniquity. In our days we see a lot of nice pastors who have had testimonies of integrity and discipline having so many wayward souls who flock after them. One finds it extremely difficult to reconcile the message of the pastor with the lifestyle of their congregation. Inadvertently, the congregation is an offshoot of the leadership. The same truth obtains on the home front. Some parents are more or less afraid to rebuke or discipline their children at the right time. They don’t want to hurt their kids, perhaps they don’t mind if the kids give them eternal hurts that will never be healed later in life. As soon as we notice a little leaven of evil in our children, we should rise up and take charge ere it becomes too late. O that we all will be able to have a good grasp of our own homes! Anyone who cannot take charge of his own children should not bother to lead others in life. Period! 1Timothy 3:4, 5.

c. Those who love righteousness and hate iniquity e.g. Jesus Christ and Joseph. These are the kind of people who walk after the order of Christ the perfect Man. Let us have grace to meet up with this true standard. Let us make up our minds to take the precious from the vile. Let us avoid living an unclear life of compromise. Let us make our stand known to both God and to men. Yes, men should know that we truly love righteousness and hate iniquity. This is the height of our moral absolution. Shalom.

THE LITTLE, LITTLE THINGS (Part 2 of 7) -THE LITTLE FOXES
BY OLUFUNSO JOSEPH OMIDIRAN www.livingsword.org
This time around we want to consider the Little Foxes:

“Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes” (Songs 2:15).

What we see in the above text is further corroborated by what is recorded by the Psalmist in Psalm 80:13-16:
13 The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.
14 Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;
15 And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.
16 It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.

It is very important to know that the Lord’s vine is His own chosen heritage as well as His people. When the vine is left unkempt animals of various shapes will come to devour and spoil it. This allusion is a figurative expression of what could happen to God’s children when they are out of tune with their Redeemer. The vines also speak of something that is so dear, cultivated to bring fulfilment to its owner. Wines are produced from the grapevine. The wine is symbolic of gladness, what brings joy to the heart. We can recall that at the wedding at Cana of Galilee, the Lord made the difference when their wine was finished. Finished wine is a sort of killjoy in the time of mirth and gladness. The Lord helped out as He made wine out of water.

We can also affirm that the little foxes that spoil the vine are those things that stand to terminate the emerging joy in one’s life. If the vines are spoiled wine will not come forth and possible joy or gladness is brought to a halt. In like manner, there are forces that work in the midst of God’s people, which, unknown to them kill their joy. God is not behind such. When men disregard their God, they terminate their own joy.

THE LITTLE FOXES
Foxes are violent animals. The fox is cunning, voracious and mischievous, fond of grapes and does much harm to vineyards. It is probably the same thing as the modern day jackals as found in large numbers in Palestine. In the context of what we read in the Songs, we found that the foxes should be dealt with before they do much harm.
The raging of an angry and a cruel man can be likened to foxes that spoil the vine. Through anger, a man can destroy in a moment what he laboured many years to acquire. We are warned over and over again to avoid anger.

“Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9).
A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife (Proverbs 15:18).
“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32).

When a person is given to anger they harbour the little foxes in their lives. There are people who are acclaimed to be very gentle and amiable, but when they become angry once in a while, they can hold a whole city to ransom! They dare not be angry for once. This is an uncomplimentary weakness. Moses was once described in the Bible as the meekest man on earth in his days.

“..Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth…” (Numbers 12:3).

Unfortunately, he betrayed this testimony at certain crucial times in his life. The effect at each time was devastating and excruciatingly painful. He normally paid some penalty for his spontaneous anger.
1. In his younger days he slew an Egyptian who was fighting with a Hebrew. As result he became a fugitive and vagabond (Exodus 2:11-15).

2. He broke the tablets containing the Ten Commandments. The words on the tablets were written with the finger of God Himself (Exodus 31:18; 32:15), but out of annoyance, Moses broke what He spent forty days and forty nights to obtain from the Lord! (Exodus 32:16-19; 34:1, 4, 28). More or less justifiably, Moses felt disappointed and enraged by the horrendous extent of the backsliding of the Israelites within so short a time. They so soon forgot the mercies of the Lord who delivered them from Egypt. To worsen the matter, Aaron who was also a partaker of God’s power and ministry led them in the show of shame. But why should God’s tablets of law be broken when the people sinned? Moses broke the wrong thing and he paid the price for his folly. It was not the Lord who told him to break His law. He had to go back to the Mount thereafter, to seek the Lord for another forty days and nights of fasting. Anger can make a pupil to keep repeating the same class!

3. He angrily smote the Rock twice when he was only told to speak to it in order to bring water for the people (Numbers 20:1-13). This was the last straw that broke the back of the camel: Moses was refused entry by God into the Promised Land, the land for which he laboured for so many years in the wilderness. This was the climax of the recurring decimal of anger in the life of this man of God. He failed to tame the beast, the little foxes and he lost a lot.

Are you often angry touchy and difficult to entreat? Do you lose your temper once in while? Have you been forced to misbehave by reason of the provocations of ‘unreasonable men’? Watch out for those foxes, the personal weakness that you have failed to deal with. Who on earth can stand up and say ‘I have no weaknesses’. Obviously none of us can! But does God want us to simply leave it at that? Doesn’t He call us to examine ourselves and correct our ways? It is not enough to agree that we are not perfect; we are to seek for the help of the Perfect One who was tempted in every way, yet without sin:
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

DON’T IGNOR THE LITTLE FOXES!
The foxes here are little, perhaps, not too obvious to a casual onlooker. The foxes are still hidden and seemingly insignificant. The little foxes could be the little, little anger, the little, little lust, the little, little lies and the little, little inner pride in our externally dignified heart and a religiously modified outlook. What on earth can a man hide from His Maker? Nothing of course! Another danger in life is that those little foxes could even be things that appear spiritual or reasonable, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Let us refrain henceforth from hiding ourselves from God’s searchlight. There is no more time for hypocrisy. We shall continue our studies from here next time, but before then don’t spare the little foxes in your own life; they will soon grow big if … Shalom

I am your son
Pastor Tim Chibuike Linus

Calvary Greetings to you in Jesus’ mighty name. You are welcome to the year 2012― our year of Supernatural Accomplishment. We want to thank you for all your encouragement and support for us in the work of ministry all these years. May the Lord continually count you worthy in His presence.

We felt led of God to share with you our budget for the First Quarter of the year 2012. We have before us the great task of taking the gospel of Christ, the mystery of the kingdom and the love of God to the nations. As it were, we need an urgent response from all willing children of God to our Macedonian Call at this time. Remember that our God loves a cheerful giver and it is more blessed to give than to receive. If you consider us faithful and committed to the course of Christ in the nations why not consider lending us a hand of support at this crucial time? Faithful is He that called.

BUDGET FOR THE FIRST QUARTER (Jan-Mar) 2012

Church/Office Rent ― N150, 000
Crusade/ School of Ministry at Onueke Ebonyi State, Nigeria― N250, 000
Missions’ ― N500, 000
Equipment/Logistics ― N150, 000
Staff Welfare (3) ―N195, 000
Miscellaneous ―N5, 000
Total = N1.25M ≡ £5000 (GBP) ≡ $7,813 (USD)

How can you give?

You may give through any of these accounts

• Domiciliary a/c# 0109771640 for USD donations.
• Domiciliary a/c# 0101771664 for GBP (£) donations.
•  Account # 0109771547 for Naira (N) donations.

All a/c are at GTBank Bodija, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Thanks very much. Shalom.
God’s servant
IN HIS HOUSE,

Olufunso Joseph Omidiran
www.livingsword.org

A comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries finds that there are 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion. Christians are also geographically widespread – so far-flung, in fact, that no single continent or region can indisputably claim to be the center of global Christianity.

Continue Reading >>

http://www.pewforum.org/Christian/Global-Christianity-worlds-christian-population.aspx

“And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? FOR I KNOW HIM, that he will command his children after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgement; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him” (Gen.18: 17-19―note my emphasis). 

Our message for this week is in form of a question. God Himself is the best Judge. But our attitude before the Almighty will determine our answer. God places every child of His upon an open/plain platform of test. If He does not test you, He cannot bless you. If He hasn’t tested you, He does not KNOW you! Unless He trusts you, He cannot entrust eternal treasures in your care.

God indeed is mighty in wisdom and glorious in deeds but yet delights in having fellowship with men and women whom He will also be able to trust and entrust with divine treasures. However, it takes time before God finds a sure man or woman. You see, He will first give you opportunity to prove and express your true colour as He keeps watching you quietly (silently). You cannot bribe Him into influencing His opinion about you. He is extremely faithful. He can neither lie or nor be partial. Hallelujah!

 GOD TRUSTING A MERE MAN… DOESN’T THAT SOUND AWKWARD?

Well, it is not so! God chose to create man in His own responsible image and likeness so that man might be enabled to fully represent His purpose and desire. In fact man (i.e. mankind) is a creature of purpose and trust. With God in charge, man is expected to be accountable. When Adam was put in the Garden of Eden, he was given charge of everything therein and he was shown his limit. God trusted him to do all things and be mindful of this limit. But man became irresponsible by reason of disobedience.

“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the list is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?” (Luke 16:10-12).

Can He trust you with the revelation of His will, plan and purpose for this generation and the one to come? Can He entrust the destinies of individuals, families, cities or nations to you? (Read Genesis18: 17; Psalm 25:14).

Are you a man or woman of great promise, great future? Are you cognisant of His future plans and mandate for your life? Do you know your place in His eternal plan for the ages? (Genesis18: 18).

Doe He know you too, sir?

“For I know him…”(Genesis 18:19). Does He know you? You can only know somebody by reason of closeness, intimacy or experience. How intimate with God are you? Have you been with Jesus? (Acts 4:13).

Can God vouch for you concerning your children and entire household, like He did for Abraham our father? Everyone and everything God places around you is by trust e.g. your husband, your wife, your children, your job, your education, your position, your opportunities, your wealth and possessions. All are upon trust and you will surely give account one day.

Can God entrust men’s souls to your care? Will He not be so much ashamed of you because of those souls that you have misled or likely to mislead whose destinies are attached to you? How do you serve before men, is it as unto the Lord?

Can He trust you with earthly resources? Unfortunately, many of God’s people have missed it in the aspect of money handling. Time and again, they have shown themselves unfaithful and unreliable.

We have been admonished in the Scriptures to make our calling and election sure (established), so that God may grant us abundant entrance into His supernatural resources (2Peter 1: 10, 11). Hence, we have to first prove ourselves before we are approved, able to be trusted and then entrusted with God’s beautiful riches. Who says you too cannot fit into this glorious possibility? You sure can!

Conclusion

God keeps seeking for those He can trust, not just for crowds in the church. Choose to be one of such today. (Consider 2 Chronicles 16:9; John 4:23, 24).

Prayer Points

-O Lord, make me a dependable and trustworthy son or daughter before You.

-O Lord, deliver me from all my crooked ways and all subtle tendencies to fail your test: destroy all untrustworthiness in my heart today.

-O Lord, make me whole and take me to my land of fulfillment.

…In JESUS’ MIGHTY NAME. Amen.

We love you so much. Shalom.

 By Rev Olufunso Joseph Omidiran