Apostle Joel Obuobisa

We need to become prayerful as 2013 ends. A lot of accidents, sudden deaths and other strange occurrences happen as the year comes to a close. Therefore it is very important to pray every day. Prayer is mysterious because God is mysterious.

Genesis 20:1-7 (KJV)

¹And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.²And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.³But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.⁴But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, LORD, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?⁵Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.⁶And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.⁷Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.

God’s involvement in our lives is restricted to our prayer. God will become involved in our lives if we pray and ask Him to help us. He will not do anything about our problems if we do not pray. Many situations in our lives will change if we decide to be prayerful.

1 Peter 5:8

⁸Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

- John 13:34-35
- The identification tag of a true Christian church is love - not signboards, singing, etc. But love.
- By this shall ALL men, believers or not, wherever they come from, they shall recognize my true believers by their love.

- 1 John 2:1-11 - Hatred of the others is a sign of somoene yet in darkness

- John 8:1-12 - The woman caught in the act of adultery. After Jesus had forgiven her, He said He is the light of life and whoever follows Him shall not walk in darkness, as if to say that you just saw an example of love in action, not learn to follow it.

- 1 John 3:10-24
- Ask yourself daily - what have I done today to show that I love somebody?

- 1 John 4:6-21

- 1 John 5:1-3
- 1 John 4:1 - believe not every spirit by try the spirits whether they be of God.

- Gal 5:6

- Matt 16:24-26
- Matt 10:34-36
- Mark 8:34-36
- Luke 9:23-24

- The cross is the identifier of those who are following Christ.

- Those closest are most inconvenienced by the active following of Christ and therefore dislike the follower.

- 1 Cor 1:17-18 The cross is the power. If you are not bearing it, you have left the power behind. If you omit the power, how can you do well in ministry?

- God chooses the things that are not sensible to save those who believe, and the world through its wisdom.

4. Passivity in the members

- A passive person does not involve themselves in anything that is going on in the church, but sits back and watch unconcerned and uninvolved.
- A growing church needs to have more people helping. e.g. Drama Ministry, Choir, Prayer Team.
- Some people are not interested in joining any group in the church.
- With the exception of new church members, everyone in the church needs to help to build the church.
- Passivity is often rooted in hurts or offenses, especially in people who were formally active in the church, but have pulled back. Usually they were hurt by something that happened in the church.
- Matthew 25:15-29 - the servant is called wicked for doing nothing! No one escapes blame by doing nothing.
- to do nothing is wickedness because God has given everyone talents, and He looks for a return from the investment he has made into His servants.
- Everyone is passionate about something.
- God wants us to be passionate about our relationship with Him and about building His church.
- Nehemiah 3:5 - God sees who is not passionate.
- Jeremiah 48:10 - passivity attracts a curse.
- Find out what you can do to help and do it.

5. A political spirit

- A person with a political spirit tries to involve others in his ideas and philosophies.
- people with similar political ideas group together and form parties or groups, and disagree with everything the opposing contrary.
- 2 Samuel 15:1-6 - Absalom created a group of people who shared his ideas and thoughts. Later when he rebelled, he got 200 people to rebel with him.
- do not join factions in the church.
- When you have a bad experience or find fault with the church, do not find others who have had the same bad experience, and form a group based on that.
- Instead, get help to try to solve the problem.

3. A Critical Spirit:
- Someone who criticizes others all the time. One who only sees the worst in everyone and everything.

- The devil is called the accuser of the brethren. We must be careful not to do the devil's work by accusing each other. Revelation 12:10

- 2 Samuel 15:1-4
- Absalom had a critical spirit. He pointed out the shortcomings of King David to the Israelites and won the hearts of the people.

- We who are not perfect, should not demand perfection from others. Every thing that is good about us came from God. We should not look down on others because they are different.

- Matthew 7:1-5 - God does not want us to be critical and judgmental of others.
- When we see something missing in our church, instead of complaining about it, we should help to solve that problem.

- Sometimes members become offended at the pastor. 2 Kings 5:1-17

- Naaman was angry with Prophet Elisha because of the instructions he was given. However when he obeyed the instructions, he was cured of his leprosy.

- Do not be offended at our pastor's preaching. He is telling us what God wants us to hear.

- Instead obey the Word of God that comes to us through the preaching.

- God helps us to obey His commandments.

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

- It is common for one to get offended in a church. A church is like a construction site. On a construction site it is easy to get hurt or injured.

- The leader can be offended by the members. A member can be offended by the pastor or by another member.

- 1 Timothy 3:14, 15 - it is necessary learn how to behave in the church.

- When corrected, it is an opportunity to learn something new. One should not get offended when corrected or rebuked.

- James 1:22-25 - the Word of God is a mirror. Be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only.

- Hebrews 4:12 - the Word of God is a sword. Sometimes it can be uncomfortable when to hear the Word, but one needs to be humble and change their life, instead of getting offended.

- In order to advance in life, we need to work on our blind spots and become better in those areas.

- Psalm 100:3
- Psalm 23:1
- John 15:16

God sees His people as sheep, dependent creatures and is so interested in our involvement to help make the fruit reman that our prayers are answered based on fruit that remains.


1. All you need is a desire - to be involved in the work of keeping the sheep. 1 Tim 3:1 ... If a man deisre... A bishop is simply someone who oversees God's people.
- Gal 4:18 - It is good to always be zealously affected in a good thing.
- God works with our desires and willingness Phil 2:13
- Isa 6:8-9 The prophet just volunteered himself when the LORD asked for someone to send. And the LORD accepted and sent him.

2. Becoming a shepherd is a natural stage in the development of a believer.
- Heb 5:12

3. There is a great need for shepherds.
- Matt 9:36-38 - v37 the harvest is plentious but the laborers are few.

4. God's people are scattered.
- Matt 9:36
- Ezekiel 34:5
- The devil has access to God's people because there is no one to take care of them.

5. In order to fulfil the great commission. Mat 28:19-20
- The commission is to go and teach - a process not a single event.
- 2 Tim 2:2 - the same commit to faithful men that will teach others also.

Jeremiah 3:15 - pastors are a gift from God. God gives us pastors to help us to get knowledge and understanding.

- We need to have knowledge to be successful  in life.
e.g.1 Peter 3:7 - we need knowledge to be successful in marriage.

- John 13:20 - when we receive pastors, we receive Jesus, who sent the pastor, and God the Father, who sent Jesus into this world.

- God may send us a pastor in answer to our prayers about specific problems we have.
Exodus 3:6-10 says that God sent Moses to rescue the Israelites as a result of their cries to God.

- Acts 9:3-7 - God told Paul to go to a man of God in the city, who will tell him, Paul, what to do.

- In Acts 10:1-6 - God told Cornelius to send for Simon Peter, who will tell him, Cornelius what he should do.

- 2 Chronicles 20:20 - God wants us to believe in God's prophets so that we can prosper.
We need to allow ourselves to be pastored, by reaching out to our pastors, and stop trying to avoid them.

- God sent Nathan to tell King David that he had to repent of adultery and murder. We need to be like David and admit our mistakes, and value our pastors.