recovering lost ground covid19

The Almighty God has been merciful to us. Against all odds, He has led us thus far in the long dark days of this year. The Lord has preserved our lives, provided for us, strengthened and blessed us despite the challenges around. May His great name be exalted.

As we press on in our journey of life this year, the Lord is assuring us of not just recovering all our lost grounds, but is also going to help us break the new grounds He has promised us. It is my prayer that you will trust the Lord to do this in your life and family. May we also break new grounds as a church in the rest of this year despite the Corona Pandemic slowdown.

From our text, the following are required to break new grounds:

1.     The Right and of God - V.1-3.

The right hand of God guarantees divine help, divine protection, divine favours, divine strengthening, divine encouragements, divine blessing, divine power; etc.

May the Lord renew His right hand on your life in Jesus' name.

2.       The Arm of God - V.3; Deut. 33:26-29.

The Arm of the Lord is symbolic of God’s mighty strength to uphold, carry and sustain.

3.       The Light of God’s face - V.3.

This refers to the two-sided dimension of God’s favour. To one group, it is an experience of God’s uncommon favour.

To the other group it is a blinding and judging experience (MSG).

4.       The Love of God - V.3;

The Love of God is sweet.

The love of God is enduring; it is everlasting.

God’s love is beyond human comprehension.

It is the kind of love that transforms a sinner to a saint.

It is the kind of love that turns a rebel to a redeemed child of God.

5.       Submission to the Lordship of Christ - V.4.

The path of submission to God opens you to enjoy the very best of God.

You may not be able to go too far in life until you submit yourself to the Almighty God.

6.    Readiness to fight the good fight - V.5

Believers in Jesus Christ are engaged in the good fight.

What makes this fight good is because Jesus Christ has already won the victory for us on the cross at Calvary.

He has made us more than conquerors - Rom. 8:37.

He has made us over-comers - I Jn. 4:4; 5:4.

7.   Total dependence on God - V.6-7.

The time we live in calls for total dependence on the Lord.

Without that, all you think you have gathered over the years may just fizzle away before your eyes.

To break new grounds in the post Covid period, you need to depend on the Lord totally or else you may be disappointed - Prov. 3:5-6.

As we enter this uncertain times, I want you to be encouraged by the word of the Lord. Against all odds, you will break new grounds for the Lord. You will enter your promised land. You will eat the good of the land. God will displace nations for your sake. You will fulfil purpose in Jesus' Name.

The God of heaven has been so good to the house of IBC. By His grace, IBC turned 53 three days ago - Thursday, May 28.

Thank God for our founding fathers. Thank God for those men, women, youths and children who took the step of faith to come and break a new ground by starting this church 53 years ago. Thank God for the succeeding generations who built on their labors. Thank God for giving great increase to the labours of our fathers over the years and for the many great legacies they left behind. It is my prayer that God will use our generation to move His purpose forward in IBC. We pray this local church will begin, not just to recover her lost opportunities, but to also seize other new opportunities the Lord brings our way in Jesus' Name. Amen.

A.     Some Lost Grounds IBC Needs to Recover, and New Opportunities.

• In the area of education. It is time to put into action the thoughts we have cherished over the years, to have a Crèche, Nursery, Primary and Secondary Schools. We can do all of these by the grace of God on our lives. We can conquer many nations (Children) through education. This is the time to arise and shine in this area. May the Lord give us success in Jesus' Name.
• Hospital Ministries: We also need to trust God to build hospitals. This would not just help to complement government efforts, but help to fulfil our purpose as Salt and Light in reaching out to many lives with the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• Welfare Ministries: It will be good also to plan to have orphanages, shelter for the homeless, etc. These are avenues to take care of the needy, most of whom are often neglected by Government. We can recover this ground and do exploits for the kingdom in this area.
• Church Planting: The Lord has no doubt helped us to do greatly in the area of church planting over the years. We can however do more. We should in fact do more. May the Lord help us to do more in Jesus' Name.
• Studio: Our need for a standard studio has become apparent with the coming of Covid - 19. We need to urgently recover this lost ground as soon as possible.
• Investments in farming and other laudable projects.
• In our relationships: Especially with Our Cooperate bodies - Association, Conference and Convention. The same goes with our mother church and daughter churches.

B.     The Urgency of Our Assignment

The truth is that we don’t have all the time on our hands again! One of the things Corona Virus Pandemic has taught us is to "make hay while the sun shines." Whatever we need to do must be done NOW! Night is already gradually closing in on us. We must not delay in doing all of the foregoing.

If the Lord is laying on your heart to give towards any of the aforementioned, please kindly contact us.

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I have been pondering the issues of the changes the world will likely see when we emerge from the corona virus pandemic for these past few weeks.  And then I received the note from our Pastor Dr. Segun Adeleke requesting me to minster in the conversations on a post Covid19 recovery. I immediately knew the Lord is at work. I accepted and I am honoured and privileged to stand before you all to talk about the promises of the Lord to restore us and provide recovery for His servants and His people.

 Let us pray: O Lord God who keeps his covenant of love with those who love and obey His commands, we ask O Lord that you hear our prayers and see our conditions, and that you will not harbor your anger at us forever and that you will not treat us as our sins deserve.  We pray O Lord that you remember your great and precious promises of restoration and in your unfailing kindness and mercy help us rebuild our broken walls and ruins.  Strengthen our feeble limbs and weak hands and enable us recover all we have lost and transform us to become your true servants purposed to worship and serve you all the days of our lives.  Father grant us this in the name of your only Son Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 Brethren, we will recover our lost grounds. I am confident of this because the Lord has promised this to us.  These promises are the foundation for King David recovering his lost possessions as recorded in 1 Sam 30:18.  This verse tells us that “David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken including his two wives”.

In this conversation, we will:

 1.   Examine our reality today.  What is the state of the world regarding this pandemic?

2.  We will examine what are the likely losses we may have suffered as a result of this pandemic

3.  We will make observations of some general trends that are emerging from the pandemic

4.   We will examine the implication of the emerging trends from the pandemic on our nation, businesses and on us as individuals

5.  We will examine some of the promises of recovery in scripture and brief examples of a few of God’s people who have recovered possessions in scripture

6. We will briefly examine David’s character to discover some of the attributes of God’s people who recover their lost possessions

7. We will finish this conversation with a few principles God’s people must abide in to recover their possessions.

 
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INTRODUCTION:

It is no news again that the human race has been undergoing global crisis for at least three months now. This is due to the outbreak of Corona Virus that started like a spark in the city of Wuhan in China but has turned to a wild fire which has engulfed all the countries of the world. COVID-19 pandemic is considered as the most crucial global health calamity of the century and the greatest challenge that the humankind faced since the 2nd World War. It has rapidly spread around the world without religious, ethnic, racial, territorial and language restrictions. It has posed enormous health, economic, environmental and social challenges to the entire human population. Millions of people have been infected and hundreds of thousands have been killed across the globe while several thousands too have recovered from it. Global economy has been severely disrupted. Our religious life has also been adversely impacted due to the social distancing, partial and total lockdown measures adopted to prevent the further spread of the virus.

However, Covid-19 pandemic just like every other adversity has also come with some positive sides. One thing that is very sure is that there is a shift globally. Status quo can no longer remain in every area of our human existence. The dark moment this pandemic brought us into has also given us the following opportunities:

1.          Opportunity for a deep REFLECTION. There is an adage in Yoruba that says, “When a child stumbles and falls to the ground, he looks ahead but when an adult falls he looks behind himself.” Covid-19 pandemic had forced each of us to ask ourselves the following questions:

l  What happened?

l  How did we get here?

l  What did we suppose to have done that we did not do or done well?etc.

2.        Opportunity for REFOCUSING (Revelation 2:5). As we look behind, we are bound to discover certain mistakes or significant omissions we must repent from in order to forge ahead with hope into the brighter future and greater tomorrow.

3.        Opportunity for REDISCOVERY (Revelation 3:1-3). As long as there’s still life, there’s usually another chance, another opportunity and another possibility for recovery. However, if there will be recovery of all lost ground, there must first and foremost be a rediscovery. A rediscovery of purpose, passion and plans...

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The story of the floating ax-head attests to the Biblical truth in Lk. 1:37, that “With God nothing shall be impossible.” It remains a mystery how iron can be made to float with just a stick. Our God indeed is the Almighty, the All Powerful and ever Dependable.

While it is true that many have lost a lot due to Corona virus Pandemic, we are assured of recovery from this passage and encouraged. You will surely recover in Jesus' Name. Your recovery may look impossible to the natural mind, but if you will trust God and follow the instructions in this passage, you will surely recover whatever you have lost in Jesus' Name.

A.   Definition

Axe Head = “A cutting tool that consists of a heavy edged head fixed to a handle with the edge parallel to the handle and that is used especially for felling trees and chopping and splitting wood.”

Your axe head = Your spiritual gift.

= Your weapon

= Your tool.

= What gives you a cutting edge.

= What makes you sharp and effective

= Your means of livelihood, 

= Etc

B.   Requirements for the recovery of Your Lost Ground:

1.    You need to be discontent with your present situation- V.1.

The truth of life is that, it can always be better. No matter the height attained or the situation you find yourself in life, it can always be better. So many people have not been blessed or blessed the more because they are soon-satisfied.

Some others have accepted where life has placed them as their fate. They never think it could be better than it is with them.

The company of the prophets became dissatisfied with their living condition and requested for something better from their Master. This was the beginning of their miracle. Until you are dissatisfied with your present condition, you will never see the need to recover the lost ground in your life. You will just be managing - patching and patching life, when God is ready to give you something better.

2.    You need initiative - V.1.

The idea of building a bigger meeting place came from the sons of the prophets. They initiated it. We all must be full of initiative at this time.

We should not wait for people to push us around. This is time to initiate the process of recovering your lost ground (ax-head).

3.   You need a vision - V.1-2.

The next thing you need is vision. Vision is the revelation of a preferred future.

Personal vision is required for the recovery of your lost ground. Collective vision is required for the recovery of the lost ground in our Organization. The company of the Prophets had a collective vision.

They were not just dissatisfied with their state, they had a clear vision of what they wanted and pursued it. What is your post-Covid vision?

If you don’t have any vision to run with after Covid 19, you can be sure you will recover nothing.

4.  You need a team spirit/work - V.1-2.

Recovery of some lost ground will not be accomplished by your singular effort.

Recovery of a God-sized vision would require both team spirit and team work.

The company of the prophets had both and were divinely helped to fulfill their vision.

5.   You need the spirit of agreement - V.1-2.

The necessity of agreement in recovering lost ground especially in a group setting can never be over emphasized. A house divided against itself cannot stand says the Lord – Lk 11:17 But one shall chase a thousand and ... two, ten thousand – Deut. 32:30.  The company of the prophets were in agreement with respect to their vision, strategy, etc. They were all headed in the same direction.

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