This is a question that I am pondering right now. Grace is God reaching out to us and giving us full access to Himself and ALL His resources. This Grace is made available through the coming, death and resurrection of Jesus. So here we are, natural beings try to do things in our own strength and making a mess of it (yes some make more mess that others); and simply because of what God chose to do through Jesus, we are now free to operate in the power of God on the earth.

My question then is, can we abuse this grace? Or maybe more appropriately can we take this grace for granted? To the second question I say yes. We can forget the cost of grace because we receive it freely. We can also continue to live far below God’s ideal for us because we do not recognise what has been done for us. When you do not know the value of what you have, the tendency to abuse it is greatly increased.

Am I abusing the grace of God? Am I really making use of all that God has given to me in him? These are some of the questions that I believe the Holy Spirit is posing to me these days. I believe there is so much more in God than I am making use of. As the apostle Paul urges in 2 Cor 6:1 - We must endeavor not to receive the grace of God in vain or (ignore it). I think this is another wake up call to me.

I got this call once when I was in university - I was always spending time studying scriptures and praying at the expense of studying my school materials. Needless to say, I did very poorly at school that year. The following year however, I got this wake-up call that I can tap into the grace of God to do well at school and still excel in spiritual things. Specifically I was led to spend an extra one or two hours studying my school materials after my loong meetings and bible studies. In this short period of time, I was able to understand what I was being taught in my engineering classes and I did very well in my exams.

What am I learning today? There is a need for me and for all believers to tap into the grace of God to do what needs to be done rather than thinking that what needs to be done can be neglected because we are “doing the work of God”. So I think I need to take a look at my schedule and my life and see things that I have thought I did not have time for or strength for and see how God will lead me to do them not by my strength but with his Grace.

If you are reading this, maybe you can look at your life and schedule and see if there are things that you have abandoned because you were spending more time doing ministry. Did God ask you to drop those things? Or maybe there are things that God has been asking you to take up (like me) that you think you cannot do because your plate is full. If He is asking you to do it, remember to tap into God’s strength (Grace). You will be amazed at how much God can do through a man or woman who is willing to take an extra hour every now and then to do what God has placed on their heart.

Lets not ignore the grace of God.

I have been a lot more aware of the fact that we are not seeing many people get really “saved” in our ministry. We see a few people get saved but I am aware that there can easily be many more. I believe we could easily experience people getting into loving relationships with God every week. My question is why is this not happening? Obviously the problem is not from God. I know that God delights in the salvation of lost sinners like me. I know how I got saved and began my relationship with God. There was no drama, but Jesus became very real to me even though I was less than 10yrs old. So I am beginning to wonder if something is wrong with the way I am doing ministry.

Could it be that Canada is too hard? - Well it is true that humanism and secularism is quickly attempting to take over Canada, and a lot of people have become disillusioned with “the church”. However, I still believe that the power of God is still available to save the lost. I do not think that Canada is harder in any special way than other areas of the world where people are anti-Christianity, however I think that those of us sent to minister in Canada must understand the perculiarity of Canada and go to God for a strategy that will be effective in bringing in the harvest.

Is the harvest really ready? Yes of course! Jesus declared many years ago that the harvest is ready. This is the first work that the Lord did in my heart and ministry. I am convinced beyond all doubt that there is a big harvest in Canada. It does not matter what province, city or town, there is a harvest in Canada. The problem is not that the harvest is not ripe. The problem is the labourers!

So what is the problem with the labourers? - The most obvious problem is that there are not many labourers. Very few people are reaching out to the millions of people out there who are lost to the love of God. I am not talking about people not standing at the corner of the street giving out gospel tracts. There are a few of those; although they are still not enough. What about gospel campaigns? There are many of those but I believe that these impersonal methods of reaching out to people can only be as effective as the Christians are reaching out to their neighbours and colleagues in the love of Christ.

I believe the problem with us labourers is that we have focused on impersonal approaches of evangelism or witnessing and ignored the more personal methods of reaching out. We have wrongly assumed that if we stay on the street corner handing out tracts, or set up a tent or rent a hall and just preach the “undiluted word of God”, the non-Christians will rush in and get saved. Well maybe this approach has worked in the past for great evangelists like Charles Finney, DL Moody, Spurgeon, Billy Graham and more, but the more I think about our situation as a church, the more I realise that even this evangelists started out as personal workers before being launched into the ministry of mass evangelism.

What can we do now? Well the first thing is that I am so much more aware that if we are going to enjoy weekly salvations in our ministry, all of us (members of our local assembly) and all of the church nationwide must actively engage in the work of loving our neighbours and sharing the gospel message. If we all love the non-Christians around us and clearly share the gospel message with them when the opportunity arises, although this people may not get saved right away, they will eventually meet with other Christians or attend a less personal evangelistic events where they would accept Jesus as their Lord.

As a pastor, I choose to make personal evangelism my focus - By this I mean that as a church we will invest in resources geared to helping our members learn about personal/relationship evangelism, and to participate in it. I will set a personal goal to meet someone new every week and to share the love of God with them. I am not suggesting that we put an end to all other methods of evangelism, but that we add this very powerful method of reaching out to people to our strategy.

It is more expensive - Yes it is true that making friends and sharing the love of Christ with them does not cost lots of money, however it cost more time and more personal resources. I am discovering however, that although is costs more, it is also more rewarding. I am making some great friendships, praying for more people by name, learning more about my weaknesses and going to God for help. To do this work well, we must become more and more authentic as Christians. What do you know? Relationship evangelism will help you grow as a Christian than any thing that you may have done before. I am already enjoying some of its benefits and I look forward to seeing those weekly salvations in our ministry. I also look forward to seeing the joy in the eyes of some of our members who will start to see people come to faith in Christ Jesus.

In John 4:35, Jesus is quoted as saying that the field is ready for harvest. I believe that this year we (my family and church family) are going to experience harvest. I mean, lots of people will be blessed by our ministry, lots of people will bless us, lots of goals and visions will be achieved. I am so sure of it and I am ready to work hard to bring in the kind of harvest that I am expecting.

You know what? I think I am going to need lots of help too to bring in the harvest and God is already helping us to make some divine connections with some hardworking, harvest-hungry people. Wow.. this is already a great year. Stay tuned.

I got to Kingston at about 4:30pm today. As I came into the city, I was declaring that by the grace of God we will see God do great things in this city. I have meet my landlord and his family. We had a good meeting and I am glad that I am staying in their basement. I had been looking at other places when my friend suggested this place. I think it is going to be good. Well I have meet 2 new people in Kingston and their 2 children. They already attend a church here and they are very involved. It’s good to be living with Christians but also I need to meet those who are yet to believe.

There are a few things I need to do to get properly settled in - I will go about them tomorrow and hopefully I will meet some people that I can invite to church or for a discussion about the gospel. My goal for this week is to settle down, get a rhythm and meet a few people - Generally - it’s to get the vibe of the city.

So far so good. God is good.

At the end of this month, I will be moving partially to Kingtson, Ontario. We have been praying and planning and we believe that great things are being prepared for us and the people of Kingston.

Our budget for the year is about $20,000 and right now we have pledges and donations of about $7,000. We are sure that by God’s grace we will have all the money we need to begin a work in Kingston and also to sustain the work for the year. We are assured that the work will be able to sustain itself at the end of 2010.

From March 1st I will be spending 4 days in Kingston and 3 days in Montreal. I will spend most of the month of March praying, getting to know Kingston better and at the same time sharing the good news of the Kingdom of God. I believe that by Sunday March 28th we would be able to locate some of the people that the Lord has prepared for the work.

I am so glad that the work in Montreal is going on very well. The Leaders are getting more and more accostomed to leading the meetings and are also growing in the spirit. I am so grateful for God’s grace on these young men and women. My wife Olu is doing a fantastic job of assiting me and I can only imagine how much more work she would have to do when I begin to spend more days away from home each week.

Please continue to pray along with us for a great harvest of souls for the Kingdom of God. And also give towards the work. Nothing is too small. All we need is 20 people giving $1,000. You can be one of them.

You are blessed

Ade

I am happy to be alive and well this 2nd day of 2010. Last year was a very good year and I am sure that this year will be a better year. In every aspect of our lives and ministry we saw God’s faithfulness. From what the LORD has laid on my heart for this year, I believe we will see several miraculous interventions from God. Our theme Chapter for this year is Isaiah 40.

I believe that this year the Lord will cause us to experience things that can only be explained as God’s glorious revelation. The first miraculous manifestation of God’s power in my life occured yesterday when He delivered me from an excrutiating stomach pain. I still don’t know what caused the pain but I know it was terrible and it lasted for over 24hrs. If not for the hand of GOD, I would have started this new year in the emergency ward of a hospital. I give all glory the glory to GOD.

In verse 5 of Isaiah 40, God said he will reveal his glory so that everyone will see it. I believe that everyone will see the Glory of God in our lives this year. I pray that we will all see the Glory of GOD in your life this year too.

For sometime now, I have been thinking that if we are to make serious headway in minisering to the people in quebec, we must have a missionary mindset. What do I mean by that? I mean we must realise that the people that we are ministering to have their own culture, their own language and they have their own approach to dealing with the things of God.

If we are going the be successful at preaching the gospel of the kingdom, we must realise that it must be by the power of God. It has to be innovative and it has to be one person at a time. We must realise that mass evangelism may not be the way to go. We must understand that we need to get out of the church and get unto the street and the world to meet with people who need the good news of the kingdom.

So as the Lord has been laying on my heart, In 2009 we will adopt a new strategy. We will spend more time praying for revival - the power of God to convict people of their need to sumbit to God. We will also spend more time reaching out in our community. Many hours will be spent sharing the good news of the kingdom with everyone that care to listen.

I believe that as lives start getting transformed by the power of God, it will spread and with prayers it will even spread faster. One other thing that is needed, is for all true christian believers to work together with only one goal. We must forget about building personal empires and build the kingdom of God.

Finally, pastors need to learn the french language and adapt to the french culture. That means, I must continue to practice my french and make the effort to be fluent in french by 2010. I must confess that I have not been able to balance the demands of ministry and studies with mastering the french language. However, since classes are over I intend to work harder on my french.

In the past couple of months, I have been learning more about what it means to be crucified with Christ. I am learning daily that rather than trying to make the best of the life that I have, I could instead learn to live it by faith in God. I could dedicate my life 24/7 to the purpose and will of my Lord Jesus Christ.

It is getting clearer everyday that the purpose of God for my life is to fulfill the purpose for which Christ died for us all. I am learning daily that the more allow my life to be controlled by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the more my life will be fulfilling and the more fruitful my life will be.

I must say that I am still learning about the meaning of fruitfulness, what it means to be totally controlled by the Holy Spirit, how to relax in the face of difficulties but at the same time when I look back to just 8 months ago, I cannot help but notice that the Lord has done so much in me.

Some people have been asking about our financial state - I am happy to announce that every month has been better than the previous month and this month of Sept has been the best so far. On the very first day of the month, the Lord sent us $700 through one of his children here in Montreal. We give all the glory to God. (I am only sharing this to serve as an encouragement to other servants of God who are trusting the Lord for provision). In addition, in August we got a partner who has pledged to support us with $100 every month. Our God is a faithful God. I believe you now see why I said that the Lord has been teaching me how to let Him live His life through me.

I am still learning about the power of praying in tongues. It has been impressed strongly on my mind lately to study this some more and I believe the Lord will teach me.

I leave you with this word of encouragement. IT PAYS TO GIVE YOUR LIFE TO GOD.

Many people have been wondering why I have been so quite. Well there are a number of reasons. First my dad and mum visited us from Nigeria, we had to prayerfully prepare for the 3rd year anniversary of our church, and I am also enrolled in a 5 weeks intensive french program at the university of Montreal. So with all these, I have hadly had any extra time to blog or even update our websites. However, since the anniversary has passed, and my parents have gone back home, I am able to return to my regular schedule.

2 weeks have already gone by. I am learning a lot, and I know that after this class I will be able to take some more classes and within the next 2 years I should be preaching in French. My goal is to be able to preach in french at our church anniversary in July 2010. Please pray along with me and foryou my french brothers and sisters speak to me in french.

We are expectant of a great move of God in our lives and our church for the rest of the year. Great prophetic words have been spoken concerning us. Lets keep on praying that we can would allow the Lord to do what He plans to do.

Praise the Lord.

Today I woke up early to pray and to prepare for the day, my sermon and the worship service.  It was a good time in God’s presence and all through the day I was happy because I had this feeling in my heart that God is doing something new in our Church.  And I am still expectant of a glorious move of God in our midst in the next couple of days.

Since it was my birthday on Friday, our wonderful church family blessed us with a cake and in the evening service to crown it all up they presented us with a good sum of money. Words cannot adequately describe how much we (Olu and I) appreciate this display of love. We feel really blessed of the Lord to have such a wonderful family. Needless to say, the money came in at the right time and we give all glory to God. And we pray for multiplied blessings on everyone that made it possible.

I am looking forward to the prayer meetings which will begin tomorrow night at 7.00pm