THE FIRST STEP TO GOD

First lesson: Philippians 3:13 "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before." Second lesson: Romans 6:1-2 "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Golden text: 1 Timothy 6:11 "But thou, 0 man of God flee these things; and follow after righteousness; faith, godliness, love, patience meekness". 4.1 What is baptism Today what is going to be revealed to you is the "FIRST STEP” one must take to qualify as a man of God, a worker of God and a child of God. Baptism is this first Step, but what is really meant by baptism? As a first step, it is so necessary that it must not be skipped The moment one decides to take this step, he is prepared to work for God otherwise, he is yet to be ready. Preparedness to work for God which is evidenced by baptism means abandoning all earthly things and giving up oneself wholly to doing good at all times. Take this first step up the ladder to God. After taking this strong footing on the first step, then the race is about to start. The race is not yet finished, first step is a good start to enable us press on to the hallmark. 4.2 Good works The work that lies ahead of everyone is doing good. But the trouble with the world is that none is wise enough to know that one cannot do that which is good if the one does not first of all stop doing that which is bad. Therefore beloved, we should continue in doing good throughout our lives. First lesson: Philippians 3:13 "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before". From the above text one sees that when one has forsaken all worldly things and refrained from sin, the one has done only but one thing, many more things are yet lying ahead to be done. For instance, patience is there to be had. The Holy Spirit will be worried if one does not do the first thing first, that is, if one does not completely refrain from sin before attempting to have that patience. 4.3 Comparison To what can the abandoning of sin as the first duty of a Christian be compared? It is like the clearing up of a bush which should be done first before the trimming of the trees. If in the process of making a farm, the process is reversed, and the trimming is done before the clearing, the trimmings will fall over the undergrowth and the bush will not take fire thus it will not be possible to clear it for planting. For this reason, the greatest and foremost thing a Christian should do is to confess his sins and be baptised. Summarily he should from then on, refrain from all manners of sin, then the fire of the Holy Ghost will direct him to do good always. Anyone who does not take this step could be compared to a man who misses the consecutive order of counting from zero and hence cannot have his sum correct because he ignores the first number. Thus, anybody who has not completely refrained from sin should not count himself as a servant of God. He is not fit to do anything for God. 4.4 Not yet holy It does not however mean that any person who, has refrained from all sins is holy or good enough before God. Such a person is yet to start the work of God. To do God’s work he has to learn to love everyone as himself. Abandoning sin only shows that the person believes in God and His Son and that he is prepared to follow God and to do His will. He is determined to go forward. He has begun to hear the gospel, and is different from the sinful person who can never be counted among those who hear the gospel though he be a preacher of it. So, let all those who are now prepared to follow Christ refrain from every bit of sin. And once they have refrained from sin, let them not go back to it, but keep on loving and spreading the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. Second lesson: Romans 6 :1-2 "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Alter you have been taken out of sin would you like to go back to it so that your soul may perish? The scripture answers: “God forbid.” Anybody who stood before God and denounced Satan, the world and sin, should under no circumstance go back to these. Reference: II Peter 2:20-22: "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it has happened unto them according to the true proverb. The dog has turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire". 4.5 Do good always to stay sinless Even if you are to be killed, rather suffer death than go back to sin after you had abandoned it. The practise of goodness is the only thing that 'keeps one in the sinless state. So if you had actually abandoned sin, be sure of your salvation by holding on to doing nothing but good. Otherwise you are not yet saved. And if you go back to sin your last position is worse than the first. The man who has abandoned all sins is like a man sent to England to study. He has to resign his former appointment before leaving for further studies. If he does not do well in his studies he will be rusticated from the University, he comes back without any degree; he has lost both his job and the University qualification, he is bound to suffer. Let all who have abandoned sin proceed at once to practise the gospel. You should not fail to do good after you had stopped doing evil. Otherwise you shall confuse yourself and be in dilemma. If you had been making such mistakes in the past, you should resolve from today never to do so again. If sin was good in any way, why did he not continue in it? Again, if he goes back to sin, shall he find any good as he perhaps thought there would be? If he would not, what gain do those who still cling to sin have. 4.6 No sin is insignificant If one abandons all other sins but retains only one, the person will suffer for that one sin, just as a person who has not refrained from any, What is the use of refraining from adultery and fornication, but hold unto anger. It is written that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. If a person has refrained from all other sins but continue to beat up children is the person not still in the grip of Satan? Has the scripture not forbidden parents from tormenting their children? Reference: Ephesians 6 :4 "And ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." One may stop actual flogging of children but if he continues to threaten them with such words as 'I will beat you to death'; is the person not committing sin? This you know is provoking the children to wrath. If there be any sin yet in you, get it removed right now in order to fulfill the first and the most important condition to qualify you as a Christian and a child of God. 4.7 Refraining from sin is a task that must be done Amongst us here today, are those who have abandoned all sins. There are also among us those who have only one sin left; those who say they will take a gradual retrain from sin and there are those who say they are yet to be ready to refrain from any sin now. Let me ask, what use is there in retaining even a single sin? The only wise people are those who have refrained from all sins and will never go back to them in their lives. Everybody wants to relate positively with God, but if you have one sin left, when are you going to take just the First Step to God? If you are one of those who console themselves saying until God does His work and leave you with no sin, you will remain a sinner. May I ask when this will be? Is God not doing His work now that you are reading this gospel? I assure you that God is now mightily at work. 4.8 Abstinence from sin: there is no middle of the road position It is better that you change, but if you continue in sin, you are labouring in vain. You are building on the top soil with no foundation thus making in vain the work of God in our midst. All who have only one sin still .remaining in them are as those who have forsaken none; and those who forsook all sins for a while and have gone back to commit them are like those who had never refrained from any. If you abandon sin for twenty years and then suddenly in the twenty-first year you commit it again, you are worse than the person who has been committing sin continuously throughout his life. What then is the benefit you have derived from the many years you had stayed and avoided sin. 4.9 Abhor sins, pursue virtue Be reminded that, if you had refrained from all sins but do not render any good service to humanity, there is no virtue in you and your effort to refrain from sin is of no benefit. Golden text: 1 Timothy. 6 :11 "But thou, 0 man of God flee these things, and follow after righteousness; faith, godliness, love, patience, meekness” This text explains what is meant in the first lesson concerning reaching forth unto those things which are before. Let those who therefore had refrained from sin now go after charity, peace, humility, kindness and all the rest of the virtues. Note while doing this that if you do not first of all refrain from ail sins you cannot do any good hence you cannot do any work of God. Anger is satanic, hatred, lack of faith, stubbornness, hard-heartedness and lying are all the works of Satan. Love, faithfulness, obedience, forgiving one another, and truth are all of God. If you do not first do away with everything satanic, how can you have anything that is from God? If you do not stop telling lies, how can you begin to speak the truth? and if you do not leave Satan how can you hold on to God? Let all refrain from sin and go after virtue, remembering first, the FIRST STEP TO GOD which is refraining from all manner of sins. If you do this, salvation for your soul is found. Those who have ears, let them hear, may God bless His holy words, Amen. THANK YOU FATHER