Indeed, God Is Faithful and I thank God for His abundant mercies and His grace over the past ten years. He has indeed been faithful. There have been numerous testimonies of His love, power and saving grace. I thank God that by His grace we have never had to bring in a coffin into the church and I have never had to conduct a burial ceremony in ten (10) years.
God has kept us by His covenant of life. As the church marches into the next ten years, it is my prayer that the LORD will continue to shower us with His mercies and love.
LORD I truly thank you. You are a wonder to me. I appreciate all the ministers, workers and members of the congregation and all those in parishes in the Area. You have been great. I appreciate you all. Like I always say it is only God who can truly reward you. God is faithful. To be faithful means to be loyal, it means to uphold one’s word. It means to “stay” or “support”.
It means to be able to lean upon or to be relied upon. In the times we are in, we find that unfaithfulness abounds; there is marriage infidelity, there is unfaithfulness in the business world, a man’s word is no longer his bond. I recall the incident of a brother who had been seeking a particular man to be his business partner.
After they played ludo and the prospective partner was found cheating the brother changed his mind about the association. The bible says – “He who is faithful in little will be faithful in much”. I would like to also say “He who is unfaithful in little will be unfaithful in much”.
Some of us have been unfaithful to our maker, committing one sin or the other but our LORD remains faithful. Faithfulness is a quality which is essential to who He is; unfaithfulness is contrary to His nature.
The following scriptures tell us that God is faithful. Deuteronomy 7 v 9 – “know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God the faithful God which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generation”.
Psalm 89 v 8 – “O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? Or to thy faithfulness round about thee?”
Isaiah 11 v 5 – And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins”
2 Timothy 2 v 13 – “if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself.
Unlike men, God does not tell he should lies. Numbers 23 v 19 confirms this – “God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent; hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
- When God makes a promise, He is faithful to fulfill it. Hebrews 10 v 23 says : Let us hold fast the profession of our hope without wavering; for he is faithful that promised. Genesis 15 v 13-16 says “And he said unto Abram, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward they shall come out with – this promise was fulfilled 430 years later in Exodus 12 v 41 which says “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt”.
- God is faithful in delivering His children. 1 peter 4 v 19 says “Wherefore let him that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator”. Lamentations 3 v 22-23 says “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassion fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
- God is faithful in providing a way of escape. 1 Corinthians 10 v 13 says “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it.
- God is faithful in chastening His children. Psalm 119 v 75 says “I know o LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me”.
- God is faithful in answering the prayers of His children. Psalm 143 v 1 says “Hear my prayer, o LORD, give ear to my supplications; in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness”.
God is faithful in forgiving His children. 1 John 1 v 9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. The faithfulness of God in these areas and so many more has been witnessed in this parish and in Jesus Capital Area. It is my prayer that the LORD will continue to take us from strength to strength as a parish. May His faithfulness continue to abound in our lives. Once again Happy 10th Anniversary.
I appreciate you all and I love you. May the LORD continually bless you.
