KINGDOM MAN, TIME TO LIVE YOUR CULTURE

” Like Jesus, you are supposed to lose all fears; become courageous; able to resist temptation and reject compromise. Jesus was love personified; he was the epitome of humility; he radiated kindness; he was consistent and never did anything without seeking the counsel and direction of the Father through prayer. He was faithful to the very end. Those are the components of the Christian man’s culture; without which he though he remains a male, will never become a man.

Oh what wonderful God we serve! What an awesome Father we have!! Again and again, in my short walk so far with him, He has continually left me in no doubt about His sovereignty. And perhaps in nothing else does He demonstrate it more frequently than in His timing! That must be why the Bible is full of such phrases like, “at the appointed time”; “in the fullness of time.”

For five years, a certain international non-denominational men’s ministry had been in existence in Lagos and a few other cities virtually within the confines of the particular church into whose hands the vision was entrusted. For five years the stewards of the vision had dreamt, worked, as best as they knew how, to spread the vision beyond the walls of their church. For five years very little was achieved.

Then towards the end of 2005, God began to speak. He began to tell many of those involved that 2006 was the year. Yours sincerely was one of those. And I screamed it to whosoever would listen: watch out, 2006 is the year of the kingdom man in Nigeria I must have sounded like the proverbial broken record to many (are their still records!). Then in February, the network’s president under the unction of the Holy Spirit spoke. He said a men’s movement was about to be born. He called for a meeting away from the usual venue. When he spoke, yours sincerely knew that was the confirmation. And the team went to work.

On Saturday June 24 at the International Conference Hall of Etiebet’s Place in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria, that meeting held! Three hundred men drawn from across the kingdom, united in their love for God, hungry for a change in their nation, and determined to be instruments of that change, came together. Together they praised and worshipped God; together they soaked in the anointed teaching of the man of God. Together they received impartation and the prophetic marching order to unite across all dividing lines, constantly sharpen one another and thus become God’s threshing instrument in His project of cleansing Nigeria for His end-time use.

It was to be a four-hour meeting. It lasted a bit longer essentially because secular venues as usual do not recognize the importance of integrity, or at least most of their staffers don’t! The result was we started late. But did that deter the men? No way. These were men led of the Holy Spirit to abandon any personal agenda to operate with His own. These were men fully persuaded that being a man is a matter of choice and have made their choice irreversibly. I tell you this nation is in for a spirit-led and directed revolution!

Christian Men’s Network Nigeria was that ministry; the event was Luncheon with the President and the man of God who ministered at the event was Rev Dr Chris Tunde Joda.

Dr Tunde Joda! The one that we call ‘the coach’ never ceases to amaze me. When it comes to serving the Lord, particularly through imparting to others what God Has said to him, he’ll go anywhere, do anything in obedience to the will of God. This peripatetic man of God arrived Lagos early on Thursday morning to the relief of members of the Christian Men’s Network Nigeria of which he is President. The relief came from the belief that he had arrived just for the Luncheon with the President, then some 48 hours away. But before you knew it, he was on his way to Port Harcourt where some 3,000 youths had also breathed their sighs of relief at hearing that he had arrived Nigeria. You got told that those sold-out-to-God youths wanted the man of God all-weekend and you wondered if the Luncheon was not threatened! You wondered because you know that even in the Christian Men’s Network, the call of youth gets priority. That is so because, as CMN founder Ed Cole put it, new constructions are to be preferred to reconstruction, if you get my meaning! But Dr Joda would ignore neither. He flew in to Lagos on Saturday morning and headed right back to Port Harcourt immediately after delivering his message.

So what did he have to say? Or more correctly what did the Holy Spirit say through him? A lot! And that’s where we borrowed the title of this piece from. He spoke on the Culture of Christian Manhood which was the theme of the meeting and which you could say was really foundational.

“Culture is the trait that identifies you, the instinct inbred in you”, he began. “People are identified by their culture. That is why the Nigerian, wherever he may be would rather eat with his fingers than with any man-made contrivance. That is why the Chinese cherishes his chopsticks. Culture cannot be destroyed; it can only be developed. But a man’s real culture derives from his original heritage! Genesis 1:26 is clear about that! God made man in his image and after his likeness. So a man’s real culture derives from his heavenly heritage.”

But how does that translate to the way he lives during his earthly sojourn? Dr Joda likens that to apostle Phillip’s request in chapter 14 of the book of John. “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us (verse 8). To which the Lord answered “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? (verse 9)”. So if man derives his heritage and therefore his culture from God, he only has to look to Jesus whom the Bible described as the express image of the Father (see Hebrews 1:30) as his model. That then is the rationale for the truth that manhood and Christ-likeness are synonymous, which Christian Men’s Network has proclaimed for over 25 years.

Therefore the culture of Christian manhood takes its root, stem, leaves and fruits from the character of Christ Jesus. The interesting thing, continues Dr Joda, is that that Culture became inbred in every man when he meets Jesus. “When you meet Jesus, you acquire a new gene; a different DNA from what you had before you were saved”

Like Jesus, you are supposed to lose all fears; become courageous; able to resist temptation and reject compromise. Jesus was love personified; he was the epitome of humility; he radiated kindness; he was consistent and never did anything without seeking the counsel and direction of the Father through prayer. He was faithful to the very end. Those are the components of the Christian man’s culture; without which, though he remains a male, will never become a man.

Dr Joda was characteristically blunt: If we are going to change our nation, he told his audience, “it will not be because we carry a Bible, no matter its size. It will be because we have imbibed the culture of Christian manhood. The culture of the world is sub-standard; it is weak, cowardly. You must resist the temptation to conform to the culture of the world. It doesn’t matter who else is conforming, you must STAND FIRM. And let me say this. All of this is not just that we can become better sons, brothers, husbands and fathers. It not just about becoming wealthy and influential and taking leadership positions in our country. Those are very important things, but none is more important than that you make heaven. So get your priority right; that is a major part of the culture of Christian manhood.”

Those men left the venue rededicated to taking their place as God’s men. Many signed on to join this evolving men’s movement. What about you? My dear brother-in-the Lord, are you living your culture? Think about it! Your family, your community, our nation needs real men, Christ-like men; men who know the truth and do the truth; men who go out courageously daily - doubting nothing, compromising nothing. It won’t be easy, but as we come together, iron sharpening iron, we will get there. And our families, our businesses, our community and our nation will never be the same again. Answer Christian Men’s Network Nigeria’s call today (weblog: http://christianmensnnetwork.blogspot.com; email: cmnnigera@yahoo.com; cmnnigeria@gmail.com). Welcome aboard.

ARE YOU A MALE OR A MAN?

You can be forgiven for wondering: what’s the difference between a male and a man? And that is precisely the problem with society today, particularly, the Nigerian nation. Most people do not realize that it takes much more than being male to be a man. Ben Kinchlow, it was who put that truth into a powerful aphorism, popularized by the late Edwin Louis Cole: being a male is a matter of birth, being a man is a matter of choice. In other words, the fact that you were born with the ’Y’ chromosome simply makes you a male; but you have a choice whether to remain just a male or rise to be a man.

This is a truth that has eluded most men, including Christian men, over the ages. It is a truth which unless the men of any nation become acquainted with and eventually internalize, that nation can never really develop. At best it might experience stunted growth, but real development to the level ordained by God shall be impossible.

So what makes the difference between maleness and manhood, you ask. The answer is simply this: Christ-likeness. In fact the Holy Spirit caused a man of God to put it into the maxim: manhood and Christ-likeness are synonymous. That man, Edwin Louis Cole went on to build an international men’s ministry around it and through that ministry founded what is known today as the international men’s movement.

This is also the truth that some men have, these past few years, been propagating among Christian men in Lagos and some cities of Nigeria. It is the truth that this group of men has now decided to aggressively propagate beyond the confines of their current areas of influence.

Operating under the umbrella of Christian Men’s Network Nigeria, this ministry is an affiliate of the Texas, United States-based ministry of Ed Cole, as he is more popularly known. Under the spiritual guidance and leadership of one of Nigeria’s foremost teachers of the word of faith, Rev Dr Chris Tunde Joda, this network steps out this Saturday with an event known as Luncheon with the President.

It this event, Dr Joda, more endearingly known as the coach to those of us who receive our spiritual nurturing from Christ Chapel International Churches of which he is founder and senior pastor, will be talking to the men on The Culture of Christian Manhood.

This is not CMN Nigeria’s first event. In fact those of us involved have lost count. There was the Mighty Man of Valour Conference held in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt between June and July 2001 which featured, apart from Dr Joda such great men of God as Rev Larry Titus from Youngstown, Ohio, United States of America who had been in ministry for 35 years. There was also Minister Emmanuel Asiedu Appiah, then Executive Director, Leaders International, a body, which had identified Africa’s 21^st Century Challenge as that of Developing Godly Leaders. An internationally acclaimed Business Consultant and CMN representative in his home country, Ghana, he conducted series of word-based workshops on leadership and management. Kunle Falola, a Minister of Songs, who used to be known as Dizzy K, also came in from his London base to minister in anointed and prophetic songs. Of course Dr Edwin Louis Cole’s video ministrations also featured prominently.

At the close of that particular conference believed to be first ever such gathering of Christian men in Nigeria; a very perceptive communiqué was issued to which I shall return presently.

Over the years there had been the quarterly Breakfast with the President which held mainly at the CCIC Joy Centre Auditorium in Surulere. There was the Mighty Man of Valour Award special event held at a popular eatery in Surulere during which the president, Dr Joda received the network’s Mighty Man of Valour Award. Three of the network’s partners were also honoured with the Man of Valour award at the event which featured Rev Dr Jide Awosedo, Chairman/Chief Executive of Grant Properties Ltd as guest minister. The Ikeja Chapter ran an entrepreneur development seminar series titled Wealthy Place; while its chapters in Ojokoro, Victoria Island/Lekki were also very active.

From the foregoing, it is clear that Christian Men’s Network Nigeria has neither been idle nor is it new on the events circuit. So what makes Saturday’s event special, you wonder? Well it is special because right from that beautiful morning in February when the president directed the coordinators to put it together, something clicked in most hearts that it was going to mark the beginning of a new phase for the network. That phase, you may describe as pre-movement stage. And everything had been done simply in agreement with the direction of the Holy Spirit.

The theme for instance took a while in coming! That’s because the president would not be led by even his own wisdom in this business of raising mighty men of spiritual substance and discipling them, considerable as it is. Then the coordinating team found itself putting considerably more effort than usual in spreading the word across churches in Lagos and beyond! Much more effort in fact than should ordinarily be required for an event holding in a 300-seater hall!

But most strikingly for this writer who happens to be at helm of the coordinating team was this feeling in my spirit since the last quarter of last year that 2006 was going to be the year of the Kingdom man in Nigeria. All the pointers have been there since the year began. At the February meeting I spoke about earlier the President under the unction of the Holy spirit said that a men’s movement that will turn things around in our nation was about to begin. He pointedly told the men in attendance that they were created for glory and must prepare to walk in that glory in this year of the Lord’s glory as prophesied by the late Brother Kenneth Copeland.

A perusal of that 2001 communiqué (see In the Beginning) tie s everything together.

All things considered the time for Nigerian Christian men to break denominational and other barriers, come together and sharpen one another to take their place is NOW – on the eve of another round of electioneering, democratic transition and economic reform consolidation. The time to stop being just males and stand up to be men is here. The time to learn the ways of Christian manhood is here. That is the significance of Saturday’s meeting

SSHHH, HERE COMES THE CROWN PRINCE

Message @ Breakfast with the President February 2006)

King David was as usual reflective. He surveyed the universe around him; the blinding brilliance of the sun, the majesty of the moon, the twinkling splendour of the stars, the vast endless sky, the flows and ebbs of the mighty ocean. He was awe-struck. Then he looked at himself and saw the relative physical insignificance of man compared to these great works of the Creator and he wondered aloud in Psalm 8: Why do you care about us humans? Why are you concerned for us weaklings?" 4).

Promptly came the answer from right inside his spirit: You made us a little lower than you yourself, and you have crowned us with glory and honor. You let us rule everything your hands have made. And you put all of it under our power (5&6).

Think about that. God did not simply give or pass on his glory and honour to man, he crowned him with both! Crowning is an ultimate gesture. In the world, when a man is to be crowned, it’s a big event - drums are rolled out, red carpets are laid and dignitaries are invited to honour the new Oba, Obi, Emir or whatever title may be conferred on him. That was what happened when God crowned man. He summoned the rest of creation and declared to them: behold my crown prince; he shall be your king; you will be subject to him and he shall lord it over you.

That was God’s great pleasure at creation; to make you His crown prince and He Has never changed and will never change His mind. But when man succumbed to sin and fell at the Garden of Eden, the glory departed, the crown fell off man’s princely head. That what Apostle Paul meant in Romans 3:23 when he declared: All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. So, for a season, man walked the earth without the original glory and honour; a prince without his crown.

But the Almighty God would not allow His will to be thwarted by anything or anyone; not by sin, although He hates sin, and certainly not by satan, its author. So Jesus Christ enters into the picture to restore the glory.

Now let’s put this in perspective. When Jesus came to earth, He came as son of man NOT as Son of God. He emptied Himself of the glory that belonged to Him as an integral, inseparable member of the Godhead. He took on the full nature of mortal man. That’s the import of Apostle Paul’s declaration in Philippians 2:6: Although he was in the form of God and equal with God, he did not take advantage of this equality (God’s Word Bible). That is also corroborated in Hebrews 2:9 which reads: What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels…which was the status of fallen man.

That passage of scripture however went on to reveal the glory-restoring essence of Jesus’ sojourn on earth like this: Because of God's wonderful kindness, Jesus died for everyone. And now that Jesus has suffered and died, he is crowned with glory and honor! … So God did the right thing when he made Jesus perfect by suffering, as Jesus led many of God's children to be saved and to share in his glory.

This dimension of Jesus’ redemption work was a mystery for quite a while. Apostle Paul puts it this way: For ages and ages this message was kept secret from everyone, but now it has been explained to God's people… And the mystery is that Christ lives in you, and he is your hope of sharing in God's glory (Colossians 1: 26-7).

So, since Jesus lives in you, the glory and honour has been restored to you. You are God’s crown prince with all the power and authority that goes with that status. Notice, as we saw earlier, it is the same glory that Jesus operated in while here on earth. Read Philippians 2:6 again. It is through the power and authority inherent in that glory that he did all that He did on earth. He healed the sick, raised the dead, caused net-breaking draughts, wrought miracles of provision – all as a reflection of the glory!

Remember Jesus’ encounter with the storm? In Luke Chapter 8, we saw the Lord Jesus sleeping peacefully in the midst of a violent storm. His disciples were scared stiff. The Bilble records it like this: The boat was taking on water, and they were in danger.

They went to him, woke him up, and said, "Master! Master! We're going to die!" Then he got up and ordered the wind and the waves to stop. The wind stopped, and the sea became calm.

The original Greek translation of that scene showed that all that the Lord Jesus said to that so-called violent storm was something like this: Sshhhiiii.

Continues the passage: … Frightened and amazed, they asked each other, "Who is this man? He gives orders to the wind and the water, and they obey him!" You know the answer? He was the crown prince who knew the power and authority that the glory and honour has conferred on him – and is willing to exercise them.

You are God’s crown prince in exactly the way Jesus was while on earth. So when next that storm comes your way, do not fret, do not panic, just calmly look at it and say: sshiiiii. It must obey you.

CMN MUST HELP TO MATURE THE NIGERIAN MAN

BREAKFAST WITH THE PRESIDENT (February 2006)

Christian Men’s Network Nigeria will this year play an even greater role in the maturing and development of the Nigerian man. This is because God is depending on men to play their roles in the family, in society at large, in the economy and even the governance of Nigeria effectively.

Speaking at the first CMNN Breakfast with the President in 2006 which held February 18, Rev Dr Chris Tunde Joda, President of the Network declared that men who would not play there roles as priests in their homes leave room for role reversal which can only lead to disorder. And it is this disorder that becomes manifest at the macro level.

Dr Joda said CMNN must see itself as a men’s movement and henceforth operate as one in order to draw more men into the fold and send a signal to the camp of the unrighteous. As we approach election year 2007, Christian men must become aware that we have a role to play in the unfolding scenario. To stay away from critical areas of the national life is to abdicate out responsibilities as carriers of God’s glory who must function as change agents.

The President spoke on the theme, Man, Created for Glory (see message).

Rev Folarin Ola-Ishola, businessman and Centre Pastor of Christ Chapel International Churches, Lekki also ministered at the event which was hosted by the Surulere chapter..