Pastor Sunday Adelaja: MONTH OF MANIFESTATION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
(theses of the anointing service for November)

I never saw, heard, nor read, that the clergy were beloved in any nation where Christianity was the religion of the country. Nothing can render them popular, but some degree of persecution. (Jonathan Swift)

The month of November in our church is called month of manifestation of the Kingdom of God. Manifesting the Kingdom of God daily in our lives is part of what we are called to by Christ. In establishing and taking the Kingdom of God to the world, we will face temptations to keep silent or be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This world have lots of reasons to reproach believers and point out the things we should be ashamed of: of the Gospel that we preach, of the leader we follow, and, after all, of the church that we go to. However, as Jesus said, if we are ashamed of Him here on earth, He will be ashamed of us there in Heaven. Temptation is unavoidable for all true believers. But any believer that does not overcome this shame cannot be a bearer of the Kingdom of God.

2 Timothy 1:8 says: Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but suffer hardship with the gospel according to the power of God.

Just as Apostle Paul knew much about such temptation and problem, he admonished Timothy, one of his best disciples. Being an apostle, with all humility and self-abasement, he asked him to stay with him and hold on to the confession of faith and message of the testimony of the Gospel.

Why is Paul talking about it? It was the period when Paul was imprisoned for preaching the Gospel; he was accused for something he did not do, for a crime he did not commit; and many of the so called ‘disciples’ of Paul denied him even long before his imprisonment. If you’ve heard about Paul’s ministry, then would have seen how mightily God moved through him and how the power of God strongly manifested through his ministry. But it could have been uneasy for Paul’s disciples and followers to withstand and some of them would have been tempted seeing what was happening to him. He was bound with chains for something he didn’t do. “Where is that power of God now? Where is God?” they would have asked. It would have been easy for them to allow the thought that possibly Paul had sinned or had not pleased God in something, or stumbled in something, or the other way around – that the Gospel he preached was not the true gospel, and possibly that is why God did not come to help him. It is well-known fact that our Lord Jesus Christ had similar reproaches from the warriors and guards. They reproached Him that He was not the Son of God – otherwise God would have delivered Him from all those troubles. We too face similar temptations today.

Apostle Paul realized how much temptation Timothy was going through to follow him, therefore, he did not expect Timothy to encourage him. Instead, he decided to encourage and support Timothy himself. Looking back over the centuries, we know that God allowed this situation with Apostle Paul. Through Paul’s chains God brought the Gospel to the Roman Empire, even to the Palace of Caesar; and by the word of Paul’s mouth the Gospel spread to the ends of the earth. Now we know that this story with Paul did not happen because the Gospel was not the true gospel. God knows what we do not know and we must allow God to make the decision, which He sees, because He can see better. Whatever God allows is always better and always works together for good, in all cases.

So, Apostle Paul challenges Timothy. There are several lessons in his words:

Firstly, Timothy was not supposed to be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is living and active.
Sometimes God allows evil to overcome for sometime in order to have more good. Sometimes something bad needs to happen to prevent a terrible outcome. Sometimes, God can allow a problem to deliver a greater redemption. Therefore, we might not understand what God is doing, but still we should never be ashamed of the Gospel, because the Gospel is the only true thing in this world.

Secondly, Timothy was not supposed to be ashamed of Paul as a messenger of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the Gospel. It is easy to fall for a thought that God was not with Paul anymore when he became a prisoner. You should remember here that there were enemies of Paul, who used this incident as an argument that God was not with him and that the Gospel he preached was not right and that he was an impostor. In such a situation, Timothy could easily get confused – where is the truth? That is why Paul wrote to him saying that he should not be confused or ashamed of the Apostle as his teacher and mentor.

And the third instruction that we can see in this verse challenges Timothy even more. Timothy must be ready to suffer for the Gospel. It’s not only that Timothy was not supposed to be ashamed of the Gospel and God’s messenger, but he also was supposed to be ready to suffer together with Paul in this situation.
Here we should remember the words of Jesus, who tells us these golden words: “Therefore whoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My Words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man shall also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38).

I personally believe that the Lord will take all of us, believers, through such situations, circumstances, when we will have to overcome shame and disgrace for the benefit of the Gospel. We will either deny God in such situations or endure all these troubles for His sake so that He could confess us before His Heavenly Father.
Every believer, who is not ready to endure affliction, insults, shame and disgrace for the sake of the Lord here on earth has no chance of inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven. For Jesus takes no responsibility for such.

In this verse Jesus gives a clear condition applicable to every believer – not to be ashamed of Him, His Gospel, His Church and His followers.
As a confirmation to all mentioned above let me quote the words of Martin Luther King Jr., freedom fighter in America: “I submit to you that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live”. That is because if you are not ready to die for something, you have no point in living.
We should be ready not only to endure shame and sufferings for believing in Jesus Christ, but also be ready to die for our faith. And you must be quite certain that in this entire situation, after all, God will be glorified.

2 Timothy 1:8: Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but suffer hardship with the gospel according to the power of God.
The Bible says that suffering for Christ will be “according to the power of God”. In other words, His power is with us when we go through sufferings and tortures for His sake; His power is with us to go through affliction and shame; His power is with us to go through death if we have to.

Philippians 3:8, 10: But no, rather, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord… that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death.

These words of Apostle Paul make it clear that he consciously went for such a sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel and fulfillment of his calling. He counted all things to be loss and he gave up everything he had for the sake of knowing the power of God.

This Scripture also points out that if we are not ready to suffer for God, we won’t be able to know His power. If we are not ready to endure affliction and shame for Him, God’s power will never manifest in us and we will not be able to have such a relationship with Him that would allow God to use us.
So, for Jesus to confess us before His Heavenly Father, we need to be ready to confess Him without shame here on earth whatever it costs us.
May the Lord help us, especially in our situation to pass this examination; so that Jesus could testify about us before His Heavenly Father and that He would not be ashamed of us in the latter days.

We recommend you to read the following books in order to study this topic deeper: “Church Shift” by Sunday Adelaja; “The Final Quest” by Rick Joyner.

May the Lord bless you and your family!